Forgot to say I had a submission nightmare earlier: obviously it's getting to me! It involved me struggling to print things out, and getting really frazzled. Forced myself to wake up before it got too bad!

Made me all the more determined to have things tied up, almost completely, by the start of March, so I can calmly submit my thesis before my absolute university deadline of the end of March.

I had my first nightmare about submission several months ago - I like to get ahead with certain things ;-)

I've got into the habit of setting myself a target of 1000 words a day and if I achieve it I put a gold star in my diary for the day :-) 2000 words = 2 stars and so on! I've gone back to basics with the reward scheme! Silly I know but it does make me feel like I'm accomplishing something. Maybe you could try something like that Teeks?

Nice system DrSeeker! Altho I've found that counting words doesn't work for me - are they original words or rewritten words? If only original words count, then editing and rewriting doesn't count, which of course it does.

Have woken up after not enough sleep in a horrible hot night. Am studying at 5.30am to finish referencing an article due with my sup today. Also had a dream about being in an exam...funny you all mention PhD nightmares, I think I've had my first one...

....references await...

Good afternoon fellow labourers!!
Nothing much happening here except for the corrections which are back breaking,... my back feels like its gonna go kaput from sitting down. Fair enough i have a good chair and i take small breaks to stretch but alas, looks like i have to just feel and endure. Thanks Sue for welcoming me and can I just say to Rick; how i envy you for having handed in your first draft already!!

Hi fellow travellers

Ahh, have hit a wall. Worked solidly all week-end finishing an article with my supervisor, and doing a powerpoint presentation for a conference paper, and have been having trouble getting back into revising the latest chapter. Am tired and overwhelmed. Am working in an non-thesis related job during the day, and once I go to the gym then come home and have dinner, it's almost 9pm and am too tired to work...and to think I used to do that all the time...

Am procrastinating and feeling guilty. I know all the tricks - just do a little bit, rewards etc etc, but these aren't working. I've set the submission date - 18 June - which is 150 days away. Not long! Thought that might panic me into working, but I just feel tired and overwhelmed. Have gone out and picked up brochures from the travel agents so I can think about a post-submission holiday, and instead, I daydream about having a holiday, instead of writing.

Oh well, only another week and a half of the tedious day job, then I go to an annual conference, which always inspires me...

Musing in the void, forgive the rambling...just another form of procrastination....

Hi Sue,
I had a bad week last week.  The weather and general January darkness left me feeling very depressed and unmotivated.
This week isn't too bad - the sunshine yesterday really lifted my mood
Try not to beat yourself up too much - everyone has periods during which work just doesn't seem to happen.  We can't be expected to work solidly between now and the summer - we'd end up stark raving lunatics!!
Are you presenting at the conference?
xx

Hi DrSeeker

Try and get some sunshine to lift your mood! It's summer where I am, and no end of sunshine, so I don't have that problem at least...yes, I know, I can't be productive all the time, but I have a workplan to stick to!

Yep, am presenting, on a topic only tangentially related to my thesis, so that's more work too, to refamiliarise myself with what I wrote 6 months ago.

Glad to hear this week is going better for you. Too tired, am giving up on today...

Oh I would love to get some sunshine! Unfortunately the weather where I am isn't co-operating! It was alovely day yeseterday but today is grey and dark. I'm trying to exercise a bit more, but even the motivation to do that is lacking! Whereabouts are you based then Sue?
Good luck with the conference paper!
Try not to beat yourself up about the work plan - that only adds to the bad feelings!

Hi Sue

I feel like you - tired and overwhelmed, although my circumstances are a different (no non-thesis dayjob for instance!). But fact is (and we all know that) that motivation, drive and will power comes in waves. You obviously finished your presentation, worked on that article and now you need a breather. Although revising a chapter sounds like easy work, I have always found that revising text can be terribly annoying and hard, especially if one wants to do a good job at it. I have just found out that a paper that I worked on seemingly forever (with lots! of revisions made following reviewers comments) has now been finally accepted by the journal, provided I make a few further minor revisions. When I read the email from the editor, I should have been jumping up and down with joy, but all I could think of were the additional revisions! I am sooo fed up with this bit of work, and although the comments made are all addressable(?!), I am struggling to go through them without taking a break (this is what I am in fact doing now:p). So, I can empathise with you, looking back through one's work, revising stuff is just tough.

