As always, Aaron is a tough act to follow, but he does say a lot of the things that I have been thinking too.
Like him, I’ve come a long way since my first post. When I started with StartingWriteNow I had never blogged before, I hadn’t finished my first book. I had lots of undirected passion about writing, but that was pretty much the extent of it. When I started I knew that I wanted to be a published writer.
Today I still have the passion but I also have a new-found sense of purpose. I’ve finished three books, one of which is currently in front of a publisher. I’ve also finished a fistful of short stories. Today I KNOW that I will be a published writer.
Make no mistake, the difference between wanting something and knowing you are going to get it is huge and I owe a great deal of thanks to StartingWriteNow and you, the readers, for it. Your comments and participation have given me the additional kick that I sometimes needed to carry on and excel.
The site has allowed me to meet many great people I wouldn’t have met otherwise: Sean, Yves, Rich, Terry, Stacie and many others (I already knew Aaron 
). Thank you all for being there with me on the writing journey. Don’t be strangers in the future.
One of the big lessons I’ve learned over the past two years is how valuable networking is. Ultimately, the initial and continued success of an author depends on who they know and who knows about him or her. To that end, I will be maintaining a web presence at www.michellplested.com. I want to take this opportunity to invite you to come visit me there as I continue on my quest to get published and beyond.
StartingWriteNow has been very important to me for almost two years now. I am so proud that Sean saw fit to let me contribute to the site and I’m equally proud of all that we have accomplished as a team. It is hard, even now that we have decided to move on, to let SWN go.
Thank you everyone for giving me the opportunity to talk about writing. I hope you can take something away from what I have shared.
