6 mths to go - count down's on!!

S

Copngratulations AQ!!! Well done!! Oh that's fabulous!! That'll spur you on to finish. And that's good you've had a few days off, you obviously needed it.

I'm going OK. Read the comments my sups had on my 60 000 words, and it was pretty awful. But have picked myself up, done a revised work time-table, looks like I won't finish until end July, and that's only if I work like a madwoman. Ah well, it takes as long as it takes. Am working solidly, things are the usual - me and the dog in my study.

Hope everyone else is going ok too. 

M

======= Date Modified 07 Apr 2010 12:05:25 =======
It does seem like a struggle getting back into the swing of things after a few days off at Easter. I managed a relatively guilt-free few days of relaxing but now as I am struggling to get this next chapter flowing I wonder whether it was a good idea!
My work 'mojo' has gone - I stare at pages of pre-drafted text and it is just like a big jigsaw puzzle I know I have to re-structure it to make sense but can't seem to get my head around it.

Any tips...should I re-draft entirely, ( seems like a wasted effort when I have stuff on paper already ?) ....or persevere with juggling old stuff?
I hate editing my own work! Why is it that I can identify flaws and solutions in other peoples work but can only see the flaws in my own.

I'm sure I am not the only one struggling.....can anyone give me their experience?
Thanks
M

A

======= Date Modified 07 Apr 2010 12:10:23 =======
Thanks Sue, it is kinda just what I needed, I was at the doctors this morning and have been diagnosed with stress, lovely! As if I didn't realise I was stressed! :D Good luck with your revisions, comments can be harsh to deal with. And you are so right, it takes as long as it takes. Just so long as we get it done and finished with in the end! I've got to get my Chapter 2 done asap, I'm way behind already, so todays mission is to get digging through all my old experimental notes and try and figure out what I did and write that up! Fun!! :-)

MatildaL, what I find helps is starting from scratch with ideas for the chapter/paper, go through again what you are trying to say and how you might say it and the important points that you need to include. Then I start writing a bit, and reading over old stuff and eventually I get back into the train of though where everything I have clicks back into place! Or I can see where I've been going wring with what I've been doing and I can fix it! :-)

S

Gee, that dr's earned his fee AQ! Stressed - nooohhh! What did they suggest you do, not work? Good luck getting into your old notes today.

And Matilda, I reckon rewrite what you've got, don't start again. I agree, after a few days off, when I look at work it's like it's been written by someone else (and not very well!), and I have no idea what it's about. It comes back tho...

Have a good day!

M

Thanks Sue and AQ
After a good nights sleep I feel better about approaching the task in hand. I will take your advice on board.
M

A

lol Sue I think I should have just waited a week to see my normal doctor, she's usually nicer! I've also been told by several people to 'just don't stress as much'....wow, I should have thought of that myself! Although it has given me a valid excuse to go and get a full body massage tomorrow, oh yes! :-)
So today I need to get this chapter done, or as much of it as possible, slightly freaking out that I still haven't started my last set of experiments yet, if it all goes this slow I'll never submit on time. I really wish Easter holidays weren't happening, the uni is closed so the heat is off so I have to work at home cos it's freezing in the office and I'm wasting so much time. And the person I'm doing experiments with isn't in again until next week. aaarrgh!

Good luck with your rewrite MaltildaL, I'm sure you'll get it sorted in no time :-)

A

ARGHHHHH! i just wrote a whole massive speel and then lost it! Summary:
hope all is well, good on you AQ for paper, sorry you struggling, but we will get there, we're here for you! I HATE WHEN PEOPLE SAY THINGS LIKE THAT!!!

I have finished M&M, almost finished intro which i've been staring at for two days, reading papers and not knowing what to write! decided today to get up and just write and now don't know what i was scared of as it doesn't look too bad I don't think.....!

sup took a week to open email with chapter 2 in, did it last night, and i've just realised and had a mini-panic attack! don't know why cos there's nothing I can do and it needs to be read etc but i'm just so scared and not sure i can handle the feedback that's coming my way!

also - too much cake, choc and biscuits in my house! :( it was my birthday on Tuesday and its all sitting here around me, partner and work and its very tempting to just gorge myself on the sofa and ignore doing work!
I really wish this was all over! On the bright side, i might actually complete my objective for week and get this chapter finished by Sunday, (or v. close if not), and then just two small chapters to go and big rewrite! If i can get this bit done and over next month get results of next two into order ready to write the thing then I think the dark tunnel might start showing me that pin-prick of light! :)

thinking of you all, keep smiling (manically if you feel like me today....) :-s
AL x

A

OOOHHH!!! Happy Birthday Alpacalover!! slightly belated but sure what the hell!

Good work on getting writing today, it's definitely more the thought of writing than the actual doing that's worse so I feel your pain!! And don't worry about your supervisor, when you get his reply sit with a nice drink before you read them and if his comments are still mean then get stuck into those biscuits and chocolate you've got, take a couple of days to let the comments sink in and deal with it when you are ready. You are on the home stretch now, only a few more months of his idiocy and you are free. That's what I tell myself about my evil sup anyway! :-)

Things have been going extremely slowly for me this week too, I hate working from home sometimes, and I can't settle properly this week! Can't wait to get back into the uni on Monday!! If nothing else, as I'm in a big open plan office I can't fanny around on the internet as much as I do at home! :$

A

Thanks AQ, I had a very quiet one - mainly studying! just a nice dinner in evening that I had to roll home from :)

you're right, I just need to keep thinking that in a few months I won't ever have to deal with him again! what a blissful thought, but unfortunately, it all seems so unreal, like it will NEVER actually happen, think this whole thing is a believe it when you see it situation!

