Happy October! Are you staying on track with your fall writing projects? Whether you are or you aren’t, Jodi Picoult’s advice—”You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”—seems an appropriate reminder. We may not always write things worth keeping or it may need heavy editing, but at least it is down on paper. Something is there that is workable and moldable. A blank page cannot offer that.
And the winner is… Nominations for TAA’s 2016 Textbook Awards now open
Gain recognition with your fellow authors and within the textbook publishing industry by nominating your textbook for a 2016 TAA Textbook Award. We are excited to open nominations for the Textbook Excellence Award (“Texty”), McGuffey Longevity Award (“McGuffey”) and Most Promising New Textbook Award now through December 1, 2015.
Peer Review Week [#PeerRevWk15]
This week is the first ever Peer Review Week. ORCID, ScienceOpen, Sense About Science, and Wiley launched this idea and will be sharing various posts, webinars, and other activities throughout the week. Many more organizations and scholars are expected (and already are) tweeting and blogging about peer review. You can follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag: #PeerRevWk15.
The most useful textbook & academic writing posts of the week: September 25, 2015
Most often in this series the posts I find from week to week are on many different topics. This week, however, there are two overriding themes “referencing” and “organizing,” with just a sprinkling of other topics to enjoy.
Join us 9/24 for the TAA Webinar: ‘Designing Your Online Presence to Communicate Your Academic Brand’
Increasingly, PhD students and junior scholars are creating an online presence to promote themselves and their work. Academics are also designing an online presence to assist in their transition to a career outside of academia or a different academic path within the university. But, there are so many platforms to choose from. How do you evaluate which ones to use, given the number and variety of options? Join us Thursday, September 24 from 3-4 p.m. ET for “Designing Your Online Presence to Communicate Your Academic Brand”, presented by Lee Skallerup Bessette, a Blogger and Social Media Advisor, and Paula Thompson, an Academic Coach, both from Academic Coaching & Writing, for an introduction to the most popular platforms and tools to help you decide which ones might be right for you.<
The most useful textbook & academic writing posts of the week: September 18, 2015
“The best way to learn about writing is to study the work of other writers you admire.” –Jeffery Deaver
Isn’t this an excellent bit of advice that Jeffery Deaver gives us? Do we not do this in our own writing, but also in other aspects of our lives? I think one piece is missing from his advice, however. I believe that you also have to find and study writers that have a similar tone, style, and voice to that of your own. All of those things make up who you are and who you are as a writer.