Today’s Friday Link Love is sort of an abbreviated version because I have family visiting from out of town. Hopefully the below links will keep you reading happily throughout the weekend. Next week things should return back to normal here at Brad’s Reader.

That said, have a safe and happy weekend.

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The big news this week, of course, was the release of Apple’s new iPhone 4. The new device is packed full of new features and will bring the smart phone experience to a whole new level. By comparison, my first generation 2G iPhone looks like a dinosaur compared to the iPhone 4.

Also, I want to remind everyone that you are welcome to submit links here for Friday Link Love! I’m looking for some “new blood” to keep this weekly feature fresh and exciting.

That’s all I have for today. As always, have a safe and happy weekend!

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I’ll confess that I tend to procrastinate. I’ve gotten a lot better over the years, but it’s something I still struggle with. I’ve tried all kinds of lists and anti-procrastinating “techniques” to no avail. However, I am finding one thing that works. Instead of creating list of stuff I need to do, I create a list of accomplishments already done.

To-do lists can be intimidating and at times make getting anything done seem impossible. By creating a list of daily accomplishments, it gives a sense of satisfaction and productivity. This is a bigger motivator than staring at a large to-do list wondering where to start. Just food for thought for all you procrastinators out there.

This week has been a little more hectic than usual, so I apologize for the slim pickings of links. That said, have a happy and safe weekend

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Changes are slowly starting to happen here at Brad’s Reader. Nothing big, just small tweaks to reflect a growing blog. I have unveiled a new direct advertising program, where you can advertise on Brad’s Reader for less than $1 a day. I’m also looking for great blog posts about ebooks, writing, publishing and books to link to on my weekly Friday Link Love feature.

Other small changes are still in the pipeline, but I have no definite date for those right now. I’m thrilled that Brad’s Reader has kept growing like it has, considering I started this blog as a way to keep writing about literature after I graduated from college.

At the time, it was just a little side-project, something I tinkered with in my free time. Nowadays, blogging takes up a good chunk of my day.

Enough of my rambling. Have a happy and safe weekend!

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Friday Link Love has become a regular feature here at Brad’s Reader since  late 2007. Every week I post links to other blog posts and articles that I find interesting and/or helpful, that I want to share with the rest of you. I always look forward to compiling each week’s Link Love feature.

However, lately I’ve been feeling like I’m posting links from the same sources over and over again. In other words, things are getting stale. The blog posts and articles I link to are still great, I just need some “new blood.” Also, searching out links from new sources is very time consuming, making it very difficult most weeks.

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Yesterday I had the great pleasure of appearing as a guest on Cyrus Webb’s Conversations LIVE! radio show. It was a panel discussion of the business of books. You can still listen to the podcast The Business of Books. The panel also included 2 authors and 2 book publishers. A great hour-long discussion and worth your time to listen to, especially if you’re a writer looking to get published.

I’m going to leave it at that so you can enjoy the links for this week. As always, have a happy and safe weekend!

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This week has been rather uneventful. I’m currently reading The Lovely Bones (aff link) by Alice Sebold for my book club, which I’m finding is a great book. My wife has been urging me to read it for a while, so I finally took her advice (I like to give credit where it’s due). One aspect of the book I love is how Alice Sebold uses the dead daughter, looking down from heaven, as the narrator. A very unique perspective, to say the least.

I have also been working on my newest short story project. The writing is going very fast and the story seems to be writing itself. That’s not to say it’s perfect, but at least I’ll have a good jumping off point for future editing.

I have another short story that is as complete and revised as I can make it. However, before releasing it into the wild, I need at least one more pair of eyes to read and give feedback. While I’m happy with how this story has turned out, it’s still missing something that I can’t put my finger on.  Ah the joys of writing fiction!

As always, have a happy and safe weekend!

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Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to find another source of ebooks. I found that I could download ebooks from the Barnes & Noble website and then load them onto my Sony Pocket Reader. The ebooks download in the pdb format. So I transfered them to Calibre and converted them to ePub. I plugged my reader in and the ebooks easily transferred.

I figured this was possible with the B&N ebookstore, I just never got around to giving it a try until yesterday. B&N appears to have a large number of free ebooks, a lot of them coming from Smashwords (aff link) – another ebook provider B&N partnered up with not too long ago.

Needless to say, I think I’ll have plenty of ebooks on my Sony for a long time to come. Have a happy and safe weekend!

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Brad’s Reader is coming up on almost 3.5 years on the net, something I’m very proud of and I hope to continue blogging for many more years to come. That said, you will start seeing a slow shift on Brad’s Reader to reflect all the changes this blog has gone through in the last 3.5 years.

The changes won’t be anything drastic. I’ll still be posting regularly and most of the content will stay the same. I guess you can say I’m giving the Brad’s Reader brand a slight shift into a direction it has been headed in for a while now.  I also have a new website in the works that will compliment this blog in a huge way. I’m keeping most of my plans under wraps for now – so you’ll have to stand by for more announcements.

That said, have a very happy and safe weekend!

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I finally got my hands on the new Apple iPad last weekend when I visited my local Apple Store. I will admit, the device is beautiful, albeit a bit heavy.

Portable gaming is brought to a whole new level – I demoed my favorite iPhone game “Flight Control.” The virtual keyboard that pops up when you need to type is easy to use and is almost like a real keyboard. For my thoughts about iBooks and ebook reading on the iPad, visit my previous post 5 Minutes with the iPad.

After trying out the iPad for myself, I now want one. Of course, my wallet keeps my inner geek in check. I can dream, can’t I?

As always, have a happy and safe weekend!

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