I have to do all my work from home now, if I go anywhere else it gets really annoying cos I don't have all my things around me. I brought pretty much everything home from the lab when i started my new job as I knew I just wouldn't find the time to go in there for long periods and it would become an excuse to not do work :$ Over time though I have got used to it and actually find I can be quite productive in my own surroundings, its the getting started thats the worst bit, and if i'm struggling to get stuck into something I find a different easier task to carry out for a wee bit until I get into the swing of things.

Well, i have just finished my introduction (went from "its only going to be afew pages" = 10 pages!! oops) My dominoes pizza is at present being baked and then i'm going to do couple of hours of data analysis tonight ready to hit the discussion ideas tomorrow.

I hope you've managed to get a bit of a work groove on, if not though, don't punish yourself for it, you can only do so much and feeling guilty will not get you there any faster. how long do you have til submission? sometimes i used to decide that if the lab was closed then that was indicator that i should have a holiday too, but when the clock is ticking thats not so easy.

AL hugs x

S

Happy birthday AL!! Glad to hear it was nice, hope you and your boy spent some quality time together.

And don't worry about the comments you'll get back - you'll cope. AQ is right, have a drink when you look at them, a cry if necessary, put them aside then do them later.

Glad to hear you've been writing well. It's always starting which is the hardest. It sounds like you're making excellent progress!!

I've been told informally I have a job (it's an OK job in the civil service), and so think I'll be starting that in about 6 weeks. So that gives me a deadline of when I want to have the first draft done - or all the chapters rewritten. I have to rewrite the entire thesis again, and am just starting to rewrite my lit review. Have 6 inches of articles to read and incorporate into the lit review, in the next week!!

Have been working hard, yesterday did 23 tomatoes.

Onwards all, we're gonna get there!!

A

======= Date Modified 08 Apr 2010 22:45:41 =======
whooo Sue that's fantastic news!! Aww I'm so chuffed for you!! What a great incentive to get stuck in and get your first draft done, at a rate of 23 tomatoes a day you're flying! I wish I was as good as that! I could do a great 23 tomatoes of faffing around I'm sure though! Aww really, I'm so pleased for you!! Just made my night! :-)

And alpacalover, I'm not submitting until September, but I really really really want to get it in for then, it's my mums birthday shortly after so it would be just the best present for her! Plus the sooner I finish the sooner I can get job hunting and hopefully find something where my boyf lives and quit the long distance! Still have tons to do, not even started my final experiments yet which I still have to even learn how to do, have to write a paper and finish collating data for one of my studies, so I'm trying to get as much writing done in the meantime - one of my sups, the evil one, has a tendency to ask for rewrite after rewrite and doesn't tend to be bothered by deadlines so it could be a long drawn out affair if I'm not careful!

But we will get there, onwards and upwards!!

W

A belated happy birthday, Alpacalover. And Sue2604, well done on getting through 23 tomatoes. Now, I'm not a betting man or secretly trying to reveal your identity, but, on the subject of birthdays, I'm going to bet that yours is the 26 of this month (2604)!

S

Hahaha Walminski, no 2604 isn't my birthday, it's the postcode of where I live - oops, and the anonymity slips a little further!

A

Thanks Sue and Wally! Congratulations Sue, so pleased for thats fandabidosi! :) so chuffed for you, and with 6 weeks its a good amount of time and will give you the fire you need to just keep going and get as much done as you can!

right, must get back to it for hour or so!

A

Depressing response from sup (with only a few hours sleep last night
"I have the oppressive feeling that it's deja vu - all over again. For you to really get the idea of scientific writing/thesis production, I think that we need to meet, and go over the chapter bit by bit."

I sat and stared at it, had a wee panic attack, burst into tears, sipped my coffee, pulled myself together and replied! :) I'm so proud of myself!!!

I have sent a nice reply, saying I would really appreciate his input, asking if its content, style or both (I have 3 days left of holiday, probably the only hol I'll get til this is over, therefore if no point writing cos its sh*t i'm going to put my playstation on!).
Have offered up my weekend or friday when i'm off, as i'm working weekend shifts next week, and will see what he says! personally i'd prefer to meet over this weekend and know NOW what i'm doing completely wrong, otherwise I just have to put myself through agony for a week waiting!

I hate this process of ups and downs, I stayed up last night til 2am doing some data analysis, I managed so many hours yesterday (equating to about 18 tomatoes), which is the best i've done in a very long time! I went to bed feeling like this might actually come together and I wake up this morning again to shattered dreams. I wish i wasn't a) perfectionist b) unwilling/unable to give up on anything i've started!

over and out, I need more coffee and time to stare at the wall (which is very depressingly covered in mindmaps). AL

P.S. I do write terrible sentence structure on this forum, but I assure you, my writing is better than this, or maybe it's not? :( (why don't we have an emoticon with actual tears?

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