persuasion has always been a book i've wanted to read, i loved the concept.

My favourite is the opening page, "it sometimes happens that a woman is handsomer at twenty-nine than she was 10 years before and generally speaking if there has been neither ill health nor anxiety, it is a time of life at which scarcely any charm is lost".

i like it, because i was 29 when i read that

3600 words is great!! well done you.

and don't worry about skiving, we all need a break! i've had primeval on in the background the whole day, theres a marathon on itv3. lol

sometimes in order to keep my butt on my computer chair and carry on writing, i have to have something on in the background, so i don't feel bored. i wrote my entire mphil thesis, with matrix on a constant loop lol

ooh Persuasion, i would have liked to have watched that. i was planning on reading persuasion, bought the book from ebay but then it never arrived! and even organised a monthly jane austen book club (like that one film) with my best friends. but then as always guilt that i should spend 24/7 of my time on my phd, came crashing in. something after i am done with my thesis though :)
i must buy it.

pride and prejudice the bbc version is my favourite.

good luck tetris!!! you can do it

you're in company.

my deadline is to get 1/3 of chapter 6 written, based on the stuff i wrote in my mphil thesis, so most of the words are already there, but need to edit, rewrite and highlight certain areas, i need to expand on (therefore lots of blue and pink coloured writing of questions in amongst the body of my text).

my target is to get: 7000 words done (edited) by tonight.

so far: i have 1444 words.

ANG, I'm with you too! what you said makes alot of sense.

i think the trouble is comparing writing up time between science and humanities based phds.

and like you said, some people are starting from scratch, others have rough sketches of the chapters, and others have papers already written, and so their core content would have already been approved by the supervisor. but of course, corrections will still need to be done.

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ANG, are you doing a science Phd? (sorry I've forgotten)

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Aloha, what type of Phd are you doing?

miss spacey! that makes alot of sense!! i agree. the lab work and the data analysing is the most time consuming in science phds....

its very difficult to compare science phds with non science phds. like chalk and cheese really.

sounds like writing is a different kettle of fish, in humanties and law type phds. that makes alot of sense what you said.

you've really nailed it!

i know alot of science phd'ers that wrote their thesis in 3 months, full time writing though. so it can be done. and they passed just fine. besides the examiners can always say "rewrite" it and give you an extra 18 months to pull it up to good standard. i think positive thinking is important.

Aloha, may I ask what year your in with your phd?

Aloha, that's true, but in my particular case, if i dont submit. i will automatically fail. so i really have no choice. so the thesis wont be perfect. but it's better that i fail because the thesis was crap, then fail out of default because i did not submit anything, because i was making it perfect.

Aloha, you would be suprised what people can accomplish, if they only have 3 months.

but yah i do agree, a year writing up, would be ideal. i just wish i had that luxury!

so my advice to those who are in your 3rd or 4th year, start writing up, even if it's just abit everyday. it does add up!

Perhaps your the type of person that works very productively and doesn't panic or stress about how long it will take to write up.

Adem, can i ask what stage you're at in your Phd?
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Joan Bolker writes about deadlines saying that people associate it with "meet it or your dead meat"..

"external deadlines ...neither kids nor adults like the feeling that someone else is controlling their lives. some of us get anxious in the face of adult deadlines and suddenly shrink to child size, with feelings of inadequacy,.sure we cant possibly meet the demands. some of us get desolate and want to give up before we've even tried, suire that meeting deadlines is out of the question"

the point is, we're all different and react in different ways.. although logically we know, we cant be expected to be given an infinite time to write up, but emotionally its hard to know that if you dont meet the deadline you will fail. some people are better copers than others.

i think what makes people panic and stressed, is knowing that they "ONLY" have a certain amount of time. it's the fact that they have a deadline (irrespective) of the length of it, that makes them panic. when a person knows they only have a certain amount of time to do something, it causes them to become panic and anxious.

i've seen it myself. that when i set myself "artificial" deadlines, even though i set them, i tend to become anxious about meeting them.

it's not a question how long a person wants to write up. its the fact that external factors have FORCED them to definately write up in that period of time, or they will FAIL. it's that what causes them to panic. not that they were expecting years to write up.

and some people can't handle deadlines at all. they become so anxious about it.

hey Jojo good luck with your work today.

really Jane? oh that's reassuring, because that's exactly how much time i do have...

and Adem., someone on this forum once told me, that if you have 6 months to write, it will take 6 months. if you have 3 months to write, it will take 3 months.

the shorter time you have, the more you will push yourself and work longer in each specific day.

like if you have 6 months. you will work maybe 2 or 3 hours a day. if you have only 3 months, you will try to work at least 6 hours in a day.

"when a man knows he is to be hanged in a week, it concentrates his mind wonderfully". before i got my letter saying I HAVE to submit. i was writing rather "slowly".. but now that i have this ultimate deadline. it's helped to keep me focused, and drop all other activities from my life. so literally i eat, sleep and drink my thesis, but then say to myself its only for 3 months, i can sacrifice not having a life for just 3 months.

Thanks Jane

that's made me feel better.

liminalplace,

sorry what i meant to say was, that it's NOT crap that you have written 1 chapter only and you have 5 to go. that's great... you're in your 2nd year and have already written 1 chapter. that's really good! most people have zero chapters written after they finish their 3 year! and write up after they have finished their lab work or research or whatever. so that's really great you're already thinking about writing up. most people don't even want to think about it. until it's really crunch time. like me!