Join Us Throughout the Month of November for #AcWriMo – Academic Writing Month

Every November, the Textbook & Academic Authors Association (TAA) joins with academic authors around the world to recognize and promote the month-long academic write-a-thon event, Academic Writing Month (AcWriMo). Started in 2011, this event encourages academic authors to focus on daily writing habits that move their projects closer to completion.

TAA is partnering with SAGE Publishing’s Methodspace to offer several resources for #AcWriMo throughout November 2022. Visit the TAA Blog each week in November for an article related to this year’s AcWriMo theme, “Intellectual Freedom & Integrity”.

Visit TAA’s AcWriMo 2022 page for events and activities open to TAA members and non-members.

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11/9 TAA Webinar – Textbook Authoring Inspirations, Insights, and Innovations

Join us Wednesday, November 9 from 1-2 p.m. ET for the TAA Webinar, Textbook Authoring Inspirations, Insights, and Innovations. Award-winning nutrition textbook author Jamie Pope will share her journey to published textbook author and beyond and share insights into the textbook writing process, including:

  • How writing a textbook differs from writing trade book
  • Why you might want to consider writing a textbook
  • What background and experience you need to get the attention of a publisher
  • How to decide whether to write an introductory or upper-level textbook
  • How to negotiate an author-friendly contract

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Advice: Do nothing

How is your schedule?

If you are like the rest of the people I know, you either:

  • Rolled your eyes,
  • Snorted,
  • Laughed,
  • Said, “Don’t ask,”
  • Had a dark cloud come over your face,
  • Or took a deep breath.

Feeling pushed to the max is the number one response I get nowadays when I ask someone about where they are with their writing and work.

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9 Tips from TAA Conversation Circle discussions

The past three TAA Conversation Circle discussions were packed with tips and strategies from TAA members! Here are just 9 tips shared during these discussions:

Writing Strategies

“At the end of each day, I print out what I have drafted. And then the next day, whenever it is I ended the previous day, that’s my starting point, rather than trying to scratch my head and figure out where I was when I left off.” – Margaret Reece

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Member Spotlight: Gerald A. Williams

TAA Member Gerald A. Williams is Professor of Mathematics at San Juan College in New Mexico and both a textbook and academic author in the mathematics discipline. He writes trade books for the lay person with the goal being to give such readers both a transformative understanding and a newfound appreciation of mathematics. He writes under G. Arnell Williams..

His most recent publication is Algebra the Beautiful: An Ode to Math’s Least-Loved Subject (Basic Books, August 2022). He is also the author of How Math Works: A Guide to Grade School Arithmetic for Parents and Teachers (Rowman & Littlefield, April 2013).

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Use meditation and mindfulness in your major project

Use spiritual principles or practices in your important academic project. “What!” you cry, “Academics and religion/spirituality don’t mix, like ice cream and boiled kidney!”

But . . . as you wrestle with your Major Work, do you crave less anxiety, more confidence, better work flow, even real answers to all those knotty quandaries?

Meditation and mindfulness can help. In my academic coaching practice, I’ve found, to my surprise, that many graduate students in their dissertations and professors in their articles use spiritual methods to help them through the Purgatory of academic writing. And I encourage them, primarily in two ways—meditation and mindfulness.

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