I've been cleaning up. I found what can only be described as the text history of parts of my PhD. Sure I'll produce this concrete thesis document, in fact I've already created it. But it's so easy to forget or not understand that the thesis started somewhere else. In bits of paper, scribbles, mind maps, e-mails, hand-written annotations on drafts, of drafts, of drafts. An endless pile of drafts. My developing thinking and ideas all captured over time in all the bits of paper and old drafts I've held onto. Whenever I do this kind of clean-up I realise how attached I am to my drafts - it's very difficult for me to let go. Even more so with the scraps of paper, 'decorated' with my handwriting, that documents how I've worked through my arguments, refined my ideas or brainstormed my understanding of terms or concepts. I want to keep them all and for the moment I am.
Another realisation that got driven home tonight - if you can't handle writing many, many, many drafts of your thesis chapters...don't do a PhD. It's just the way it is, absolutely no point whinging about this aspect of the PhD process. My view on this...writing multiple drafts of anything associated with your PhD does not reflect negatively on you as a writer, it simply says you're doing it right!
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