Hey guys a quick bit of advice needed:

I am in the first year of my statistics PhD. I am 10 months in, and have not really got very far with my literature review yet, which is really worrying me. I have another four months until my upgrade.
When is to early to start writing my PhD? I have started the introduction, with a very loose draft of ideas etc- some prose and some still notes. Is this a really silly thing to do?

I had this idea that if I start actually writing my literature review- what I have read etc then it may help me discover what is left to research and the general direction of my PhD. There is a lot of methods background to my PhD and am worried that I will not have fone enough work to pass my upgrade when the time comes. I don't want to start writing stuff up for my supervisors to turn round and say it was a waste of time.

i dont think its ever to early to get the basics down, that said i wrote a looong lit review and intros to chapters early on but then it all changed... so it was a waste of time. if your certain that what your writing is what the final project will be on then i would start as early as possible. especially if upgrade is on 4 months as your topic is unlikey to change before then, but beware they may suggest a change of direction!

Definately a good idea to write as you go along - when I came to start writing up, I realised I'd already done half of it (albeit half that changed a lot). I think the introduction is best to do last, as you can spin it to support your arguments!

Agree with above, it's never to early, the more you get down early on (especially the expt stuff - diagrams etc that take ages to format), less to forget. Even if you change direction and have to re-write your lit review, it's not a bad thing.

Thanks for the advice guys. I have definatly decided to start writing up now. My lit review shouldn't change too much as its just a review of methodologies.