Writing a thesis is one of the most challenging activities that a doctoral student must undertake and can represent a barrier to timely completion. This is relevant in light of current and widespread concerns regarding doctoral completion rates. This study explored thesis writing approaches of students post or near Ph.D. completion through interviews. The study's aim was to highlight factors identified by participants as helpful or hindering thesis writing. The analysis revealed "helpful" factors were related to students' intrinsic behaviours and supervisory support, particularly support that adopted a "project-management" style. Additionally, a subgroup of participants discussed the merits of a continuous-writing approach which is further explored in this paper with reference to the notion of "writing to develop knowledge"; this is recommended for timely Ph.D. completion.