======= Date Modified 07 May 2010 11:39:50 =======
Having recently been through this I know what it feels like. I suggest (and its only a suggestion) that you write yourself a quick very informal story about what you want to say. Ignore the details, don't get bogged down with references etc.

Once you know your direction then start to flesh out the chapter details, get some headings and sub headings down. Add the necessary preamble for each section, by all means copy your "story" segments so you remeber what you want to type (but makesure you clean these up eventually).

Most of the problem I found was actually liking what I wrote, or establishing that it had worth - in reality as the researcher you're always likley to be quite negative about this, you're likely to be the number one person who knows where things can be improved but hey - you don't have unlimited budget or time so...

get as much on paper as possible - you'll feel better once you do