This was originally part of the Suite101 University ecourses. They are all being taken down from the site, sometime soon. I have preserved some because they are worth keeping. It seems a shame to lose something which has value and had so much effort put into it's creation.

E-Publishing

By Dawn Whitmire

Introduction

"Catch the Wave -- Become an E- Publisher"

Anyone with a computer will tell you e-commerce and e-publishing are definite waves of the future. More and more e-publishers are popping up over the Internet and it’s not surprising others want a piece of this pie. If you’ve thought about becoming an e-publisher, this course is for you. However, let’s be frank. This is not an easy job where you’ll make quick money overnight. E-publishing takes investment of your time and knowledge. You have to be willing to learn that which you do not know and to find someone who can teach you. If you’re reviewing this course introduction, the thought has crossed your mind or maybe you know someone who is interested in venturing into the wide world of e-publishing. Can we show you how? Absolutely. Can we make you a success? Absolutely ... not. That will be up to you. Your success will depend upon your devotion to your task and your drive to succeed. We can give you the steps to take; we cannot infuse you with determination. …more

I'm not unlinking from 9Rules. My feed still goes through on the Writing section of their network, so for that, I am keeping the link up. But, I have in every way that matters, given up on 9Rules. I feel really let down, disappointed and somewhat stupid for ever believing in it.

If I had my blog in 9Rules in the beginning, when the site still had passion behind it, I would have felt very much differently. Instead, I was accepted in the one and only batch of blogs after 9Rules was bought out. Since then we had a few empty promises and then... nothing much at all. Someone logged in for awhile to update the blog, token updates. My links appeared there until someone must have protested that my links were appearing too often. I update daily so there are a lot of posts to choose from when someone updated the 9Rules blog. But, someone must have been jealous and protested about the amount of times Word Grrls was linked to. I never bothered to ask about it, I understand pettiness and jealousy. It was just one little thing that began to bother me.

I've been a member of 9Rules since 2009. When the site went down recently, without explanation, I thought that would likely be the end of it. Like a sudden sinking of a ship. Just gone beneath the waves, leaving nothing but a kerplunk. But, they brought it up.  Of course, it's been unchanged since then. It would have been a nice sign of life if there were a post about the down time, or an email sent out to the members. This unchanged, non-communication, took away the last trace of hope I had for the site. I'm just waiting for it's final disappearance now.

But, as I wrote above, I'm keeping the link up as long as my feed still gets published on the network. It used to be important, part of the agreement to having membership. Now I can find many sites still part of the network, but no longer giving the link back to 9Rules. No one cares. I don't mean the individual bloggers, I mean the people behind 9Rules. They just don't care or have an interest in the network. It serves them by merely existing as  a domain to stick up Google Adsense. A shame, but it happens all too often when someone sells a site to someone else.

RIP 9Rules.

This is a free ecourse which was part of Suite101 University. This part of their site is being removed soon. I wanted to keep the ecourses available. There is a lot of information in the courses. It is a shame to lose a great resource.

Basic Grammar Skills

By Janet Blaylock

Introduction

This course is a basic grammar course that will help anyone who is interested in improving their punctuation, capitalization, and sentence structure. The exercises and tests will help increase your skills in these areas and help you to discover your weak areas as well as your strong areas. As a result of increasing your basic grammar skills, you will write more effectively. The list of reference books are for your information. They are not required for the course. I have found them valuable in understanding grammar. These books will also help you to learn how to write term papers and other papers that you are required to write if you attend a college to receive a degree in a specific field. …more

The ecourses are being removed from SuiteU. They had a lot of work put into them and were offered free. I think they are worth keeping online and available.

Creative Writing Workshop

By Wesley Sharpe

Introduction

  My interest in creativity springs from a university class I attended on Creative Teaching. Before I began my study, I believed the myth that only a few exceptionally bright and gifted individuals are creative. During the next few months I learned that creativity is an innate ability regardless of IQ. Aware that creativity is an inborn gift, I studied the creative thinking skills of elementary school educationally handicapped children. In eight weeks of instruction these boys and girls made outstanding progress in their ability to think of more ideas and more original ideas, than children without special training. Like many new ventures, several years passed before this idea evolved into a book that focused on helping parents understand and teach their children inventive thinking skills. Since then I have continued to study and write about creativity. I developed this workshop to help writers recognize and nurture their writing abilities. In the four lessons students will begin to understand their inventive abilities, and practice ways to think and write originally. Each lesson includes a thinking workout including warm-up exercises. These exercises are designed to give the originative process a boost and prepare you for serious writing. Athletes warm up and stretch their muscles before they begin a workout or competition. You can have the same kind of experience with a creative thinking workout. The primary rule during a workout is to allow the right hemisphere of your brain to take control. This means don't edit grammar or punctuation, and forget about correct spelling at least for a while. Let the words flow. Most of the assigned writing activities are adapted from Freeing Your Creativity by Marshall J. Cook. Although this book is out of print, new and used copies are available from Amazon.Com. My home is in Little River California, population about 400, on California's North Coast. When I am not writing, visiting grandchildren, or looking at the Pacific Ocean, I'm on the golf course enjoying life! …more

Today 9Rules is down. I don't know if it is gone, or just lost.

When my site was accepted in 2009 I was pretty happy. Even though the network had been backsliding awhile - there was hope for a fresh revamp. It didn't quite seem to ever really happen though. I'm still part of 9Rules and I'm not giving up on it. But, I'm disappointed. Tonight, seeing it come up 404, I'm not feeling a lot of faith in it.

Just for inspiration, here are the original 9 rules:

According to the about page 9rules is a collection of blogs, showcasing the best content of the Independent web. 9rules was created in 2003, around 9 rules:

Love what you do. Never stop learning. Form works with function. Simple is beautiful. Work hard, play hard. You get what you pay for. When you talk, we listen. Must constantly improve. Respect your inspiration.