finish my dissertation

I have lousy time-management skills. As a result, I’ve spent the morning working on stuff for my part-time job. When I stop and consider whether the time I spent was worth it, I realize that I could have done that work in latter part of the day, when my writing brain isn’t fresh but my working brain still has some juice.
How I will do things differently tomorrow: Spend the FIRST 15 min of the day writing. Leave everything else for later.

As a result, it’s 11:14 and I haven’t started. Usually this would be a problem, as I would have to leave to tutor a student. However, the dissertation mojo is working: My student canceled! Bad for the pocketbook, good for the dissertation.

I’ll start my 15 minutes after I re-up on caffeine and switch the radio to classical music. I listen to classical or to radioparadise.com because neither station has loud annoying commercials.

Back soon to confirm that I’m starting my 15 minutes.

I feel like I have lost sight of my argument, my research, and the entire point of this paper. I have 1,000 words out of 10,000 to write and it is due in less than a week. Despite my entire degree riding on this paper, I have little to no motivation. Possible self-sabotage occurring, I think.

I had my first seminar about the dissertation, I explained that i want to change topic. I’ll have to find one quick!

I have been trying to finish my diss. But I got sick. Now I feel better and I have decided to finish it by October.

Finished, complete and standing at a decent 9462 words from a possible 9000 suggested word limit. Electronically submitted, just got to hard copy submit it now. They have to be bound copys and can’t be handed in until 23rd of april, damn far away deadlines. Just got to work out how and where to get a couple of hard copies bound and I’ll be set.

I’ll mark this off when I get to hand it in.

Rewriting it for the last time now. Unless of course the extra couple of analyses I plan on doing show up anything really unusual, in which case I may scream. I should have this done soon, maybe a week or so more solid work. Then I’ll need to get a couple of hard copies binded for submission in about a month. My sis’s are coming up this holiday, so I’ll get it done by then and celebrate with cinema and junk food.

Got the second draft of my dissertation back from my suprivisor. She’s given me a lot of feedback that should be useful. So I’m aiming to have my entire dissertation finished by the end of my easter holidays, preferbly as soon as possible. Before I start it however I’m going to finish a essay, which should take maybe a week. Then I’ll finish the final draft of my dissertation and have it all finished.

...this getting done. Right now, with not even a proposal typed up yet, and with confusion about what this will really look like, I’m feeling up shit’s creek.

I have to find something to do starting in the fall after internship that will enable me more time. The clinic I am at now is thoroughly deluding the training experience by almost abusing our roles with a physically-impossible caseload, all because of their organizational chaos and accelerating attrition. Really, it’s lovely. Really.

But it seems my mind wanders, but more worrying, I am not feeling confident in some of the basic pieces/processes of even the proposal. I suppose if I type anything up I’ll receive the necessary feedback, but it’s not like I can just imagine my kids and my wife to fend for themselves while I dart off to do this.

Tense.

Its finished and sent away to my suprivisor. I should get it back after she’s ripped it apart and pointed out all the bits I need to redo, likely next week I reckon. Then I do one last edit according to her feedback and I submit it finished forever. Planning on working on it for a couple of weeks after I get it back, so I should have it all finished by easter. Hoping at least.

Not looking forward to getting feedback back on my second draft, apparlently its really scary and they really trash what you’ve done.

Took me longer than I expected, but I’ve finally finished it enough to send it to my family for them to look through. Its over 7600 words now. I’d still feel much better with it in the 8500 – 8900 region. Hopefully they’ll be able to point out the places I need to elaborate and add more. Just going to finish the pretties, thats the title and contents page tomorrow then send it off. Be nice to get a couple of days to catch up with everything, though its scary how close this goal is to getting finished.