Lara's Writing Up Diary - inspired by Jojo

O

Hi Lara,
If it were me, I would leave out the third chunk of writing excusing the quality of the results. If you want to write a chapter on this you want the results to be worth writing a chapter on it.
If your saying the results are poor then your supervisor may agree.

I have been really impressed with your attitude- keep going and you do deserve this phd!

xx

L

awwww Thanks so much omega monkey!! so kind of you, I really appreciate it, you made my day

thanks for the advice, you're right! that does make sense. okay i will edit that bit out

thanks so much for the positive encouragement, it really means alot to me, i really appreciate your support and kind words!

L

my first draft of the results section of chapter 5 sent to my 2nd supervisor!

It took the whole day today, to transform my "zero" draft to a "first draft" and then I got an idea to make 2 new tables, whilst I was working on my zero draft.

well, I sent it! now I just have to wait to see what she thinks, she was very sceptical that the results don't mean anything and that perhaps i can't write a chapter on it for my thesis or include it! so hopefully all my result tables and figures and my thoughts on what the results mean, may sway her! *fingers crossed*

L

*clocks out*

total words for 1st draft of chapter 5 (results only and some discussion points) = 2,907

total pages approx = 15 pages

total productive time today = 4 hours.

nb: the freewriting, writing messy, zero draft concept, really works!!
-
i am now taking the evening off. and starting on a new chapter tommorow...have't yet decided which chapter to work on next.

Thanks everyone for your support

L

wow just got a reply back from her, she must be working late in the office (no suprise she works really hard! my main supervisor hardly appreciates the hard work she puts in and the long hours)

she said thanks and got the files okay



L

and deadlines REALLY work. I've accomplished more in these two days than i have all week! because i knew i HAD to email my draft by monday (even though the deadline was self imposed, i chose the deadline, but nonetheless for me, I wanted to get it done, so that I could get cracking on the other chapters and even though I am 1 day late ) but no matter!

L

and this forum is the best!! i've stopped emailing my friends and facebooking. i'd rather message here, during a break, because it encourages me to get back to writing.. it's nice to be in the company of fellow phd students that really understand what you are going through and encourage and support you and have faith in you that you can do it. positive thinking is very important in writing...

L

Hey BB, not heard from you in awhile, how are you doing? I hope you're okay.

although, i have lost the concept of time.. hours seem to be days! and days weeks...so maybe it's not been that long since you last messaged, but feels like it

L

i'm feeling depressed

just got another email from my 2nd supervisor, and she said she has alot of things to do, and is very busy..and can't look at my draft anytime soon... and told me i forgot to add a whole set of data (which i did, ooooops). so going to work on that next couple of days.

maybe it's too late, and i don't have enough time to write a thesis. as my supervisors are super busy with other stuff. and don't have time to look at my drafts and stuff.

oh well. i will just have to do it on my own, i suppose.

maybe it is too ambitious and unrealistic to think i can write my thesis in 3 months

i guess the best i can do, is write my chapters to the best of my abilitiy, at least then i will have done "something".. better than nothing eh...

L

feel too guilty to take the evening off. don't feel that i deserve to. so will do a couple of more hours and sort out the extra data. maybe it will make me feel better...

H

Maybe your supervisor is just too busy to look at the stuff this week. Don't get discouraged - in the mean time, turn your attention to another section that isn't dependent on the bit you've sent her.

From several accounts, I've had the impression that the time needed to write up a thesis is 'three months, full time writing'. So there you go - you have the perfect amount of time. If you had four months, it would take four months. If you had six, it would take six. That's not a reflection on you - that's a reflection on human nature! :)

Good luck!

M

Lara, don't despair! Frankly, the next 3 mths are going to be a very bumpy road for you in attempting to meet your deadline. This will be the first of many setbacks.

You should take the evening off (what's left of it!), you've met a deadline so reward yourself a little.

As Hazyjane says, turn your attention to another chapter.

L

HazyJane, thanks so much for your comment, it really made me feel bettter!!

You're right, she probably is just busy, i don't know why i felt that she was critising me, I guess I am just way overly sensitive these days, and feel guilty for burdening her with my thesis, because i know she has so much on her plate. and i felt bad that i left out data. It was bothering me so much, i spent the past 2 hours pulling out the data and compiling it, and have just emailed it to her. so now i feel better, that it's done

Thanks for the reassurance that 3 months is plenty of time. i really needed to hear that!!

and you're so right!! if you have longer time, you will just take as long. thanks so much, you're so kind

L

missspacey, you're a star! thanks so much for the postive encouragement, I really needed it!!

In the end i didn't take the evening off. I felt so bad that i left out the data she mentioned, that i just had to get it together. so instead will treat myself tommorow, and watch a dvd film, and then get cracking on a new chapter thanks for saying i deserve a little reward for meeting a deadline. that makes me feel less guilty hehe.

yep, thats good advice, to work on another chapter, in the meantime :)
will start on a new chapter tommorow..

----
*clocks out* approx 2 extra hours productive time..

B

Hi - just a quick word of encouragement to say I think you're doing really well, esp dealing with hurdles. Keep at it and stay positive!

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