Business Update

One of the reasons I quit posting so much here was that I was working on building my new business, Upstart Technology. The company consists of two people: myself and a software developer. Since I'm the business person, I end up doing everything except writing the code: building and maintaining web sites, dealing with intellectual property, designing business cards, shooting videos, writing content, and, in general, my role is to be the chief cook and bottle washer, so he is free to do only what he does best--write incredibly good software.

Beta
Pop Ink - CSA...
Buy This at Allposters.com

And after four short months, our first product is ready for beta test! If you have an iDevice (something that has Apple's logo on it) with a touchscreen, and a printer, you can have free access to the beta testing products, and you'll the be first to know about our new products, too! Simply join our mailing list and you will be up to date on everything happening in the company.

Zujava

If there's one thing I have learned about writing sites, it's that you are judged on the following factors:

• the quality of your topics
• the quality of your writing
• your ability to follow the rules

So I heard about this writing site with the strange name, called Zujava (pronounced Zoo (like the place where they keep animals) and Java, like the programming language or the slang word for coffee, or the location). Mostly what I heard is that they are slow to approve new writers.

Zujava wants you to write three posts (here they're called "leaves") before you can publish. Those three posts have to be approved before they will be visible, and before you can publish any more. Okay, fair enough. With all the wait times I heard everyone complaining about, I figured it would be months before I got approved, but I did work very hard on putting together some substantial posts on issues I care about. I read the rules quite carefully, and finally was ready to submit my leaves for review.

Well, imagine my shock when I got up from the computer, got a cup of tea, and headed back after a few moments to check my email. I was already approved! For a moment I couldn't believe it, but indeed I had been approved in less than half an hour!

"Surprise! High-fibre ice cream!" - ... Tom Cheney

So, it just goes to show. Follow the rules. Write good-quality content with original ideas on interesting topics. If you're not getting approved, review your work before you blame the site. And then you just might surprise yourself, too!