Greetings. Postgraduate, humanities, in an obscure branch of studies related to librarianship.I've published as well. Rank and number available on request :P

So: SN,AFU - Four days to go and last edits before handing in the fabled draft to my supervisors, containing three years' work and somewhere, ethereally, my heart, my soul, and the dreams of three years.
So why do I feel like deleting the whole thing, having a tantrum that even Supernanny wouldn't be able to cope with, and chucking the whole thing?
I've had the midpoint depression, I've had the 'post data collection' depression, and I'm just wondering if this is a sign I'm never going to be Dr Goth. Please tell me this doesn't last. Family are not as supportive as I'd hoped they'd be - apparently all I need is to stay alone in a room for long enough and it will all get magically finished.This explains why I had only xmas day 'off' (tofurkey and time for Farmville).
Something tells me this is not going to be a Happy New Year.:-(

Hi PGG,

I am not quite at this stage (a few months from hand in, no idea when the fabled draft will emerge...if ever?) but can identify with your "I'll just stop now" feelings. I'm sure what you're feeling is completely normal - I think there are similar threads on here.

Remember that this is a draft, not the final version, so it's an opportunity to identify the bits with your supervisors that you aren't sure about and improve them (and also for them to spot the things you might have missed). It's not the final deadline quite yet.

As for the family - hmm...tricky, personally I wish I could just stay alone in a room for long enough and it will magically get finished but hey ho, it doesn't quite work like that. You could try explaining it to them, or you could just ask them to make you the occassional cup of tea?

I hope you manage to find time for a glass of fizz tonight, 2010 will be an exciting year, even if the first few days are a bit grim!

Good luck
CG

Hi CG,

I agree, I know it's a draft (albeit a pretty much finalised one)...I think the key to feeling better about things is to have a really really strong support team. Sadly I've had problems and clashes with my supervisor team, so I think that's where some of the nihilism stems from (!).
As to the family, it's been an ongoing problem: I have to say that I've only met one family who knew what the prospective PhD student was going through. It helps if they themselves have degrees. I'd like there to be a study one day looking at the kinds of stresses that PhD students (from all walks of life) suffer according to the relative educational levels of their family. I'm the only one in the entire family who's reached University.