I got married during my PhD, and know several others who have done so successfully. When I started my PhD, I firmly promised myself that it would not take over my life, and anything I wanted to do in terms of my personal life would be done.

I'm actually further ahead than my friends who began their PhDs at the same time, as I found planning my wedding actually motivated me to get the work done. So I disagree with people who say to leave getting married, or other personal events such as babies etc, until after your PhD, as there is never a 'right time' to do those things. All jobs are stressful, and if you are wanting to go into the world of academia then that it more stressful that just doing a PhD!

However it shouldn't be about just getting married to get away from your sister, could you just co-habit with your boyfriend for the time being?

Yes, everyone please keep posting about your tasks! My tasks aren't exciting either, but at least it holds us accountable by posting them here (up)

Emmaki I do hope your doctors visit wasn't too awful, I'm not surprised you couldn't work after that! I hope they are able to remove the cyst soon.

I'm really happy about my progress yesterday; I actually managed to write my abstract, methodology, findings and discussion sections of my journal article! They all need work obviously, but it looks like I'll be able to get a full first draft finished my today. The only interruption is that hubby is taken me out for lunch (which always makes me sleepy and not wanting to do work after it!) and I also need to go to the vets to sort my doggy, and go to Tesco. Quite a few interruptions then hmm!

Goal 1- read through everything written yesterday
Goal 2- write intro/lit review section

Good luck today everyone, think I'll be working a bit tomorrow as well!

======= Date Modified 20 Sep 2012 13:30:09 =======
Hi all,

I've been avoiding this thread (and doing ridiculous things like Christmas shopping in September!) because I've been struggling to get going again with starting a new journal article after handing a first full draft of my thesis in to sup. I've realised over the years that I have a MAJOR issue with starting a new task; lots of anxiety etc, which is very unlike me! This means I procrastinate for days and days not knowing where to start, but once I get going everything is always fine!

So anyway, I rang hubby in tears this morning because I've had a bit of bad news recently (nothing serious) but together with not being able to get into my work, it just got a bit too much for me! So hubby (being the lovely man he is) cheered me up as usual and I am proud to say that I've actually got cracking with my journal article yippee! Unfortunately hubby doesn't know that my next procrastination was going to be to make a homemade steak and ale pie...looks like he isn't getting one for tea as he just encouraged me to work, don't think he'll be happy when I tell him!

My first goal was to get my head around what I actually want the journal article to be about, and I did this by writing the 150 word abstract which has made everything so much clearer! Not a lot, but a good start. So my goals for the rest of the day are;

-write methodology section of article (shouldn't take long)
-start findings/discussion section of article using chapter from thesis

Sorry for the waffling post, had to get that out of my system! Sounds like you are all cracking on- well done!

Hi all, just checking in!

I haven't been working this week as my mind has been elsewhere (nothing serious!), so I've been occupying myself by having a clear out of all the stuff I no longer need in my house, and I've also started my Christmas shopping eek! I LOVE Christmas and can't wait for it to be here! (gift)(robin)(snowman)(tree)(turkey)(mince)

I'm busy today at 3pm so I might have another chilled day before starting work again tomorrow.

Linda had you're feeling better, just keep going!

Batfink enjoy helsinki! Natassia lots of luck, I'm sure you'll be fine!

I'm busy doing non related phd jobs today so may not get round to working!

I'd definitely have a draft certainly, and ensure that's you know the gaps in literature.

I would definitely do the data collection whilst you have the opportunity to visit the country. I started my PhD in September 2010, and began data collection in February 2011 for various reasons (mainly as I had access to participants which I wouldn't have had at a later stage). However I was able to do this as I had done my Masters in a similar area, and therefore knew the specific topic of my PhD/gaps in previous literature etc.

You may have to put in a bit more work at this stage to ensure you're able to start data generation in May, but it's definitely possible.

Well that's me done with my 84,000 word thesis; now I'm off to Tesco!

Glad it isn't too serious Natassia, but make sure you have lots of breaks from transcribing! Linda good luck with chapter 2, keep plodding on and maybe tackle this 'easiest' parts first!

I've done goals 1 and 2, so now I'm off to edit chapter 8 and my conclusion.

Linda it may seem like I'm powering through, but when I say I'm 'editing' my chapters I'm actually having a read through and correcting spelling mistakes and silly sentences!

I really want to get a final first draft of my thesis today, so I can pass it onto sup. I've not got much left to go through so this should be achievable.

Goal 1- sort edits on pc for chapter 6
Goal 2- edit chapter 7
Goal 3- edit chapter 8
Goal 4- edit conclusion
Goal 5- sort page numbers etc and get total word count
Goal 6- SAVE THESIS EVERYWHERE AND BACK UP MULTIPLE TIMES!

Chapter 5 is edited, now onto chapter 6 which I'll hopefully get done by the end of the day!

Hi all!

I'm working on editing chapter 5 today (up)

Well done Linda, I'm done for the day too!

Chapter 4 is finally edited, so just printing chapter 5 ready to read through tomorrow :-)

Yippee meth chapter is edited. I'm now going to print chapter 4 ready to edit after lunch.

Natassia of course you can join in, but please get to A&E!! Nothing is more important than your health! Let us know how you get on (up)