How to have a writing room of your own

My writing buddy’s face turned dark pink as she shouted over her latté. “No one can do anything worthwhile without a private writing place!” She thrust her face into mine. “It’s gotta be your own!”

I was as adamant. “Oh, come on. All you need is the desire and will and your stone tablet and sharp tool. It doesn’t matter where you write!”

Our little debate embodies two often-discussed viewpoints about writing. Despite my vehement response to my friend, I have long puzzled about the most effective place to write. If you too are in a quandary, or lament you have no writing spot to call your own, I’d like to help you enlarge your perceptions about your own physical and mental writing places, spaces, and times.

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PODCAST: BrandStoria: The Power of Your Unique Brand Story

We are the stories we tell. From childhood, we learn to place ourselves – as recipient and author – into the context of stories. A great storyteller capitalizes on this to create a personal connection and emotional bond with the audience. Great brands also tell great stories. They build a narrative in which we can actively participate. What’s your unique brand story? How are you leveraging it to succeed? “BrandStoria: The Power of Your Unique Brand Story”, presented by Sharlene Sones, Principal, Sones + Associates LLC, will help you understand the elements behind great brand stories and how you can strengthen yours to grow your authoring business.

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New 2015 TAA Fall Webinars – Improve Your Skills

Summer is rapidly coming to a close, meaning fall and classes are just around the corner. Now is the perfect time to start thinking about and planning your fall writing projects. Whether you are interested in learning the steps for developing a textbook, creating an online presence to build your academic brand, educating yourself on textbook royalty audits or publishing agreements, or how to write clearer academic pose, TAA’s fall webinar series for textbook and academic authors has you covered. Join us as various industry experts share their expertise on academic and textbook writing topics.

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The most useful textbook & academic writing posts of the week: August 7, 2015

Summer is coming to a close. Maybe you are even already back in session. Were you able to meet your summer writing goals? What would you have done differently? Now is the time to make note of what worked well and what didn’t work so well. Keep this on hand so you have a better plan in place or a better understanding of how you work so that you can (if need be) accomplish more next summer. You may not feel you need to accomplish more, but you may feel that you need to work more efficiently.

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5 Must-use social media tools for academics

You know the old adage “work smarter, not harder”? That’s exactly what the following tools will help you do when it comes to sharing, creating, and scheduling messages for your social media platforms. While there are hundreds, if not thousands of tools available on the web, the five listed below—ones I actually use frequently and love—are user-friendly and excellent resources for you as an academic using social media. Did I mention that these tools will also help save you time?! So get creating, get sharing, and get social with these five must-use social media tools:

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