Dissertation ramblings. (Warning: freeform.)

The day after my last fit of self-loathing about my slow progress on my dissertation, I had a clinic day in which almost no one showed up. I worked at my laptop like a madwoman, and by the end of the day I had made ten more tables and a figure, edited the method section, and made some light improvements to the results section I'd just finished. I e-mailed these things to my advisor, who praised me ("I was pleased to see these documents from you") for the first time in a long time. Now, I think, I don't do anything more on any of the completed sections until I receive comments from him - unless I decide to add some more analyses or something else that qualifies as new construction.

Next is my discussion section. Next and last, actually, because once I have a draft of that, there won't be any new sections to write. Abstract, Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion, References, Tables & Figures. That's it. There aren't any more parts. I can even generate the front matter (title page, approval page, table of contents) automatically, using a Word template I downloaded from the Graduate College. Okay, so the whole thing will need revisions, and it will need to be vigorously gone over with a fine-tooth formatting comb. But once I've drafted the discussion section, I'll have the Really Big Pile of Paper. It just seems like it must all be easier after that.
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