The leaf!

Posted at 12:00 on 10 September 2008

I was delighted to learn last week that I have been accepted as a member of 9rules. If you've never heard of it before, it's an exclusive network of quality blogs run by Paul Scrivens, Mike Rundle and Tyme White. They don't just accept anyone and everyone -- only blogs with consistently good quality, design and content get accepted, so it was heartening to know that someone thinks I'm doing something right. They set the bar fairly high -- you need to have been blogging consistently for at least six months, and they look for well thought out, thoroughly researched posts, and a good, consistent, easy to navigate design that is appropriate to what you're writing about. So if you are one of those types who writes detritus like "omg lol chk out this youtube vid lmao rotfl" or posts those inane quizzes that tell you which Star Wars character you are, forget it.

There are some pretty interesting people in the network, such as Joe Anderson, who writes about a variety of issues related to general technology, Web 2.0 and "the" Wikipedia, and Lorelle van Fossen, whose blog about blogging is very well regarded within the WordPress community. Check out neverhappen.com too -- it's a daily photoblog with some absolutely stunning photography.

Needless to say, this will keep the pressure on me to come up with good quality content. The fact that I'm working in London for one of our Very Important Clients for the next three months puts even more pressure on my time as well -- I have to set my alarm for half past five in the morning in order to catch the 07:25 train. However, a 55 minute commute each way does give me an opportunity to jot down some ideas for interesting content, even though the train can be pretty full and elbow room can be at a premium sometimes.