Ooh, congrats on the conference acceptance, Button, that's great news! I found out at the weekend that I was accepted for one too, I'm very happy about that.

And Lindalou, hope today's supervision goes well. Be strong, anyway - hopefully you'll come away feeling reassured and ready to continue!

Today, I need to crack the rewriting of this journal article. I can't really spare any more time on it after today so I need to make good progress. I did manage to figure out exactly what I need to do to it yesterday so hopefully I can get it done today.

Hi all

I overslept this morning so am only really settling to work now. Never mind, I'll just work into the evening to make up for it. Plan for today (once I've properly woken up!) is to go through notes from meeting about journal article and address each point one by one. Hopefully that will get the bulk of the rewriting done on it. Really not 'feeling' it today, I think because I want to be back at my PhD data, so I need to stop procrastinating and actually get this work done and out of the way!

Oh dear Lindalou, hope you manage to make some progress today anyway!

I'm achieving very little. I've done a few admin type jobs, and written up minutes of a meeting, and that's about it. I just can't seem to get going today. Maybe I'll not worry about it, and spend the rest of the day on little jobs and start proper work tomorrow.

Yes, it does seem strange to be sent comments like that when they're so different to your understanding of the situation from the meeting itself. I can totally understand how that would throw you off! Maybe when the shock/surprise has worn off you'll be in a better position to judge whether there is any validity to the comments (or whether it could be some sort of mix-up!)

But even if these comments were meant for you, I think it's important to remember that a PhD is a very high level, and nobody is ever going to be perfect at absolutely every aspect of a PhD, we're all going to have strengths and weaknesses, even those who then go on to have outstanding academic careers (we're none of us machines, after all). You're obviously doing well overall as you've been passed on to the next level, and if they haven't even raised these concerns with you then they can't be very serious concerns, they may just be observations about where your particular mix of strengths and weaknesses lie at the moment. So don't take them to heart too much.

It sounds like you have the right approach to this, taking a bit of time to get some perspective on the comments and how you feel about them. I think you will need to raise them with your supervisor, just because they'll be in the back of your mind otherwise, but I think you'll be able to broach the subject as a gentle enquiry about not having heard the criticisms before, and then the context will be cleared up and you'll have a better idea of what the comments really mean. And as Delta says, that could prove to be very useful overall.

Ooh, Lindalou, wedding stuff sounds exciting!

And Button, good luck today, sounds like you are making great progress though.

I'm spending the next two days rewriting the journal article that I met the co-authors about on Friday. It needs a bit of restructuring and thought so I want to really bury myself in it. Just a couple of admin-type jobs to do first, and I need to brave the ice to go to the greengrocer (I'm in danger of developing scurvy if I don't eat some vegetables soon!), so that probably means I won't properly get started til lunchtime. Oh well, tomorrow I'll get up early - whoever it was who said a couple of posts back that it's really productive getting up early is dead right, I just couldn't face it this morning, my flat's too cold!

Ah, I see! Thanks Delta. That suggests I'm not that far off a fourth star, then.

Oh, good luck Sneaks! Sounds like Delta has some wise words there.

Delta - I only have three stars, I seem to have been stuck on three for ages! And what do you mean about making it into the top 20?

Sorry, I tried but don't have any access.

Hope the article hasn't caused you too many headaches, Button! And Tokyorabbit's right, it's unlikely to be a disaster, just good you found the article now.

Tokyorabbit, hope you got lots of work done!

Today I have a meeting about the journal paper I'm helping to write, and also a supervision meeting. So the day is about preparing for and attending those meetings. And I'm really tired, so I'm going to knock off reasonably early (well, probably about 4pm!) and go and meet friends in the pub. Definitely looking forward to this weekend!

Good luck with the work, everyone!

Heh, I think Skig may well be right, we're too hard on ourselves! I think we get so used to putting a lot of work in that we start to feel like we're not doing very much or haven't achieved much, when actually we're doing loads and making goood progress. That's probably one reason why people find the lead-up to the viva so difficult - it's such a dramatic change of pace.

Anyway, good luck with all the work, and viva prep, and everything else.

I've finished making notes on the journal article I read, so am stopping for a sandwich before getting on with rewriting my own journal article.

Morning everyone!

I've been swimming this morning so feel quite alert now. I do like a good swim before starting work, it gets the blood flowing. And also I find I pound out problems with my work while I'm wimming. This morning I managed to work out an important step in my data analysis, which is lucky, as I need to discuss progress on that with my supervisors tomorrow!

Goals for today:
1.) Go swimming - DONE
2.) Finish writing notes on journal article I read yesterday
3.) Write two sections needed for journal paper re-write
4.) Draw up rough plan of data analysis steps to discuss tomorrow

Hmm, that little lot should keep me very busy today!

Hello Skig, hope you managed to get lots done today (and made progress on the viva date too, eek!)

I've not had a particularly successful day. Made a start on working on the journal paper but didn't get very far. I did, however, track down a citation that I've not been able to find for over a year, so that was something! Not enough, but I'm going to forgive myself for having a bad day, finish reading the journal article I'm half way through then call it a day and start fresh again tomorrow.

Hi Anyhoo. I'm sorry you're struggling so much at the moment. It sounds like you've made a good realisation about needing time etc. I'm afraid I can't offer you any advice about NERC funding, but I wanted to bump your thread back to the top of the lsit so it doesn't get lost under the overnight spam! I'm pretty sure there are people on the forum who have some knowledge of the implications of taking time off sick from a PhD, so hopefully one of them will be along some time soon. Take care.

I think that's right - it is time to let go, at least for now. A PhD thesis is never going to be perfect, and is never quite going to feel finished to the author. My supervisors talk frequently about not trying to produce the 'best' thesis, but one that is 'good enough' - it doesn't have to be the definitive word on the subject, it just has to be enough for the award of a PhD. The important work, the stuff that will actually be read and have an impact on the world (!!!), is the stuff that makes it into journals and is actually (hopefully!) read by other people.

Sometimes I find it hard to move on from one part of my work when I'm kind of dreading the next thing. Is there an element of that involved too? It can be comforting to keep working on one area, even when actually it's mostly about avoiding working on another area. I find that if I acknowledge this is happening, I can form a strategy to move on past it - identifying what is the sticking point and how to deal with that. That may not be what's going on with you, of course, but I think it's worth considering.

Hi Tokyorabbit, welcome to the thread! I hope you find it useful - good luck with getting back into the PhD!

Today, I'm working on rewriting a journal article I'm co-authoring with a postdoc in my department - it needs a lot of work. Tasks for the day:
1.) Read through and make notes on what needs rewriting
2.) Plan the rewrites, citations needed, etc
3.) Start rewriting!