IO540 -
The best single thing is to find an instructor who actually flies to places, IFR. VERY few of them about!
I'm lucky in that respect. Our group C172 is very well equipped for IFR flight and has recently been transferred to Public Cat. CofA. This means that a member of our group (one of the few instructors in the country who is qualified to instruct other instructors, as well as being a corporate pilot and CFI at a major flying school) can give me the flight training on our own aircraft, and he'll only charge half-price for his time.
Stroke of luck that.
I agree that the Thom vol. 5 does seem a little disjointed but perhaps it will fall into place when I start to study it in earnest and then actually begin the IMC training and can relate theory to practice.