5-Minute Guided Meditation Before Writing

By Kimine Mayuzumi

Do you have difficulty in writing lately? What gets in the way? Procrastination, distraction, lack of motivation or imposter feelings? A productive and sustainable writing experience often requires a good state of mind and physical wellness.

As my partner Riyad A. Shahjahan, a professor at Michigan State University and former certified coach for National Center for Faculty and Diversity Development (NCFDD), suggests, we as writers need “a mind that is decluttered so that we can give our full attention to the task at hand.” For that, we need a ritual. Why?

Second Circuit Rules Against Internet Archive in Copyright Case

On September 4, 2024, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled against the Internet Archive (IA) in the copyright infringement case, Hachette v. Internet Archive, upholding a March 2023 district court ruling that AI’s lending practices violated copyright law.

IA had argued that its digital lending practices were fair use, but the district court ruled in favor of the publishers, which included Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin Random House, and Wiley, who filed the initial suit in June 2020. Here’s a detailed look at the decision by Wired, “The Internet Archive Loses Its Appeal of a Major Copyright Case.”

2025 TAA Conference Bookstore Featured Book: ‘Publish & Flourish’

Triple your productivity. Write prose that is clearer, better organized, and more compelling. Publish in better journals and get more grants. Ninety scholars who followed the steps were studied, and 95% reported that their writing improved. They also increased then number of manuscripts submitted from a rate of two per year to nearly six. You can too, with Tara Gray’s, Publish & Flourish: Become a Prolific Scholar.

Purchase in the 2025 TAA Conference Bookstore

How Your Professional Purpose and Identity Can Impact Your Work Life

By Angelica Ribeiro, Ph.D.

Being aware of our professional purpose can play an important role in leading us to a happier life at work. That’s because our purpose can reveal elements of our identity that encourage us to live up to our values and create meaningful habits. Let me explain.

My professional purpose is to contribute to (a) language learners’ education by teaching, researching, and sharing knowledge with educators and (b) other people’s happiness by writing books and sharing positivity. After identifying my professional purpose, I realized that it revealed three main elements of my identity: a professor, a researcher, and a writer.

Feature Your Book in the 2025 TAA Conference Bookstore

Have a book of interest to textbook authors, scholarly journal article or academic book authors, graduate students, or faculty? Feature your book in the 2025 Virtual TAA Conference on Textbook & Academic Authoring Bookstore!

For only $50, your book will be included in the conference bookstore (in order of receipt, so don’t delay!) and promoted to thousands of textbook and/or academic authors on TAA’s social media, in bi-monthly eNewsletters, in issues of the The Academic Author leading up to the conference, and more!

Busy TAA People: Brenda Ulrich, Zick Rubin Named to 2025 Edition of Best Lawyers

TAA members Brenda Ulrich and Zick Rubin, publishing and intellectual property attorneys with Archstone Law Group, PC, were named to the 2025 Edition of Best Lawyers in America®.

Brenda is recognized in the areas of Education Law and Media Law. Zick is recognized in the areas of Copyright Law and Education Law. Recognition by Best Lawyers is widely regarded by both clients and legal professionals as a significant honor, conferred on a lawyer by their peers.