tractorgirl, sorry to hear you're still not 100% - hope you get better real soon! try to take it easy the next few days until you're fully recovered.

well done on getting all your figures/aims done!! that is really excellent!

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well i took the longest nap today! so felt guilty so worked late tonight.
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*clocking out*

total "productive time" = 2 hours and 15 minutes
total words verbatim notes on R cluster analysis = 4901 words. starting to understand now about cluster analysis. and i think i might be ready to start analysis my data tommorow. i just need to read a few more web pages on R cluster analysis and then start analysing my data and being able to interpret it and explain it hopefully!! hoping all the reading and note taking has sunked into my brain.

And yes, I agree, we both do have a similar approach to writing!

Someone on this forum (botanybod) once told me she read an article by a psychologist, when i was feeling disheartened about my approach and how at the time i was just writing notes verbatim and gathering information, her comment really made me feel better.. she told me:

"psychologist was arguing that the best way to write first was to first write loads of 'rubbish', be it copied and pasted stuff or stuff from the top of your head and then edit it down. Apparently people who write like that are loads more productive than those who plan meticulously and try to write perfectly first time".

wow Olivia 2500 is really fantastic!! excellent work !

Thanks Olivia

although I must add he does not talk about the Holistic approach in the article in detail, but mentions briefly how the book by Philips and Pugh (1987) in "how to get a PhD" identify two main different types of writer - serialists and holists.

he then talks about "serialists who plan their writing in detail before beginnning to write while holists can only think as they write and therefore work through a succession of different drafts".

i use this eggtimer website

http://www.myeggtimer.com/

i set the timer usually to the default 15 minutes. and when the timer is up, i then log onto the webpage - (it beeps which is handy!)..and i type in how many words i have written in those 15 minutes (in the to do list)... (even if the words are verbatim notes).

and then i set the timer again for the next 15 minutes and see how many words i can get done.. it's sort of like a game/challenge.

try it. it helps me for times when i am really stuck or bored. and then at the end of the day, i count how many "15 minute" productive time sets i did, and then write in my book how much productive time i spent working on my thesis and what i did.

I especially liked how in the article he writes about how you should not think about thinking too much like it's mental arithmetic. "just look at it, touch it, smell it, listen to it, turn yourself into it".

and I think i am a holist - i need to make notes and write *rubbish* and go through loads of drafts. i can't write perfectly first time. and i can't plan my writing either.

the most profound comment he wrote

"when people start writing they think they've got to write something definitive... i think that is fatal. The mood to write in is 'this is quite an interesting story i've got to tell, i hope someone will be interested. Anyway it's the best I can do for the present'. If one adopts that line one gets over it and does it. (Martin Smith).


Hughes writes "don't get it right get it written" i think that should be a motto us phd writers should all adopt i will be writing that on a postit and sticking it to my monitor screen right now!

the fear of failing to finish my thesis in the time i have - the way i envision what my thesis should be - is what is holding me back.

but what the writer in the article states, "don't get it right, get it written" let your unconsious mind free and just write, worry about getting it right later. i am going to go back to that approach, and then make time for editing and making sure it is correct later. i need to go back to the "madman stage"

thanks for sharing the article, it's really helped me to put things into perspective for me.

excellent article! I just finished reading it.

upon reading this article - i realised why i have had writers block for the past 2 weeks, i am at the stage where i basically have to finalise my thesis and make sure it is all correct, because my supervisors do not have time to read my thesis. it is all down to me. making sure it is all accurate.

the responsibility all falls onto me, to make sure that my thesis is correct. and i think that responsibility has been the reason for my mental block.

because i now have to work on my "final" draft -the fear of getting everything correct and right is what is holding me back.

i realised that whilst i was working on my 1st draft, what mattered was to get it written, not to get it right. now that i have to finalise my thesis and make sure everything i write is accurate and add more results/discussion etc basically add *more* content.

awesome, my uni has access to this journal! i didn't think it would
i just found the article and am printing it out and will read it now. looks very interesting!!!

but sometimes, when i tell myself i *only* have to work for 15 minutes, it usually ends up becoming an hour. sometimes i just need to get going and have a little push and then i am sailing away...

today has been very unproductive, despite all my plans and hopes! only worked for half an hour, and then had lunch, then felt sleepy and slept most of the day! i am wide awake now, so i am going to work through the night now. but in short bursts, like 15 minutes, and then have a 5 minute break. and so on!

but yes, you are most definately NOT alone!!

weetabix, what you just said resonated with how i have been feeling for the past couple of weeks! endless amounts of procrastination and unproductivity - i feel terribly guilty, and really want to work hard, but everyday i just cant muster up the motivation to actually do it!

i am really interested in the article you cited, i will definately check it out, and hope it might inspire me! i only have 2 months left and i HAVE to submit my thesis or i will be TERMINATED (literally!).. but knowing this, i still cant get motivated. i think like others have said here, it can be fear and the immense task of it all. but like alot of forum members have advised, to just take it one bite at a time. little tasks.

and I agree with Olivia, i have such a short attention span, that i have to use the egg timer website , to work in tiny little shifts. sometimes when it's really bad, i will just work for 5 or 10 minutes.

good for you for ploughing on! and just concentrating on your chapter. i hope you dont have to pay the tuition fees next year.

Hi Tractorgirl, thanks

and sorry to hear you got ill. glad you are feeling better now. yep you're right lets just forget about last week and move forward
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celesmai, i am so sorry to hear about your Gran I hope God willing she does get to see your baby. it must be such an emotional and stressful time for you, and hard to concentrate. that's good that you are trying but it's understandable in such a stressful atmosphere in not being able to concentrate.
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my aims:
1. read and write notes on R cluster analysis (google articles).
2. R cluster analysis of 18 patients.

lol

*clocks out*

total productive time today: 1 hour and 10 minutes.
total words (*verbatim notes*) on cluster analysis = 894 words.

I found a great aricle on the internet that is explaining it in basic terms , so feeling a little less frightened now.

have *parked* on the downhill slope and will continue tommorow....

goodnight.

i basically was just going to work for only 15 minutes, but actually got into it, and kept setting *new* 15 minute egg timers on the eggtimer website.. so feeling abit better now that i did *something* today.