Thank you for all the advice. I am going to persevere with it. Drawn up a timetable, so shall see how this goes!

I can't stand the idea of losing it at this point, even though there is a mountain to climb (not least the fact that I will have to re-read practically everything for the introduction).

I appreciate the comments.

Hi all,

First post - partly because I need to speak to someone who just won't say "oh you should finish it!".

I did three years full-time on my PhD. I completed data collection, but not much of thesis. I then had to get a job which was 8.30-6 Monday till Saturday, my marriage broke up and so I stalled for sometime. In two years, I have barely gone back to it and I'm down to my last 6 months.
I want the PhD. I don't want to have wasted the time. But work is still very time consuming and I also run another business on the side to pay the bills. Essentially I have between 6 and bedtime after a day's work. I have my kids every other weekend and just one SAturday off in 6 weeks.

Am I mad to consider that I no longer want an academic career and so should I be stressing myself out about failing PhD. There is a mixture of shame, fear of failing on the "go for it" side, as well as not wanting three dead years on my CV. On the other side, I could shrug off a whole load of stress and free up my time.

I want to make a go of my business, get back to fiction writing (novel is on third draft but haven't touched that in three years), spend time with kids and spend time with long-suffering girlfriend.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Alan