Mokey, I was in the same situation as you a few weeks back. I just felt overwhelmed with all the info I had for my lit review and got no help or advice from my supervisor (who didn't even know I had to write one). Anyway I struggled on and produced 10k words but missed the deadline, had my review panel cancelled because of this, and when it was re-arranged had my writing criticised. OK this is not a very positive thing to say to you. But the outcome is that I managed to do it and got feedback, eventually and am now in the process of redoing it with two months until I need to hand it in again. Plus I am getting much better advice from a new supervisor. What I am trying to say is nothing is ever as bad as it seems but even if it is there are ways forward and everything you do in a PhD is part of a learning curve.

You only started in January! Don't worry about feeling you haven't done anything yet. It takes a while to settle into things, especially if you were working in industry before rather than academia. I have just started my second year and felt I had not done enough in my first year. However it is now that things are starting to come together and I realised that even if I didn't feel I was making great progress, everything I did do is shaping what I am doing now. Getting to know the university, your colleagues, how things work, reading and collecting data can take a long time but it is these foundations which will set you up for the next stage.

In my first year I didn't feel I had anything relevant to say at conferences but as I start my second year I have already sent one proposal and have four more conferences I would like to present at. I also will be presenting as part of a panel to do with the project I am working on. I feel confident that my work fits in with the themes but if I get accepted I will be terrified but also excited. If you want to work in academia it is essential.
If you want to give papers but feel nervous there are always chances to present within your own department or university or you could organise a session yourself with some of your peers in the same situation just to get used to presenting in front of others.

I'm feeling despondent today after a not so good end of first year review. My panel were concerned about my literature review and have asked me to rewrite it and resubmit in two months. They also want me to redo my chapter outlines and produce something 10-12 pages long which seems quite big.
I am beginning to doubt my abilities and wonder if I can imporve enough to meet their standards. I feel a bit annoyed though because my supervisor didn't even know what a literature review was and that I had to do one so I had no help from her on how to write it.
Luckily I do not have her anymore as my main supervisor is back from a year's leave. There is no point in complaining about Sup1 but I wonder if I should mention to new Sup that I feel I have not had enough guidance on what I should have done for the first year review.
I have asked her for an urgent meeting to discuss it further.

I just wondered what other people's experiences of teaching were in regards to how much help or advice they were given before teaching for the first time. Were you just thrown in at the deep end? I've been given the readings to be discussed at the seminars I am running but some don't tally with the course outline. I will also be sitting in on the lectures for the course but that seems to be all I have to give me guidance.
The other GTA for the course has complained that the readings aren't all correct but the course convenor says it doesn't matter. The other GTA is in her final year and has apologised to me that she is too busy to help me out and she thinks the convenor is doing an appalling job so he should be made aware of my concerns rather than her helping me. Just wondered if this is normal?

Been away from e-mail for a few days so just read the latest on this post. I don't expect people to be available 24 hours but if people e-mail me in the evening and weekends then I assume they won't mind if I do the same to them.
Yes, I agree missing deadlines is bad time management but life gets in the way of work sometimes. I missed out two full days of working because my husband, who I am breaking up with, had a car accident, then a relative of his died and he was in a bad way, and even though we are separating I needed to be with him while he was going through a bad time. I'm sure everybody else has times when personal issues mean PhD work is delayed or not done as well as wanted. Luckily I am close enough to my supervisors to be able to tell them things like this and they are always very sympathetic.

I can see what you are saying Jouri and thanks for the defence Sleepyhead. Apart from this one supervisor who is temporary and will be replaced this year, all the other people I deal with e-mail me from work and home addresses at all times of the day and night. In fact when I asked where they would like me to send information most say to home e-mails. My main supervisor is on sabbatical and works at home at the moment whatever hours she wants and we regularly e-mail each other in the evening and weekends. I think the problem may boilk down to the fact the one supervisor is not an academic and works normal office hours in museum so she is not as much part of the research culture as those of us based at the university.

