By Michelle Rivera-Clonch, PhD
We often hear about the hazards of an Unskilled Inner Critic and, like most things, there’s more to the story. Our Skilled Inner Critic, when called upon, promotes a writing flow that encourages us to be calm, cool, connected and creative. We have access to both Critics—it’s about the intensity and frequency that we rely upon each one to help us complete the writing project.
Why is writing so terrifying? Dr. Michelle R. Boyd’s Becoming the Writer You Already Are explains why being afraid of writing is neither strange nor shameful. And introduces the Writing Metaphor, a tool that illuminates what you already know about overcoming writing challenges. Becoming shows you how to consult, trust, and follow that process. So you can live a pleasurable, productive, satisfying writing life.
By Laura Poole
I’ve been copyediting scholarly nonfiction for many years now, and I have some gentle suggestions to academic writers who would like to tighten up their prose.
These are all suggestions at the phrase level, not the sentence level, to reduce wordiness, impose active voice, and improve flow. There are NOT hard-and-fast rules and should not be done as a knee-jerk reflex. There are times when these suggested edits won’t work or will change the meaning of the phrase; in these cases, don’t do them!
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.
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.
The TAA Conference Committee invites proposals for its 2025 Textbook & Academic Authoring Conference, which will be held online June 6-7. Presenting at TAA’s 2025 Conference provides an opportunity to share your knowledge, experiences, and ideas with other textbook authors, academic authors, and industry professionals. The theme is “The Future is Now.” We welcome proposals from first-time and veteran presenters! The deadline for submitting a proposal is October 13, 2024.
