This week’s most useful posts are a great mix of academic, grant, and textbook content—plus a few “fun” pieces. Each week I roam the internet, from Google searches to Twitter feeds, to find articles that I think you all would be interested in. My hopes are that you find at least one or two every week that are helpful to you and your writing. This week is no different other than I have a favor to ask of you (I rarely ask for favors!). If you have a favorite scholarly, academic, or textbook writing blog, share the title or link in the comments section below. Even though I roam the internet there’s still more great bloggers and content out there. To bring you the best content I need your help in finding those hidden gems (a.k.a bloggers)!

Happy writing!

What’s your writing routine?
What is your writing routine? Do you find that this routine is necessary in order for you to get words down on the page? Whether you do or do not have a routine, this is a great read on why having one is beneficial to your writing (and may convince you to start one).

Moving Beyond Textbooks
For a look into courseware, this is a good introduction. Coursewares vary in purpose and technologies. You’ll just have to check out this article for the best explanations of each.

Should Academics Blog?
It’s no secret that I fully believe in blogging and that more of you should be doing it. Rita Ferrone gives five excellent reasons, along with examples, why academics should blog. I highly suggest you read this piece because it might just spark an idea for what you could blog and how you could use a blog for different purposes.

How to beat writer’s block
Writer’s block: it haunts many academics, always looming and ready to strike at any moment. For some fresh and practical tips for overcoming writer’s block this is a must read.

Writing a Preproposal: Leave Them Wanting More
Many federal agencies are now asking for a preproposal or short description of their project before submitting a full grant proposal. In this piece a university grant officer, Karen M. Markin, gives tips on how to write this preproposal.

Amazon to take over textbook sales at UMass Amherst
I’m including this piece as an FYI (for your information) on the textbook market. Is this the wave of the future? Will campus bookstores one day be obsolete, replaced by online super powers like Amazon? What will this mean for you, the author?

writing – a matter of planning and hunting
Pat Thomson uses great analogies in this post to relate cooking to writing and hunting to writing. You may be asking, ‘how can hunting have anything to do with writing?’ I too asked that question. This is more of a fun piece to read and lighten up your day—it’s good to do that now and again.

Sheep Rot & Rogue Publishers: advertising in early scientific journals
For another interesting read (and listen—there is a webinar you can also watch which is jam-packed with history and information), I highly suggest this piece on the history of the scientific journal. It’s so interesting to see how scholarly publishing has changed and evolved throughout the years.

I will be on vacation next week, but will be back February 6 with even more great resources!