UPDATE: If you’ve registered before and wondered what happened, you were not rejected. You probably didn’t get the email automatically mailed to you by the bbs software (spam filtered, maybe). Feel free to contact me to straighten things out.

Anyway, the second week of the forum has seen the launch a few new subjects, and embellishment on some older ones:

• 60-second Pitches — Tried writing a few, and others are giving good feedback and writing some of their own. It’s good to be thinking about this stuff.

• Creating a Revenue Stream Based on Writing — This is evolving into a discussion of what it means to make an exceptional book, and what we mean by exceptional. Someone even quoted The Little Prince…awesome!

• Virtual Freelancer Umbrella Organization — I’ve heard this idea many times over the years, and I just started a new thread on this to seriously think of what this would actually entail. The idea of a “company” that was comprised of individual contractors working under a common banner is really compelling to the contractor, but realistically it’s hard to sell to prospective companies if you don’t present yourself as a “stable” entity that won’t just disappear.

• Project: Typography for Personal Mantras — I have six mantras I use for productivity, and for some reason I felt like making some posters based on them. So I’ve posted the three drafts in the forum for critique. Hope to do more of this in the future.

• Strategies for Finding the Right People — With all the talk about starting companies, collaborating on projects, etc, I was reminded of one of my ongoing quests: finding teams. Where to find them. How to vet them. How to build them. Getting some interesting ideas from other people through this thread.

• Productivity Issues — We’re just talking about productivity in this thread, and seeing where the conversation goes. It’s always interesting to hear about what other people’s bottlenecks are, and to share our weird personal tips.

• The University — I’ve started some topics going on research I’m starting, covering “web development”, “ornamental design”, “open source actionscript development”, “book publishing”, and “Rich internat application development”. Right now, it’s just a place for me to maintain some continuity of thought and share some ideas.

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p>In general, the forum launch has provided me with another outlet; it’s a little more intimate and informal than the blog, and it’s cool to know that other people feel comfortable commenting and sharing their own experiences. In a way, it is starting to remind me of a mini-SXSW…each topic is like a panel, except we’re doing the discussion among ourselves.