Just embarking on the editing of the above by deadline as I have heaps of marking of undergraduate papers awaiting me. The chapter was last updated at the end of last year and I have new material to add but am also reshaping things for greater coherence and bringing important points to the fore.

The husband's away though and it's all down to me at home too. Arrgh. So, talk me through this please, will you guys?

Good luck!! just keep at it, everyday. that's the only advice i can give. split it up into chunks also. so that you're not facing the big mountain all in one go as cakegirl metaphor suggests!

and join the club

update your progress everyday after your "working" hours. we can keep an eye on you

what will help, maybe is to read the chapter, highlighting important bits, and maybe make a brief outline of the whole chapter.

i read that the human mind has trouble holding more than 8 pieces of information in the forefront of their brain.
so go through your chapter once, and make an outline. then for each section, sum it up what the section is talking about.

then for each paragraph write one line as to what it's saying. that way you can see the skeleton of your chapter.

and maybe print it out. i find it easier marking my corrections on paper than i do on the monitor. and that way psychologically you know its printed out. so you dont feel so bad when you cut out things or edit them, because you can always go back if you want to put it in again. set yourself daily targets and meet them

like you have to have edited X number of words per day.

you have 15,000 words to go through. so that's about 3000 words a day.

good luck! you can do it!

I'm doing something similar. Meant to have Chapter 1 draft end May but it has turned into a bigger job and a bigger chapter so looking end June. We're moving house tomorrow - house is mainly packed except for pc. Probably be offline for a week

Perhpas you could set a day or two aside just to plan the changes you want to make then break the whole job down into sections with deadlines. I will start that again after the move. This chapter is all maths and I'm struggling to turn it into nice prose.

Thanks for the tips. I've done most of that and spent last night planning, highlighting and re-structuring with beautiful A3-sized mind maps.

I guess my problem is a lack of wanting to get the task done. Faced with a chapter I'd already written and slaved over I feel very daunted by the idea of having to work on it all yet again. I prefer the task of creating to the task of reworking every time and tend to procrastinate until things cannot be put off any longer.

So, taking your advice, I shall state now my objective for this day is:
to edit the intro to the chapter as well as the 1st and largest of four sections. Roughly six thousand words. Highly ambitious I know and I'll probably not make it but I like to aim for the stars so even if I fall halfway I still land close to the skies.

Thanks Lara, thanks Smilodon.

that sounds like a great plan tetris!

i know what you mean, it gets boring and you just don't wanna do it.

i love A3 mind maps!!

that's a good idea aiming for the stars!

report back and let us know how you got on with todays aim.

I agree. Editing and rewriting is a total pain - much prefer the original work.

hey Tetrisfiend, how are you coming along? how much have you done so far? (lol sorry don't mean to sound like a matron or anything ) just glad of the company.

who else is working away on their computer, writing ?

Hi Lara, it's coming along very very slowly.

HOw about you? What's your objective for this day?

Am most glad of the company too. )

well am suppose to be reading for my final viva next week but i dont want too. !! Its so nice outside, awww the end is in sight!

Just did my naughty thing and slipped off to a game of tetris. That's what I used to do alot of before I found this forum.

A viva...we don't have that where I am, cannot say I fancy the idea as it sounds real daunting *sorry* But how does one prepare for a viva? Is it, as I heard, literally a defence of the thesis?

Yes its a defence of your thesis. Just been reading papers and my thesis. Am hoping its just going to be like a chat, am published so cant slam my work too badly as have already been peer reviewed. Just scary as can ask anything. Hopefully will be Dr Clowning this time next week.