I'm stuck in a rut of anxious fannying and kettle polishing. Please advise or kick my arse!

[RoobyMurray]

I'm nearing the end of my course and I'm all studied out. Loads more work to do. I'm late handing in a piece of work for my portfolio.

I should've started ages ago but I'm completely STUCK. It's like I'm frozen. I'm putting so much energy into avoiding it that I'm wracked with guilt and STILL not writing!

I feel so completely overwhelmed that I'm not doing anything. That makes no sense and is NOT HELPFUL. It's not very grown up either. Jeez.

AAAAAAAAAAAAGH!

I feel your pain. I am in exactly the same position. I should be writing my last 2 assignments but always seem to find something else to do, like ironing.
What are you studying?

Social work. On full time placement. With partner working away a lot.

I want to stop and get off.

What about you?

Early years. I work full time too. The only thing that motivates me at the moment is the big piss-up we are planning on graduation day

I'm going to get in such trouble.

are you sat at your pc 'working' too pp?

Yes, I have another window open and am 'researching' journal articles on my college moodle site, looking for contrasting points of view.

Ok, it's a long time since I was a student but when I'm like this at work I find it sometimes helps to write the END of something first. It gives me a psychological boost. Could you try that?

That's probably a good idea tc. I tend to write start to finish with very little moving around. Maybe I should try just writing a paragraph here and there and patching them together.

Yes, just write the bit you think is easiest first. Then glue it all together, and then if it needs changing when the first draft is complete, much easier.

Anyone got any advice about how to not have a breakdown in the last 4 months of a masters please?

How are you getting on? I'm a PhD student but am also having a bit of a slump at the moment. Turning the router off when writing so I can't surf helps for me (though obv not if you need to check references etc). I tend to gather all my material in advance and leave myself a short time to write so that I really just have to crack on with it. It must be v.hard with the full-time placement, though. Try just getting some words down on paper and then tweaking. Set a kitchen timer for 10 minutes and make yourself write with no distractions for that length of time - that's supposed to help get you started.

Thanks dotty.

Switching off the router would be an alien, but very good idea!

I also leave myself a short time, but this time I'm still not writing even though I should. It feels like I'm kind of physically stuck.

I need to step into my office and have a word with myself...