What happens when a bunch of lawmakers decide that it’s a good idea to make booksellers register with the state government if they sell "sexually explicit material"?

I’m not sure what the answer is, but we’ll probably see a few lawsuits and some good court battles as a result. Basically, on March 13 the governor of Indiana signed into law a bill that requires booksellers to register with the state if they sell sexually explicit material. How do they define sexually explicit material, you ask? Here’s what Publishers Weekly is reporting:

"Sexually explicit material" is defined as any product that is "harmful to minors" under existing law.

I’m glad those genius lawmakers were specific enough so there’s no gray area (sarcasm!). Basically, any sexual content in a book sold at a bookstore could be seen as sexually explicit and thus is harmful to minors. This means that even classics like Shakespeare could qualify, not to mention a lot of contemporary literature, books on human sexuality, photography books with nude photos and…well… you get the idea.

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Many of us bookworms take reading for granted. Sounds like a silly thing to say, right? Well consider this, our brains were not "designed" for reading. At least not initially.

I came across a review of the book Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain from the Telegraph and couldn’t help but write a post on the subject. I normally don’t write posts about book reviews, but this one seemed particularly suitable since the review itself is a very good read.

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The good news is that I finished that large writing project I was working on last week! The bad news is, over the weekend, I came down with what I can only guess was the flu. I awoke Sunday morning with a fever, body aches, congestion, sore throat, and all the other fun stuff that goes along with being ill.

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It has been a slow week here at Brad’s Reader. As I said in an earlier post, I’m working on another writing project with a looming deadline that I need to get finished. So I have been spending most of my free time working on that other project. Hopefully, next week I’ll be back in full swing and have some meaty feature posts for you to read.

But for now, here’s another Friday Link Love post. I really love putting these together and it has become a staple to my Thursday night routine. I only hope you get the same enjoyment out of reading these various posts as I have.

Friday is here! So without further delay, it’s time to forget about your crummy day job and get serious about relaxing. Find a comfortable spot and enjoy these links! As always, have a safe and happy weekend!

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It’s a sad day for the science fiction community, and even the literary community at large because Arthur C. Clarke has died at the age of 90. He is probably best known for works like 2001: A Space Odyssey. Not too long ago I read his novel Time’s Eye which is based on the premise that the earth is suddenly carved up into different epochs of history. The result is groups of modern humans meet groups of ancient humans. A very interesting read, to say the least.

Clarke died in Sci Lanka, where he has lived for several decades. While I don’t think his shoes can ever be filled, his literary legacy will certainly live on!

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You might find this week lacking in posts as I have some other writing projects with looming deadlines that I need to get finish up. But don’t worry, I’ll try to squeeze in a few posts this week and you can always count on my Friday Link Love feature – posted first thing Friday morning (here in the US) for your reading pleasure. Next week I should be back to my normal posting schedule.

Thanks for reading!

How do you relax? I like to read. Maybe I’ll listen to some music. My personal favorite, however, is taking an afternoon nap (preferably right after lunch). Sometimes the daily grind can really wear us down and we need some time to ourselves to recharge. For most people, this time falls on the weekend!

If you haven’t done so already, take some time and sit back and enjoy some great reading from around the web. I was up for a record 48-hours scouring the darkest reaches of the internet to find the perfect mix of links, just for you.

Have a safe and happy weekend!

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One of my goals for 2008 was to become more organized with my blogging. I decided to make an editorial calendar for Brad’s Reader utilizing Google Calendar. The basic idea is that I plan out most of my feature "bread and butter" posts in advance and fill in the gaps with more timely literary news. So far this has worked out great. By seeing all my planned posts for the month laid out in front of me, I have a good idea of what topics I might be talking about too much, and what topics need more attention.

Before I started using an editorial calendar I would pretty much write my posts as the ideas came to me. I spent many evening sitting in front of my computer trying desperately to think of something to write about for that particular day. It was very stressful, to say the least. Now, I know what I’ll be writing about in advance and usually end up writing most posts for the week during the prior weekend.

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Many writers, especially those of us who dabble in fiction and poetry, aren’t lucky enough to make a living off our writing. Thus we are forced to endure all sorts of day jobs to support our writing habit. The downside to this is obvious; you’re spending your precious time working for someone else, making someone else rich, and that someone else probably doesn’t understand your literary ambitions. The upside, which is much less obvious, is that you can put a roof over your head and food on the table while you pound out the great American novel in your spare time.

Even famous writers endured miserable day jobs

If you find yourself in the unenviable position of having to work a miserable day job to support your writing, you’re not alone! Many famous writers had to put up with the day-to-day drudgery of a nine-to-five job, and work on their masterpiece during off-hours. This is nothing new and seems to be part of the "paying your dues" that many great authors endure.

Thus I have compiled a short list of authors and the day jobs they endured in order to soothe your creative soul. While the literary merits of many of these authors can be questioned, their success as a writer is undeniable:

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Part of what draws me to ebooks is that they don’t waste one of nature’s most valuable (and beautiful, in my opinion) resources: Trees! The amount of trees it takes to print all the books we publish just in the US alone must be staggering. And you add on top of that all those printed books that are never sold and become wasted, it’s pretty sad.

I saw a very brief article (ironically, subscribers to the print edition can read the full report) in Publishers Weekly about how the publishing industry impacts the environment. It had a few interesting tidbits:

The U.S. publishing industry emits over 12.4 million tons of carbon dioxide each year, or about 8.85 pounds per book, according to the findings in the just-released report, Environmental Trends and Climate Impacts: Findings from the U.S. Book Industry.

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