Hello all,

I really need some kind words here, as I am writing a paper that I would like to submit at a journal, but I always imagine the reviewers making a funny face and seeing so many wrong things with my paper. I CANNOT PROGRESS. Each time I want to write, I tell myself 'what is the point? It's rubbish'. I have so little confidence in my methods, but if someone asked me to improve, I would not know how. I have been to conferences, but got no feedback. Perhaps my paper was not that interesting.
How can I overcome this feeling that I am being too ambitious and how can I stop imagining the reactions of potential reviewers/editors? It might seem like a benign thing, but I face writer's block as a result of this. I procrastinate because of this as well. I just want to cry.

Getting a paper published is hard. What about your university peers - have they read your paper? That is far more useful than any general blandishments anyone here can offer. Actually, it's more important to be prepared to face any negative reaction than to imagine that the reaction will definitely be positive. If that sounds pessimistic, apologies - but I think all academics have to get used to rejections. It's part and parcel of academia. Just learn from every experience as much as possible. If it's your first submission, get some useful experience without too much risk by going for a less demanding journal.

Hi 29200
You should read more books so that you can develop your skills, by reading only you can improve your skills, it will help you to think like a professional writer. Don't waste your time thinking for reviewers you just concentrate on your reading and writing work then you will feel confidence and I'm sure it will help you.
Good luck :)

Hi everyone I am a first year Phd student who is panicking about my upgrade/confirmation exercise to be held in 2.5 months. I need to write up a chapter of the proposed thesis and I am totally lost. I have attempted to write a draft but its no where near completion to be submitted to my supervisor for comments and I have not been able to type anything in the last 2 months. How should I proceed from here. For starters I need to submit a draft in the next 5 days. What should i do I am panicking. Please advice. thank you

Try doing some free writing - just spend around ten minutes writing whatever comes into your mind about your topic without worrying about style, punctuation or grammar. That way you have something on the page which you can start improving.

Dear AislingB,
Thanks for the advice. I hope to write up my draft of 10000-15000 words in the next few days. Eventually submitting my chapter by end of May. Hope thats feasible.