Procrastination...mm. Yes, I do it, too, although I am counting the days until submission - why? It seems the only way to stay sane. I have decided not to beat myself up about it, go with the flow. I am fully aware I am doing it when I am doing it (like coming here responding to posts), but I am not fighting it. I am doing work everyday, I make (some) progress, and some days it's less than on others. I have a plan on what to do each week and I am hell sticking to it, but of course, it has in built "buffers". The key is meet the targets (not to excel at them).

So, you dream about a holiday? Good for you, at some point you will have submitted your thesis and thinking about what comes after (only the good things of course) surely helps to keep the mind in an upbeat mode..
I hope the conference will be interesting and good fun, and until then, well, do what you can (after 9pm) and if it's not much, okay, maybe some sections of your thesis will be a bit shorter than you would have wanted "in an ideal world".;-)

Good luck and keep it up(sprout) - Poppy:-)

Hi all

Today I really fit right right in with this theme of being overwhelmed! Every time I think the end of my practical work is in sight, and that I can make some progress - a machine fails, or an assay doesn't go as expected, all I ever seem to do is generate more questions and shoddy data, it's really getting me down. I can't see this ever getting done with the way things are going, and God knows I'm behind on even thinking about the writing.

Sorry, moan over (honest). Going to review the whole situation on paper, even though it terrifies me to do it. And then make the final amendments to this paper so that at least something concrete has been achieved today - I can sympathise so much with the hatred of endless revisions!

Sure - I think the others are right, you've been busting a gut getting all this done and now you're in the trough of the wave, try to ride it out without too much self recrimination and you'll hit your stride again soon. And dream of that holiday, God knows we need something to look forward to!

Thanks everyone, I feel much better! And nice to know we're all in the same boat and sick to death of revising and making such slow progress! You're right Poppy, it does come in waves and I just need to get through this trough. I do some each day, and yep, it's all progress. Was revising last nite, trying to work out my main argument, and just realising that I'll be tinkering with these chapters, so they all point towards the same conclusions, a lot...yes, seems neverending.

Keep revising Teek, like me, and well done Poppy on getting the article finally accepted! I also had an article accepted recently, and looking back at it the other day, I realised that I have quoted another article I've written in the text, and then forgotten to include me in the bibliography!! How hopeless is that!! Can't even cite myself properly! That's so tragic I had to laugh. Ah, learnt that lesson the hard way - always make sure you quote and reference your own work properly!!

Will potter along and do the best I can until the w'end, then am sure will get my mojo back and tear into revising the next chapter. Thanks all, we'll get there in the end.

And DrS, I'm in Australia, where we don't have vivas, but just wait a long time for examiners to get back to us....

Hi Tsipat,

thank you.

Sorry to read about your back.
Probably best not to sit in one position all the time. I think it is anyway a good idea to do a bit of work, do something else again, bit of work etc. Before you know you will have your (draft) thesis ready!:-)

Hi Sue,

that is the spirit, just keep on going!

Is it very hot where you are in Australia? Down here (Europe) it has been very cold, with lots of snow, yet now a bit warmer again.

We've just had a cool spell, which has been lovely, but before that we had a heat wave, with temperatures around 40 degree C - just horrible for studying, and my house doesn't have air conditioning. Generally it's hot, but manageable - and good beach weather (a trip to a beachside town next week-end is my reward for getting thru this tedious temp office job).

Off to the office for me, maybe I can fit in a bit of lit searching when I'm there...have a productive evening all.

Hi Sue,

40 degrees that is hot!

How is the writing going?

Have a nice weekend!