MMmm..... food as reward seems a common theme. What about a vigorous work out in the gym, de-stressing and dessimating all the stress bugs and empty calories? The natural endorphines is simply mind blowing.

Hi J,
One way of "speeding up" is to ask people if they would read your work. Once they agree to a date, you work towards it PDQ. What do you think?

Hi Chris,
Sleep is good. Sometimes I do a sleep marathon: 14hours of zzzzzs. Not done that for about 6months. Will do one when this current chapter is done.
What about something unhealthy like double cream in coffee and clotted cream on scones? Well unhealthy and rebellious!

Sounds dodgy. Also, 65k for a PhD is absolutely astronomical. Big time rip off. I must say, PhD by publication is not as rigorous. I know of a couple of academics who obtained their professorship through publication and with regret, I'm not impressed with their academic output : a tat shoddy.
Why can't you do your PhD in your home country? Better still, do it in the US. Definitely better supervision than the dodgy ones you get in the UK. Too many bad experiences.

When I finished a chapter, I will do no PhD work for 2 days and go walking in the woods. What do you do?

I think it is naive to believe that all plans made will be sucessfully implemented. Nonetheless, it is imperative to plan otherwise the PhD will go on to eternity.
Its important to write everyday and to set a word target. On a good day, I can write 1500 words, only to scrap 500 off the following day. But, hey ho, PhD writing is all about edit, edit, delete, delete, till you get the essence of it and present it nice and crispy.

I am in Yorkshire! And yes, they do speak a bit funny up here but not as sing songy as the Geordies- rather quaint, I should say. Any recommendations as to where I can get hold of a list of definitions on what constitute a language?

I usually get someone to cast an eye over what I've written before sending it to the sups - usually a post-doc. That way, if the sups think I'm stupid, its not just me. Crafty eh?

Any links to shed light on this?

I find that I've exhausted all sign-posting words, my vocab strinks at the rate of knots and all my arguments are in reverse order! Crumbs, this is awful. Feels like I'm in purgatory. How do other writer-upers feel?

8-10000 words is the norm for 1 chapter. If it is a fairly unexplored area, I think 5000 words would suffice, provided you stress that there is very little written on this area and perhaps suggest reasons for it.
Good luck

One positive aspect of doing this PhD is getting fit(ter). Writing up is so bloody stressful and I found a way of de-stressing: daily visits to the gym and working off 400cals certainly beat the stress bug out of my system. Cross-trainer X30mins and then treadmill X20mins at 15% incline- excellent for the cardiovascular system.
So there! Its not all doom and gloom.

Brilliant advice, Joyce. Yep, muddy ideas equals muddy writing. And if you can explain your ideas to another person, perhaps you can write your thoughts down, conversational style, first and then rewrite in academic style. And you'll be surprised that your English is better than you think. Afterall, the institution accepted your application. Or did you get someone to write your application? (joke. please smile)

I think it depends on what type of PhD you are doing. Qualitative research is just so demanding. I tend to work one day and rest the next. This is because I have to critically engage with the data and the literature, and there is only so much brain juice available. Alternatively, I do little chunks and that means plenty of breaks to keep the momentum going. I applaud those who can lock themselves up and just write-up. My mind just goes blank when I carry on to eternity!

I've read somewhere that you are expected to reference 50 books and 150 articles.
Good luck.