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[minorleaguer]

I'm taking the day away from my dissertation to spend extended time at the gym.

[prephd]

I need a swift kick in the rear end.

[synecdoche]

And I should be next in line.

[prephd]

And I should be next in line.

To kick or to be kicked?

[synecdoche]

Definitely to be kicked. I have no business kicking anyone.

[synecdoche]

Okay. I'm in this state of mind where I'm far more interested in everybody else's research and could not care less about my own. In the past week, I've talked to a couple of my colleagues about their dissertations, and pulled out a completed dissertation recently passed by my department. All these other topics sound far more interesting and, what's more, far more manageable than my own. That's not to say that they're simpler or anything like that; the completed dissertation I'm reading is an impressive bit of scholarship. Rather, I'm reading their work and thinking, "This is the type of work I wish I was doing." I'm at the point, in my head, where I'd love to scrap everything and start over. I almost think that would be simpler. But I know it really wouldn't be. I have done some work, in spite of how frustrated I am with my progress over the last several months, and I don't want to throw it all away.

Ugh. I'd love to come on this thread, just once, and post something that wasn't "Woe is me" whining. I really would.

[drlanguage]

Posting to encourage you all to keep at it. Less than a year ago I was also in the "woe is me" phase, but if you keep putting one foot in front of the other, eventually it will be finished. I just passed my defense, and it's such a good feeling to have successfully finished something that was such a challenge!

drlanguage (formerly languageabd)

[stanwyck]

I have done some work, in spite of how frustrated I am with my progress over the last several months, and I don't want to throw it all away.

Then don't.  Look at the last sentence you wrote for your dissertation, and then write the first thing that comes to your mind.  After you finish that sentence, look at it and write the first thing that comes to your mind.  You can go back and prettify it later.  In the meantime, just write. Set a timer for 20 minutes and do some free writing.  I'm sure you've read all the "get writing" tips here and elsewhere, so quit giving yourself mental permission to feel bad about your work.  What did you just gain from comparing yourself to the author of that dissertation in your hand?  Not much.

Also, read this.  Skip the question, and go straight to the answer.  Swap in "writing" for the word "studying" when appropriate.  

The most relevant passage:

"[Writing] is mostly sitting. You sit by not getting up. You [write] by not eating and watching television. You write by not reading the mail and making phone calls. You focus by eliminating. What is left is what you're focused on. Not that you can stop panicking or prevent panicking, but eventually you are finished with the panicking. So wait for the panicking to be finished. Be patient and finish the crying, finish the soda, finish the walk, finish the fidgeting, finish the pacing, finish the hating of your fellow students. When you are finished all that's left is the writing or the studying. You do it by sitting there.

I say finish those things because otherwise you are fighting them. Don't fight them. If you have to panic, panic. When you are finished, there is no more panic. Then you [write]."

[synecdoche]

Thanks for that. I needed it.

[stanwyck]

Thanks for that. I needed it.

Some tough love from a fellow dissertator :)

[reesespeanutbutter]

Posting to encourage you all to keep at it. Less than a year ago I was also in the "woe is me" phase, but if you keep putting one foot in front of the other, eventually it will be finished. I just passed my defense, and it's such a good feeling to have successfully finished something that was such a challenge!

drlanguage (formerly languageabd)

Congrats, drlanguage!!!!  That's good to hear! I'm kind of in the middle of the beginning, so it seems very daunting (although I really love my topic, so it's not woe-is-me right now).  I have kept telling myself the exact thing you said--one foot in front of the other.  But most of all, congrats on getting done!!!

[monita]

I'm turning in the whole dissertation to my advisor today, who will (hopefully) decide that it's ready for committee.  I feel like I've given birth.....

[gfloresedd]

Congrats! Those should be exciting times. I remember when that time came and it felt so good, even though I was scared to death about feedback. But it all came through. I think the most important things a doctoral student needs is a good thorough mentor, a good editor, and a great committee. I know that my friends who are ABDs were missing all of the aforementioned.

[prephd]

Yay to Monita!

I need to spend most of the day tomorrow and Sunday working on the diss. I've got to get it edited as much as possible to prepare for a committee meeting at the end of Feb.

Aaaaaah!

[synecdoche]

Congrats, Monita!

Much better this week. I won an internal travel award so I'll get to go do some archive work in May. That seemed to give me a confidence boost and I got a fair bit written up this week. I think this stuff is all in my head, but I just wasn't able to get it out. It's coming now and hopefully it will all be on the page soon. We're discussing my work—a few sections of the chapter that has been killing me—at my next dissertation reading group meeting, and I'm really looking forward to getting the opinion of some people who aren't as close to the project as I am.