I've nominated to submit on the 28th November. So close and yet so far! My main goal is to get a draft of my final paper done, plus another chapter, the general discussion or methodology - still trying to decide which is the priority.

Thanks for that IntoTheSpiral. 'Abandoning' chapters is a good way to think about it. Good luck to you - you are so close!!

Thanks for the support. It's been an exhausting week of ups and downs. Tuesday felt like a massive blow, but I got lots of good news on Wednesday/Thursday so it's evened out. But even readjusting to good changes feels overwhelming! I'm just so tired...

Does anyone have any advice for dealing with the ups and downs of the final year? Some days I feel really great, like I'm so close to finishing and proud of myself for getting this far. And then (like today) I'll have a meeting or some kind of unexpected bad news about my project and I feel terrible. Normally I'm pretty good at dealing with the research rollercoaster, but this year I'm just so tired and want to get off :(

I agree that it might be a good idea to go along with your supervisor's advice if you are feeling stuck. It's normal to have a bit of a lull in motivation and making progress on *something* is better than staring at a screen and feeling awful for not making progress, and if you've already presented good results at a conference it sounds like you are on a good path. Once you get going, you might get some ideas along the way for how to tweak things to be of more interest to you.

Could you get your supervisor to explain to you how their plan is going to build to a thesis? That might make it more exciting to tackle the work involved.

It sounds like you are doing a great job, and I feel a bit jealous about all you are doing for your partner! My husband tries his best and I'm sure not a great spouse at the moment, but I still feel like if I don't want the house to be a total mess, want to have food in the fridge and clean clothes to wear, it's up to me to keep on top of the cleaning/groceries/laundry. It is really great of you to take that stress away from your partner.

Apart from taking care of all the house stuff, the other thing I would love is some nice little surprises like having a bath run for me, or getting some chocolates I like, or a day trip away somewhere. But that's really personal, not everyone likes surprises or wants distractions from their thesis!

Agree with TreeofLife that the only thing more you could do is ask him what he would like, and remember to look after yourself too!

Yes, as others have said, this is completely normal. I've had separate 2-3 studies to juggle for most of my candidature on top of non-research stuff (coursework, admin, publications etc). Gant charts and timelines are helpful and I always have one, but it's important to know that things will almost always blow out beyond your expected timeline, so don't beat yourself up about it. When I look back at the timeline I made in first year I can only laugh! But it all worked okay in the end.

What helps me most is having a whiteboard with my different projects going with a list of things to do so I have a sense of where everything is at. For each month, I try to only focus major tasks from two projects only.

Funnily enough I just drafted mine on Friday. At my uni (in Australia) we have to submit a 500w abstract two months prior to submitting. Looking at past students theses, they have just used that in the thesis. I found writing mine a really helpful exercise for proving to myself I understand my thesis, lol.

Hello, this is my first post! I'm a final year professional doctorate student. It's been a really challenging year but it FINALLY feels like things are starting to come together. I have a 'submit-able' draft of 5 chapters (i.e. submitted to supervisors), and what I call a 'turd' draft of the other two (i.e. too crappy to send to supervisors, has some dot points and incomplete sentences, but essentially all there!), so it's really just a lot of editing left for me. My big stress at the that my secondary supervisor is heavily pregnant and has been sooo slowww returning chapters (we're talking months, not weeks). Of course I understand why she's slower than usual, but she keeps saying she will get to it and then not delivering. She's going on mat leave in ten days but thinks she'll still be working with a newborn. My primary supervisor is aware of what's going on but doesn't seem bothered. Sigh.

The other stress is that one of the requirements of my degree is that I have to complete a small applied research study on one of my clinical placements. It isn't included in the main thesis, but it goes in as an appendix. Long story short, I have had so many setbacks with this project, such as rejections from an ethics committee, two staff members resigning etc. I've been told by may people that none of this was my fault or forseeable, but the bottom line is my placement is about to end and I haven't done the project! I'm currently trying to lobby the department to let me meet the requirements of this component through a proposal but they are being difficult. I have another meeting this week and have my fingers crossed they are so sick of me they give in...

Thanks for reading :)