Update.

After my last post, I spent many, many more hours futzing around not getting work done and being pissed at myself as a result. Finally, I put on a 40-minute CD (English Country Dance music, which I find helps me be calm and orderly) and told myself that I had to work on my dissertation until the CD was finished.

I started with the easiest task I could think of, incorporating new citations into the References section. Then I started putting John's edit of the Introduction together with the edit I did before he got back to me. At some point I noticed that the CD had ended and started it again from the beginning. I took a break to have dinner and watch a Buffy episode with curiousangel, and then I came back and finished editing the Introduction section. It still needs a snappy first sentence other than "Don't call me Ishmael," but other than that it's probably Good Enough.

Thanks to everyone who's been supportive. What's helped the most is having people with Ph.D.s tell me that this is a normal stage of the process, and not something specifically broken about me - but all of the encouragement and sympathy has helped. Thanks.

Progress report.

(1) Called the Graduate College to make sure that I understand all the rules for First Deposit of my dissertation, and also to be sure that someone will be around during the break between the summer session and the fall semester to receive my First Deposit. All is well.

(2) Edited the Method section, incorporating all of John's suggestions as well as the additional changes I wanted to make myself. The Method is the shortest section, so in that sense, finishing it isn't that big a deal - but on the other hand, it's finished, and it's not as though I've had so much forward progress these days that I ought to be downplaying any of it.

I'm going to try to get in at least another hour this evening. Using a classical CD to set a work period seems to be working well, and the current English Country Dance CD in the drive is an hour and six minutes long. I can do that. But first, dinner and The Amazing Race.