After taking a one week (unplanned) hiatus, I’ll be back to my regular blogging schedule. I apologize for the unexpected absence. Sometimes life gets busy, especially with a 7-month old baby.

I already have some posts in the works that will be published over the next week. Stay tuned…

I just want thank everyone who submitted a new tagline for Brad’s Reader in last week’s contest. I’m currently reviewing the submissions and will make a decision shortly. The winner will receive a $25 Amazon gift card.

I love doing contests like this because it allows me to connect with readers and allows you to become an active part of the blog. I hope to have more contests in the future.

Brad’s Reader is evolving and moving forward. As I mentioned in an earlier post, this blog is going to concentrate on technology as it relates to reading, writing and publishing.

Brad’s Reader is changing! Starting today, this blog will focus exclusively on how digital technology is changing how we read, write and publish. I’ve been moving towards this niche for a while and I think it’s time to make it official.

In order to properly kick off this new direction, I’ve decided to let you, the reader, help me make the transition. I need a new tagline and I want to tap into the creative minds of all my readers out there on the intertubes.

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I originally started this blog to write about literary topics with a few writing tips thrown into the mix. Slowly, over the last 4 years, I’ve been writing less about literature and writing, and more about ebooks, publishing and the influence of technology.

On February 1, Brad’s Reader will begin focusing exclusively on technology and its impact on reading and publishing. I’m going to do away with the “All Things Literature & Writing” slogan and replace it with something that better reflects this blog’s content.

I’m hoping that this more focused mission of Brad’s Reader will align with a growing readership that is increasingly interested in how technology is affecting how we read, writing and publish.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that everything I’ve written in the past 4 years will still remain in the Brad’s Reader archives for all to search, read and enjoy.

It’s only a few days before Christmas, meaning all you procrastinators out there still have 2 more days to buy all those presents. For the rest of us, we can relax. Thanks to the good people at Amazon, all of my shopping gets done in my bathrobe and slippers.

The end of December is also the birthday of Brad’s Reader. This year, I’m proud to say that I’ve been blogging for 4 years now. What started as a blog on Google’s Blogger platform to muse about literature, philosophy and writing, became the blog you know today. I never imagined that in 4 years my main focus would become ebooks and digital publishing.

That said, here are a few random notes worth your attention:

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I just wanted to wish everyone here in the US a Happy Thanksgiving. Hopefully you’ll be able to take a break from your writing to enjoy some turkey. I’m a vegetarian, so I didn’t eat real turkey. I ate “tofurky”, fake turkey made out of tofu. It was very good.

I also hope you can spend some time with your family. This year is special because it’s the first year with my son (now 3 months). Of course, he’s too young to eat turkey, but he did have some yummy milk. And he also got to spend some time with our family. I think he had fun.

Anyway, since it is Thanksgiving I just wanted to thank all you loyal readers out there for your support. Thank you!

During the last month, when most of my attention has been devoted to my newborn son, I still have had a chance to reflect on the different parts of my blog that have been gnawing at me for a while. One of those parts is the weekly Friday Link Love feature.

After much contemplation, I decided to suspend Friday Link Love indefinitely. My reasons are simple. Organizing the Link Love feature is quite time consuming and it doesn’t provide the jump in site traffic that I expect from a weekly feature. Also, I’ve been feeling like I’ve been linking to the same sites and same blogs over and over again. It’s getting stale.

My plan is to use the time I’d normally dedicated to Friday Link Love to writing more, high quality blog posts. So you should see the frequency of my blog posts pick up soon.

That said, you might see Friday Link Love come back in the future. You’ll just have to come back and see.

Have a happy and safe weekend!

I just wanted to write a quick post about recent comment moderation. Because of my new duties as a father, it has been hard for me to fire up my computer for a little blog maintenance. This includes approving new comments. When I don’t have access to my computer or I’m on the run, I have a WordPress App on my iPhone that I can moderate comments with.

For the last week or so, the app has been a bit buggy and isn’t letting me do anything with comments. So if you’re writing a comment for the first time, it will have to be moderated. Please be patient as I will try to get it approved and posted as soon as possible.

If you have commented on here before, you should not be affected by this glitch. As always, if you have any concerns about a legitimate comment (spam doesn’t count) you wrote that has not shown up, please contact me so I can get it straightened out.

Life is starting to settle down a bit with my new baby – at least as settled as it can be with midnight feedings, diaper changes, loud crying and so forth. But I’m feeling a little more comfortable in my role as a dad. That said, I hope to start posting again soon.

Thank you all for your patience.

It has been over a week since I’ve turned my computer on. But it’s good news. On Saturday August 28 my wife and I welcomed our first baby into the world. We weren’t expecting him to be born for another week, so it was a pleasant surprise to have him born early – the excitement and anticipation was killing us.

That said, it has been a little slow on Brad’s Reader. The last week has been very hectic as we are adjusting to a very different schedule filled with midnight feedings/diaper changes, doctor’s appointments and generally trying to get used to have another person in our lives.

Things are slowly turning back to normal. I’m hoping to get at least one post written within the next week, although I can’t make any promises.

Thanks all for your patience.

I generally don’t talk a lot about my personal life on Brad’s Reader because I don’t want to bore you with the mundane details of my life. But there is something I feel the need to share.

There is a big change coming my way. My wife is pregnant with our first child. It’s a boy! The name is being kept under wraps until he’s born – which can be any day now. She is full-term (and very uncomfortable) so we are just playing the waiting game.

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