2026 TAA Institute Bookstore Featured Book: ‘Productivity, Professionalism, and Parenting in Academia’

Drawing on time use diary analysis, the unique and detailed study in Productivity, Professionalism, and Parenting in Academia: Rhet Comp Moms by Christine Tulley, fills in the larger narrative about what it takes, hour by hour, to navigate academic motherhood with a rhetoric and composition career.

Looking specifically at the intersections between parenting and writing for publication in order to find out how and when writing for career-advancing tasks such as publication occur, but also through the lens of disciplinary time constraints including heavy grading and administrative workloads, the book examines support systems noted within diary entries that make combining motherhood and a career in rhetoric and composition possible.

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12/10 TAA Webinar – ‘Bartz v. Anthropic: An Update on the Claims Process for Textbook & Academic Authors’

For those whose works are included in the historic copyright infringement settlement, Bartz v. Anthropic, the official notice with your unique ID should be arriving near the end of November. Join Brenda Ulrich, an attorney with Archstone Law, and TAA Executive Director Kim Pawlak on Wednesday, December 10 from 2-3 p.m. ET, for a special webinar, “Bartz v. Anthropic: An Update on the Claims Process for Textbook & Academic Authors:.” Learn how your unique ID will help you when filing claims, as well as other updates on the claims process and TAA’s recommendations for textbook and academic authors whose works are included in the settlement.

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2026 TAA Institute Bookstore Featured Book: ‘Becoming an Academic Writer’

Becoming an Academic Writer: 50 Exercises for Paced, Productive, and Powerful Writing by Patricia Goodson helps readers improve their writing by engaging in deliberate practice employing 50 self-paced exercises for the various stages of the writing process. The third edition features a new unit on how to manage the required reading and includes updated material, alongside testimonials from previous users. A new appendix on processing reviewer feedback, and new “Research Shows” boxes also help address hurdles to developing a lower-stress, sustainable writing habit. Purchase it in the 2026 TAA Institute for Textbook & Academic Authors Bookstore. 

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Dear Dr. Noelle: Those Horrible Holiday Questions

By Dr. Noelle Sterne

Q: I’m dreading the holiday dinner table and all those questions about my dissertation. How to handle them?

      — Lost My Appetite

A: Holidays can be welcome respites from our daily routines and the seemingly relentless pressures to produce. But, like Lost Appetite, when we’re at holiday gatherings and in the throes of our dissertations, we also risk often inevitable and embarrassing questions from well-meaning relatives and friends. With all the gorging, you can be sure that at least one person will ask those questions that make you squirm, right up there with the personal in-your-face ones like “How come you’re still single?” or “When are you going to have kids?”

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How You Can Build Grit

By Angelica Ribeiro, PhD

Recently, a member of my writing group complimented me on my dedication to my writing goals. She said, “You’re so good at staying focused on the goals you set for yourself.”

“I think it has a lot to do with grit,” I responded. Let me explain.

Angela Duckworth (2016) defines grit as “passion and perseverance for long-term goals.” Based on her book Grit, here are some key actions to build grit:

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