Oh well, we are all suffering from Friday blues I guess! (do days of a week really make any difference for us PhD students?) And the gloomy weather doesn't really help at all :-(

It is indeed easy to feel overwhelmed, and I do feel so now and then but I try my best to shut down and look at one problem at a time. You have been doing great, Button! Perhaps you should treat yourself with something nice this week end :-)

That's great Lindalou - well done on completing the chapter! (gift)

Busybee - Good luck with the restructuring! I am sure it will look great at the end (up)

I have written 616 words until now, going on rather slow but making progress. I like what ever I have written up to now in the introduction chapter. So, I am happy :-) I am back after lunch (had the worst vegetable soup ever!) and got to kick start again. I am going to finish at 5 pm today so that I can be home early to skype my fiancé who lives 5000 miles away (it has been ages since the last time we skyped).

Hi Morning all!!

Yesterday, I managed to get half of goals 1 and 2 done. How did it go for everyone? I am going to set only one goal for today which will be to get 1000 words written in the introduction chapter.

Have a good day!!!

Hi everyone,

Good Morning! I am still not able to read any other posts here. I hope everyone is doing ok. Here are my goals for today:

1. Write 1000 words in introduction chapter.
2. Troubleshoot code installation.
2. Email the IT person.

Have a good day! (up)

Hi Button, I had the same problem too and I thought it was just me! It seems to be ok at home.

I have completed chapter 2 (1566 words today) and also wrote the abstract (400 words). I still have to put in figures and plots which I will do another day. I am feeling very good for getting these done despite the fact that they might be total cr*p!!!

I hope everyone is having a good day and have a nice evening people!! :-)

Lindalou - Oh dear! That sounds like an awful lot of work and good luck with that. I am sure you have got it done already :-)

I totally agree on your point to have breaks from time to time. I just have to make sure I go away from my computer and not sit and stare at it for hours doing nothing!

So, I have written 1462 words for now, have one more subsection to complete and also will have to draw some figures and include some plots. I am back after lunch and got to get going!

======= Date Modified 06 Jun 2012 08:45:24 =======
Hi everyone,

Hope all of you had a nice week end and here we are in the beginning of a very short week :-)

I was working through the long week end except for Monday when I went totally blank!! I managed to finish 3 sections of chapter 2 and 733 words into introduction. Sorry, I have been working offline so didn't post here :-(

BusyBee - I am technically closer to the end but I don't feel like I am that close when I think about the mound of things left to do. I hope you got your admin sorted and relaxed over the week end!

Lindalou - Hi, I am here! How are you? It is good you had time off after a long week of hard work!! Good luck with your restructuring (up)

Batfink - How did your writing go? I hope you managed to take some time off now and then.

Here is my first goal: Complete the final section of chapter 2.

Have a wonderful productive week everyone!

Morning Batfink (and anyone else who is around)!

I feel the same way to work over the week end, it has been a while since I had a relaxed one. Oh well, it is all matter of months now :-)

That's wonderful, Lindalou. I am like you too, if I complete the one I am working on I would have only the introduction chapter to write. To be honest, mine is probably the worst first draft ever written!

Busybee, I'm sorry you have to redraft a chapter. I hope the week end away will help you come back to it with a big bang! (up)

So, yesterday I started working on section 2 after which I met my supervisor. He returned my conclusions chapter saying it looks like an extended summary and conclusions :-( and he felt it is too long. So, I got to restructure it and move some of the generic descriptions about the chapters to the introduction chapter. I am happy I got some comments back!

We spoke about the time line for submission and viva. The plan is to submit on the second week of Aug and tentative viva date is 9th of Nov (I am getting married in Oct). We have finalised the internal examiner (he has agreed) and the external examiner (still need to invite). I freaked out on the whole thing and couldn't think straight after that as I still have sooooooooooo much to do. I came back home and watched a movie to get everything out of my head!

Ok, I have decided to leave everything aside and think about one thing at a time. For now, I will be off to work in a bit and my goals for today are:

1. Work on section 3.
2. Start section 4 - plan a structure.
3. Troubleshoot the installation.

Have a nice day! :-)

Welcome Busybee! I am a new comer too :-) and I am already finding this thread useful and hope you will too.

Thanks Batfink. Well done on cracking it away! I am working over the long week end too, so you have company!!

Good luck with the proof reading Lindalou :-)

I spent couple of hours this morning trying to fix the issue with the code which I miserable failed at. I left it for the time being and have done goal 1 and moving on to goal 2 now. I have typed this section in word and will have to put it into latex later on.

======= Date Modified 01 Jun 2012 08:22:41 =======
Morning all!!

Thanks Lindalou and Batfink! I do agree that 500 words is decent. I managed to finish goal 1 almost but still have some tweaking to do. I didn't get anywhere near goal 2. Its nice to hear that both of you did great yesterday (up)

Today's goals are:

1. Tweak section 1.
2. Work on section 3.
3. I've supervisory meeting this afternoon.
4. I might have to email the IT person back and forth to fix the issues.

Have a productive day everyone! :-)

Hi Lindalou - Well done on finishing your first goal :-) and good luck with the rest!!!

How is it going for everyone else?

I got an email from the IT person this morning because of which I had to spend few hours sorting the new installation of the program which I run. But I didn't manage to get it running yet. I left it for later and started writing just before lunch, have written only 514 words until now :-( I am still working my way through to finish my first goal.

Morning!

Button - I am impressed!!!!!! Well done you (gift)
Cindrella - Thanks and good luck to you too :-)

I will be off to work in a bit. Today's goals are:
1. Finish second part of section 1.
2. I've already written section 2 so will have to start section 3.
After these two I've got one more section with which this chapter will be over :-) I can move on to the Introduction.

Have a nice day everyone!

Hi

Button - I like the way you plan your sections and thinking them through before writing. Keep going :-)

Batfink - Thanks! It looks like you have had your training course at the right time. I hope it helps in further streamlining writing plan. Good luck with that (up)

Emmaki - Perhaps you needed that 3 hours sleep and it is good that you rested well. I am really amazed by people like you who work and do a PhD!! All the best with your today's goals.

So, I have written 1636 words in total and I am really happy with what I have written until now. I have included all the references as well and the text may not need much editing after which is good. I am off to my office as they close the library in 20 min. I will see what I can do with goal 4 and then will have to catch a bus to go home, cook, eat and then will see if I can continue writing later in the evening. Have a nice evening everyone!

======= Date Modified 30 May 2012 14:42:08 =======
Hi Button, how is it going? I just read that you wrote 2466 words in just under 3 hours yesterday. OMG!!!! That's incredible!!!!!!!! I wish I could write like you ;-)

I managed to write 977 words until now. I am back after lunch which I had outside on the patch of grass next to our department. There is no sunshine today unfortunately but it is warm. Ok, now back to business - got to crack in as many words as I can in the next couple of hours before I can move on to the next goal. Meanwhile, I had got an email from the IT person because of which I might have to work on something today or tomorrow.

I have been working from the library since yesterday which is really nice. The change of place has helped me to focus as I tend to get too distracted if I work from my office or home. I am so weak :-(

Thanks Button :-) Here I go:

Goal 1: Email the previous chapters to secondary supervisor.
Goal 2. Email the IT person regarding my simulations.
Goal 3. Finish section 1 of chapter 2.
Goal 4. Import the calculations and check the results.

I have already done 1 and 2. Now off to the library to work on 3. Good luck everyone!