I've done both goals and have got both sections written, which means my findings chapters are now roughly written, so I'm really pleased. However, I know they aren't critical whatsoever, so I will also be theorising about my findings Linda!

In relation to breaks, I almost always take the whole weekend off with the hubster, as well as every evening. The only reason why I'm planning on working tomorrow is because hubby is also at work, so I might as well! Our Sundays usually involve taking pupster on a big walk in the morning/early afternoon, and then watching 24 all evening :$(up) which we are obsessed with at the moment due to buying the box set for Christmas!

I am an avid believer in making sure that my PhD is not the be all and end all. Although I am 'personally' attached I am not 'extreme-emotionally' attached and I think that distinction is really important (in my opinion obviously). Already during my PhD I have got married, gone on a massive honeymoon and have bought a puppy, and I'm only 18 months in so who knows what will be next! Maybe this approach will come to bite me on the bum one day, but until then I'll keep taking lots of breaks and have a fab life outside of my PhD!

Hi all,

I took most of wednesday off because of a headache, was fine yesterday but I was teaching so didn't get any work done, now I'm back to my work and I have a headache again grr! It's not too bad though so I really want to get some writing done.

I have two sections to write before my findings chapters are all written (first drafts). So I really want to get at least one of the sections written today, if not both of them. I'm going to do a bit of work tomorrow because hubby is working, so hopefully I could read through this chapter tomorrow and do my teaching prep.

Goal 1- write section 2 of findings chapter
Goal 2- write section 3 of findings chapter

Hi everyone,

I've got a headache, so not feeling up to much today. I was going to take the day off, but I thought watching daytime tv would make me feel even worse!

Goal 1- plan 1 section of findings

Morning all, happy valentine's day!

I've got a few interruptions again today, the first one being needing to nip out at 10:30am, so I'm hoping to finish one of my findings sections by then. Best get cracking!

Hi all,

I've done pretty well today; got my chapter sent off to sup, and started writing my next chapter rather than doing the presentation (as the next presentation is based on my next chapter, duh!)

I was told the gas man was coming anytime between 12 noon and 6pm...why is it that they always turn up at the latest possible time, in this case 5:30pm?! Grr!

Morning all, hope everyone has had a good weekend!

I've got a day full of interruptions; needing to nip out and do a bit of shopping, and waiting in for the gas man to come sometime between 12 and 6, not fun! So I'm setting myself an important task but something that can deal with interruptions.

Goal 1- edit findings chapter 1, then send to sup

If I manage to do that (not sure I will) then my next goal is to start a presentation

Yaaaaaaaay, fab news Sneaks!!

Morning all,

I've just found out that I've been accepted to present at my first conference, woohoo! Scared though!

My goal today is to crack on with the next section of my findings chapter. I'm finding it a real struggle to stay focused on it though.

Ooh have fun Linda! I've done my goal for the day woohoo, except I want to read through what I've written to check I'm being critical enough, and then I'll start planning my next section.

Hope you feel awake soon Batfink, and hope you hear back from your sup Linda!

I got VIP status because I wrote a book review (up)

I'm doing okay really, but writing my findings involves a LOT of thinking which is hard work for me!

Thanks so much Ady! That is exactly the issue I'm toying with at the moment; whether to have 4 separate findings chapters, or whether to combine them into 2 which I'm not sure about (although I would have a reaonsable explanation if I did do it like that). Was there any particularly reason why your sups didn't like the idea of combining chapters? I'm half way through writing findings for the first concept and that's 3k at the moment, so I imagine that I will also have 6k ish per concept.

Were there any issues with your chapters varying in length? At the moment I think I will have 2 lit review chapters approx 10k each, my meth chapter is 12k, and then I'd have the 4 6k findings chapters. Some people say to have e.g 8 chapters all of 10k each to keep it all consistent, but I can't imagine how this would work! Hmm.

Thanks for your help!

Hi all,

I only really have one goal today; to finish the first section of my findings which needs a lot of work, so I'm not sure how realistic that is!

Thanks all, that's really helpful, although I'm not sure what to do!

I have 4 key concepts which I am exploring, but for 1 of them there isn't as much to discuss, so I'm a bit worried that if I did separate them into 4 findings chapters then 1 would be considerably shorter than the other 3? Ady, what were the word lengths for your findings and discussion chapters?

Agggghhh maybe I should just start writing and see how I get on!

Batfink/Linda- hope your days are going a bit better than earlier.

I've made good progress today so I'm happy. I think that's me done for the day now, ready to start again tomorrow eugh!