Working working working :0)

Ah I feel so GOOD! 

Yesterday I worked for about 3/4 hours, wrote 300 new words on what has turned out to be a, ahem, neat little introduction with a first para that states concisely what the PhD is about.  Hehe!  After deciding to write freely I end up writing the bloody synopsis anyway ;0)  Anyway, it is there and I am just about to check it and see if it gabbles or strays or tries to say too much in any one sentence.  In fact, I think I will make those three things a checklist to look out for all the time!

I have also found a memory stick that I can use solely for the PhD from now on.  I have old sticks with old PhD copies on it (well, up to now) but want to have a cleaner one so I can find my work easily without scrolling through loads of folders.  Then I shall hide this one and start a new one - keep all the work distinct so I have old copies just in case.  I shall get another stick maybe and have that as a backup backup stick...  Cannot be too careful!

I have my endnote shortcuts 'poster' on the wall for easy referencing... 

Today I was allowed to sleep in (DB did yesterday) and I shall work until 12pm, then I am free.  My aim is to write 2500 words a week, which roughly translates as 350 a day, so as long as I meet that today I shall be on my way to being able to have my new baby :0)  That is on my mind every day now so it is a fantastic incentive.  Yesterday I wrote the first 400 odd words of the PhD - an intro para which states clearly what the research is doing, and then it is fleshed out (but still ridiculously reduced and concise) over the remaining 400 words.  I think keeping that initial intro under 500 words is a good idea...  And now I have to flesh it out again, to explain my flow chart of thinking:  where it fits into the current debates and literature, how it is original, the research question (sub title or heading?), the methodology and theoretical influences and then an outline of each chapter and the conclusion.  This is all I know for now that would be good in the intro and can get on with today.  I know that the intro should be written as if that is *all* the examiner is going to read (my sup assured me that in many cases it *will* be all they read along with the conclusion!  They skim reaad the other chapters!).  If they can get a fab understanding of the research from this chapter then reading the rest is just colouring in, and it also gives an amazing first impression. 

I am not fussed about order or neatness at the mo, as long as it is written down then all I have to do is edit and copy and paste to move it all around.  Words are what is important at the mo.  I hope to get about 500 words down today which would be ace.

Tomorrow I am not sure if I will get any work done, but Tuesday I am going to go to Uni and look at a couple of theses in my field and see how they wrote theirs:  formatting, appendices, how long the intros are, how they introduce and write the lit review bla bla bla.  I feel a little bit like I am writing in the dark at the mo.  My baby will be in with the childminder until 4pm.  I don't think he will cope very well with this and feel bloody awful about it, but I don't feel that I have any choice :0(  I have to have more time to work, at least until December, and then when the first draft is done maybe I can work more in the evenings and won't need long chunks of time as much as I do now when I am trying to write and get a flow...  I dunno, I feel awful but it has to be so for a while.  Harrumph.

Anyway, in conclusion in general I feel fabulous and in control and like I am doing it.  I hope I can make it last!

x J