You're welcome Ang, and I also agree 4-6 hours is the maximum i can do in a day, no matter what! even if i glue myself to the chair all day and night.

45mins: 279 words, and a couple of more diagrams.

i am really sleepy now. i am going to go to bed and continue working on the chapter tommorow

now that the blank page is no more, and i am using my presentation as a foundation. its much easier

will try to get a skeleton draft completed in a few hours tommorow. and then send the 1st draft on monday.

i'm off to bed now. thanks again for your help Olivia!

hows your writing coming along?

see you in 45minutes.

i meant *methods section*

this chapter has 4 parts: introduction. method. results. discussion.

introduction. i have done a madman draft which i did a couple of days ago.
i will try to get the method section done tonite and then do the other two sections tommorow morning.

feeling sleepy now. but will do another 45 minutes and see how i feel.

that is fantastic Olivia, that the main writing is done and you're filling in the holes. well done you!

yes i love the flowers technique, its brilliant!

well my 45 minutes are up. i even cheated and turned back the egg timer to buy me 5 more minutes so i could squeeze in a few more words haha. funny isn't that? how the mind works!

total words 345. and hurrah! the document is no longer blank. and also i have added 2 figures i found from a presentation i did years ago on the study! so i am now using my presentation slides as a foundation to write my methods chapter.

hope your writing is going well

*sets the egg timer for another 45minutes*

thanks for the support and encouragement. i feel better now.

i will take your advice, and set my egg timer to 45 minutes, and write *something, anything* and see how that goes. will report back in 45minutes with what i have done.

hope your writing is going well. are you up late writing?

First of all that is so nice of you to say that you find inspiration by reading progress! that is really good to hear and thanks for the positive thinking!!

--

and wow that is amazing you did that!! most people would have just falled in despair and spent days looking for the file. that is really inspiring!! thanks for sharing that with me. its really nice to hear about other peoples writing experience!!

and i want to thank you again for introducing us to the flowers paradigm technique, best thing i have learnt !

you're so right. its easier to edit. i will just unleash the madman for 45 minutes and see what i come up with!

i will be burning the midnight oil tonight!

and really good to hear that you wrote such a good piece. that is excellent! well done you

you're welcome Angie, that quote makes so much sense to me too!!
im glad to hear you are feeling better about it all. i am too going to be reading alot papers in the next couple of weeks. lets keep an eye on each other and not get carried away in the note taking department!
good luck with your reading!

and thanks for the kind words Olivia

Thanks Olivia!! for the book recommendation and for the great idea of certain amount of time for madman etc. thats a really good idea. i will try that :)

just made myself a batch of popcorn and will start cracking with egg timer in place and my team of workers ie madman architect and carpenter. judge will work tommorow.
thanks again!

*sometimes happens to thesis writer

[correction]

quote from joan bolkers book:
p129 " hitting the wall - that is suddenly they feel that they can go no farther, that they've exhausted not only their second wind but all subsequent ones. its a paradoxical feelings, because you've already done most of the work. ......theres another kind of hitting the wall that somethings happens to thesis writers: you feel an impossible barrier between you and the finish line, the bottom falls out of your hopefullness and ambition and your spirits border on despair and collapse. ive more than once heard someone with less than 5% of her thesis left to write say "i've decided not to go on with this project"... this is a time when the demons can catch up with you..."

the challenge set by my uni graduate tutor was, 3 weeks: full first draft, to convince my supervisor i can write my thesis before the september deadline and submit it.

i've done 1st/2nd draft versions of 6 chapters out of 7 so far... i just have one more chapter to go. but as joan bolker remarks, i've hit the *wall* and i really dont like this chapter

i know why i have a mental block, because i know there is sooooooooo much to write and sort out for this chapter and everytime i start to work on something i think, but such and such still needs to be done, and there isnt enough time. and that it will take ages to have a zero draft done let alone a polished 2nd draft version.

*confession time*

i've been procrastinating *hangs head in shame* i cant get to work on my last yucky chapter. i am feeling overwelmed and lost by the task of this chapter. i now only have less than a day to write it. my deadline for a first draft is this monday.

finding it very difficult to write this chapter. i have no zero drafts no nothing to work on. just vague memory of what i did and my lab books.

i miss the luxury of more time - when i could have done a zero draft first and let the madman escape but the judge keeps pouncing on everything. cause of the deadline. i keep thinking, i cant write a zero draft first, because there isnt enough time to clean it up later, because there is *no* later, because i have to submit the full first draft on monday. i know it's very illogical. but thats how i *feel* and keep getting blocked and anxious that i lose concentration.

my friends and family are strict with me and dont let me go off the rails and keeping a close eye on me so that i really do work on my thesis. i think it helps having the emotional support!

but you working full time AND having to write your thesis. i know how hard that is! when i used to work full time, i was so tired from my RA job projects and then my phd experiments, that by the time i got home which was usually quite late! i had barely enough energy to have dinner and then hit the sack to get up again in the morning. its just really hard. so i hear ya!!!