Dear Dr. Noelle: Vanquish That Self-Imposed Guilt

By Dr. Noelle Sterne

Q: What do you do if you missed a deadline you created for yourself? How do you get through the feelings of guilt and set another deadline in a way that you can hold yourself to it?

              — M. Culpa

A: I empathize with you! It’s hard to miss your self-imposed deadline. As a fellow deadline-misser, I’ve arrived at several methods that make myself easier to live with.

2026 TAA Institute Bookstore Featured Book, ‘Business and Technical Writing for the Real World: Skills You Can Use Now’

Business and Technical Writing for the Real World by Sean Brierley is a professional writing guide for a broad array of students, including engineers and business majors, not just English majors. The text is designed to be modular, so its chapters need not be used sequentially and can fit your teaching style. The book features a table of contents, an index, and a glossary. Chapter contents include discussion and frequent examples of brainstorming, organization, structure, grammar, citing, trademarks, resumes and job hunting, graphics, and artificial intelligence. Communication channels and tools discussed include presentations, social media, video conferencing, reports, and general computer best practices.

Nominate Yourself or a Colleague for a TAA Recognition Award

Nominate yourself or a colleague for one of four TAA Recognition Awards. These awards, which recognize individual achievements in writing or in service to TAA or fellow authors, are selected each year by the TAA Council of Fellows and Awards Committee.

The deadline for nominations is April 15, 2026.

Service Awards

TAA Author Mentoring Award | TAA Distinguished Service Award

Writing Awards

The Social Justice Award | Council of Fellows 

2026 TAA Institute Keynote: How the AI Revolution is Impacting the Future of Textbook & Academic Publishing

Bryan AlexanderPublished academic book author and futurist Bryan Alexander will present the 2026 Michael Sullivan Lecture Keynote, “How the AI Revolution is Impacting the Future of Textbook & Academic Publishing,” at the Textbook & Academic Authors Association’s 2026 TAA Institute for Textbook and Academic Authors on Friday, June 12.

AI Advocacy – Graphic Artists Guild Launches ‘No Artists, No Art’ Campaign

The Graphic Artists Guild has launched the “No Artists, No Art” campaign to publicize the need to protect visual artists’ rights in a generative AI environment. The campaign’s message is twofold:

  1. Without high-quality creative works to train on, generative AI will deliver poorer and poorer quality outputs.
  2. In order to have a robust generative AI economy, the rights of creators and copyright holders need to be protected.

Industry News Round-Up Week of 2/16/2026

Stay updated on the latest news, advancements, and changes that are shaping the textbook and academic authoring industry with our bi-weekly Industry News Round-Up. Have an item to share? Email Sierra.Pawlak@TAAonline.net.


Florida sues major textbook publishers, alleges companies overcharged school districts (February 19, 2026)

Kansas May Withhold Millions From Universities With ‘DEI-CRT’ in Gen Ed (February 18, 2026)