I am just finalising my bibliography for my end of year review and was wondering what amount of reading is deemed suitable after a year. I know it's a bit like asking how long is a piece of string, but I don't seem to have added much since my six month review but I did spend a lot of last year out in the field collecting data.

I have been working all day to get my literature review finished for my end of year review but didn't manage it. I still have other things to finish but am nearly there. I had intended to e-mail stuff to the panel members on Fri but will now do it Sat, giving them the weekend to look through it. However I had an e-mail from my supervisor saying she had gone home on Fri eve and hadn't received anything and would not be back in work till Mon. She suggested I get in touch with the other panel members to explain 'what went wrong'. I think the only thing that has gone wrong is that she for some reason can't read e-mails outside office hours. I have home e-mails for the others and university e-mails can be accessed via the web. I can't believe she has no internet access at home. Maybe I am assuming too much. Anyway I can't sleep so am trying to finish my work off now. I'm out of sync - awake at night, sleeping during the day and wanting to send e-mails out of 9-5 hours. Am I a freak?!

I also like crisps and savoury snacks. I was very good and bought some WeightWatchers diet snacks. The only problem is instead of one bag of normal snacks I have had to have two packets of low calorie ones which actually works out more calories!
I know some people have said doing a PhD has made them lose weight but all I seem to think about at the moment is food and when I can have my next meal!

Tea, tea and more cups of tea, until about 7.30pm when it becomes wine, wine and more glasses of wine. Well only when I am feeling particularly stressed, as I am at the moment.
I have my end of year review panel (Jan starter) on Monday and am trying to finish a 10,000 word literature review to e-mail out tomorrow. My supervisor has been critical that I haven't included specific works she has recommended but I have been pointing out that the object of the exercise is to write at length and what I have now is no way going to be the final version so not having a particular work in it yet should not matter.
Oh sorry, off the subject. I am partial to a bowl of Tesco prawn flavoured instant noodles if I can't be bothered to cook.
However I went shopping yesterday and the fridge is full of spinach, watercress, fresh veg, turkey, and I even brough dried fruit to snack on. How long this healthy eating will last I do not know!

I agree with Shani. Sometimes I feel guilty for feeling tired and having a lie in or a nap during the day. But when I think about everything I am doing - PhD stuff, about to start teaching, have just moved house too, going through a break-up too which is very stressful as have just bought a house with the person and we are both living here trying to remain friends while I am conducting a long-distance relationship with the man I really want to be with. My ex has recently had a car accident, his nan has just died and he has been diagnosed with depression so I feel I have responsibility for him as well as everything else. No wonder I am exhausted and when you feel like this the best thing to do is take time out for yourself and don't feel guilty about it. Even if it is just a few hours wandering round the shops or a night out with friends. It has to be done or you would go mad.

I agree about the toffee crisps! I am wasting time by sleeping too much during the day. I don't know if anyone else has got into irregular sleeping patterns but it always happens to me during the festive season. I end up staying up really late then lie in the next day and then cannot sleep at night. I have suffered with insomnia for a while though. The problem is when I'm tossing and turning at 4am I do feel tired so don't feel up to doing any work as I know I should make use of the time I am awake, whenever it is. I sometimes do some reading which is better than nothing I suppose.
If anyone has any tips on sleeping I would be grateful. At the moment I don't get started till way after lunchtime.

No worries about hijacking the thread. All input on this subject is welcome. The latest on my particular teaching is that I am not teaching the course I thought I was but another one which is for second years rather than first years but is much more accessible for me as it includes references to literature as well as art. So even though it is a newish area for me I hope I will be able to do a good job and will take into account everything which has been posted here.

Thanks again for all the replies. I am feeling more confident about the teaching, especially after I was explaining to some family members what I would be teaching. I found I could talk quite coherently on a general level about what the course was about and I will use the techniques suggested if students ask specific things which I am unsure about.