Unless you were on that island with Tom Hanks in Cast Away, you have likely heard a lot about ChatGPT, Bard, and other artificial intelligence chatbots in the last two months. I mean a lot. Like too much.
You have likely heard about the revolutionary changes coming to the web, the world, education, and more. I am here to tell you as authors, take a breath. Don’t give up the ship. It will all be okay.
If you happen to be stuck in your academic writing, the good news is:
(1) You are not alone! This happens to all of us.
(2) There are remedies. Stay with me and read on.
First, ask yourself, “Why am I stuck?”
You might be stuck because you don’t know what to say.
OR
You might be stuck because you have too much to say.
TAA recently added three new 90-Minute Virtual Workshops by James Lang, former Professor of English and the founding Director of the D’Amour Center for Teaching Excellence at Assumption University: 1) “Writing Like a Teacher: Expanding the Audiences for Your Research”; 2) “Queries, Proposals, and Agents: The Mechanics of Submitting to Trade Book Publishers”; and 3) “Writing Accessible Prose: Attention Tools on the Page”. These TAA-sponsored virtual workshops are offered to institutions on a first-come first-served basis. Learn more about how you can bring these or other TAA virtual workshops to your campus for only $1,000.
Are you looking to branch out into authoring other nonfiction works? The Nonfiction Authors Association is holding its 13th annual Nonfiction Writers Conference online May 10-12, 2023. Opening speaker, Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild: Lost and Found on the Pacific Crest Trail and Tiny Beautiful Things, will speak on the writing life.
Have you ever noticed that pretty much any advice related to making progress suggests the same idea?
Track your progress.
Always craving more writing time (aside from the procrastination), I’ve chosen to keep up or reconnect with only a very few friends. And I realize an essential characteristic of real friendship: time doesn’t matter. However long the moments, weeks, or years between contacts, real friendship knows no steel-banded boundaries of time, distance, erratic mobile phone connections, or sporadic emails.
I recall a friend of twenty years ago, and I still cherish our many calls and visits. When we both moved, our interests diverged and contact ended.
