Have you agreed/arranged an external examiner? Can you put some suggestions forward, and sandwich your needs around what you think this particular external may hone in on regarding your thesis, thus the need to make sure those points are covered, etc? I think its harder to dodge very specific requests/needs than vague ones.

because it looks gloomy here in PhD Land! I think that there are some eclipses scheduled to happen in a few weeks, or maybe its in August, and not that I entirely hang my hat on what the planets do to reflect moods and life events, but on the other hand, its always nice to have a planet to blame things on ( Mercury is in retrograde, or Pluto is in a square junction with Mars...)

Why not make a numbered list of exactly what you need before you feel comfortable to submit, and suggestions of how it might be done if the supervisor cannot do it ( ie another person to review, committee, something!) with dates by which you would like it accomplished. Not a list of demands, per se, but a list of what you NEED before you will submit, as in " I NEED these things from you, these are NON-NEGOTIABLE events that have to happen before I feel as if I am ready to submit." And dependent on the response, take it upwards, if needed, from there. You will at least have primo documentation.

How awful! I am so sorry to hear this!!! If none of the other ways of reaching him work, can you just appear unannounced at his office and WAIT ( and wait and wait) until he meets with you or sets up a definite date and time to meet? Sort of a mini sit in until he give you satisfaction? Can you ask that someone besides him review your thesis before submission--someone who is well versed in the theoretical math modelling you are doing? Suggest some names and etc, so that he has to say no ( if he would) to a person and not just a vague request?

congrats on the good news Jojo--well done for your perservreance and good luck with the new work you are doing!

Are you a holist or a serialist? ( based on discussion of writing styles from another thread)

A holist apparently writes as they go, does loads of drafts, etc., while a serialist likes everything outlined and planned before they proceed.

I am a poster child for holist writing!

Curious as to what others are!

Moral of the story: was the person handling insurance claims that dim? Its hard to imagine. Were they hoping I would not insist on coverage and just let it go? If enough of these small bills are not covered by payouts from the company, it probably adds up to a large sum. Its hard to know what the motivation or cause was for the denial, but since then I have looked askance at insurance company coverage and always inquired to get in writing reasons for denials of payment.

Mind, I am no biologist, but even I could reason out that there was NO possible connection between a chicken bone choking incident and a routine wellness check...yanno, the knee bone connected to the thigh bone, the thigh bone connected to ...etc....I made a complaint to the insurance oversight administration, who wrote a scathing letter to the insurance company, who promptly decided indeed they should cover the test after all...

I had an unfortunate experience with my US health insurer, years ago--just giving this as an example of what can happen with insurance. I was out to lunch, and had ordered a salad with chicken, and I began to choke on something in the salad, probably a small bit of chicken bone. Fortunately there was an crew of ambulance paramedics at lunch who came to my aid! I sought medical treatment anyway right away to make sure I was OK--which I seemed to be. Months later, my insurance company denied coverage for my annual PAP smear, saying I had a pre-existing condition. When I asked for an explanation, I was told that due to choking on a chicken bone I now had some kind of gynocological condition (!) that prevented them from covering my PAP smear.

Are your most productive hours your night time hours, Lara? You seem like a nightowl! I had a flatmate when I got one of my earlier degrees, who was most productive if she studied at night. She would stay up late at night and work very hard, and then go to bed just before I was getting up. It was what worked best for her, even if her schedule was out of sync with people who thought you should be productive in the daytime--what mattered in the end is that she got her work done well. I wonder if you just kept the hours your body prefers--would that be all night? And would you work better that way?

Wow--thanks for all that information, Lara! Yes, I must be one of those holist writers, I think as I go, and I do loads of drafts, and the first drafts, well, they are pretty rough! I cannot imagine if I had to produce like a serialist...I would never get anything done.

That sounds really interesting, Lara! I must have a read of the article, it sounds like you and I have the same approach to writing ( a holist--which I want to read more about!)

I hope you get unstuck and keep going!

I got 2500 or so words done today--just writing, knowing it was not anything close to perfect, sometimes if I could not be bothered with a whole sentence to try to capture ideas, I just jotted in phrases, knowing I would come back to it later!

That article sounds interesting Weetabix--I will have a look and see if I can get access to it! In the meantime, I hope that it works for you, and interested to hear what you thought of what it said!

On days like today when I have a 5 minute attention span, I just try to work with that...and work for 5 minutes--over the course of a day it adds up to something anyway, 2,457 words in a rough draft...very madman...but there is structure, there is plan, there is a conclusion, and I know where I need to map out the rest of the writing...if I can do another 2500 words tomorrow, that is 2/3 of what I am trying to produce--a third day and a working draft would be all done--HOORAY!!! and this done whilst reading Liz Jones' diary ( I am getting addicted, I want to know more about her sheep dog!), this forum, my horoscope, etc...on and off between my 5 minute writing spurts!

Thanks, usually I am taxed if I hit around 700-1000 words..but this is very much a madman brainstorming and writing exercise...so I am in the fun phase of making ideas come together and not the awful part of editing, revising...ugh....