Hi all

I am at the end of my second year and I just can't seem to get into any sort of flow or routine with my writing up. I just keep finding excuses to no write or read and fill my hours with other 'really, really important things' that need done. I feel like I have no motivation at all to finish it and recently felt close to quitting the thing for good to put some of my other more life experiential skills into practice in the real world. In short, I feel like I have lost the passion for it.

I was just wondering if any of you have had similar experience(s) and if you had any tips about how to plough through the thing. I am back three months now from my field research and am trying to write up my history/ context chapter by January to be 'upgraded' at Uni but I cant help but see the mountain and not the small piles...

AGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!:-s

I've had to return to my PhD and thesis writing many times, with very low motivation. I manage by drawing up lists of things to be done. With a large chapter I break it down into small bits, and draw up a list of those. Then I start with the most appealing (or least unappealing?) and take it from there. Start small. Don't think of the whole thing to be done. Admittedly I also find deadlines mighty motivating myself, with me usually scared into action!

Good luck!

Hello

I've been writing up for 5 months, and it is a hard slog. You need to get yourself into a routine - sit at your computer like it's a normal working day, have a list of things to do, and write. Just write and keep writing, and don't worry if it's bad. I also think that the shock of having to sit there, writing for hours and hours for days and days, over a long period of time, after the interesting work of doing field work is also hard, but it has to be done. Just think, writing up means you're getting closer to finishing!!

Lately I've taken to working in 25 minute blocks, using a timer:http://mytomatoes.com/ and seeing how many I can do in a day. If I know that I only have to work for 25 minutes, then 20 minutes, then 15 etc, and then I can take a break, I tend to focus harder and work better.

Writing up is really hard, and you need a routine, and discipline. It just has to be done. Don't look at your work as a mountain, see it as a series of small steps, to be taken one at a time, and very slowly this will grow into a mountain that you've written. If you haven't read Joan Bolker's book, 'Writing Your Dissertation in 15 Minutes a Day, get this too, it's really useful. And come back here and let us know how you're getting on. Good luck!

Hey guys thanks. Do you think three months of my last two years wasted will be too much wasted to be able to finish. I know its hard to say but a rough guess?

Not at all. You've plenty of time to catch up.

And to put that into perspective: I've managed to write up on typically 5 hours total a week, as a part-time (supposed to be half-time - ha!) student. And those were the good months. I had many many months over the 6 years of my PhD where I couldn't write a thing, due to long-term illness.

Good luck!

Concentrate on small bits at a time, it will all build up instead of looking at the whole picture, feeling overwhelmed and getting nothing done. Good Luck:-)

Don't worry about wasting 3 months, shouldn't make a difference. I did tutoring for 3 months, and basically didn't do any work on my thesis in that time, and it's put me behind, but not too much.

Glad this helped people! Yes, it is good - it's easier to keep going in short blocks. And getting the list of what you've done in those 25 minutes is also really interesting. Yesterday I noticed that it took me 2 hours to think about and work through one particular concept in a chapter, which translated just into 2 pars - no wonder writing up is taking me ages!

And at risk of offending mods by talking about another postgrad website, lately I've also been using the chat room at www.phinished.org. PhD students log in, work for 25 minutes - we all set our tomato timers - and then we all check in with each other. Having to be accountable to others online, as I study, makes me work really hard. People encourage each other at the end of each 25 minute block too - I have written more using this in the last little while than I have for ages.

Tricks we learn to get thru!