It was a sad day when I posted my final entry for StartingWriteNow.  I had been posting for almost two years and I was feeling a profound sense of loss.  Still, the SWN team came to a mutual agreement of sorts; we all realized that for the site to flourish it needed to evolve.  Unfortunately, none of us have the time to spend on that evolution right now.

So the grand experiment ended… or at least has been put on hiatus.

For me, dropping off the Internet is not really an option.  I have a book currently in front of a publisher and my fingers are crossed that they accept it.  If they don’t, I have two other publishers who have already agreed to take a look at it so it will stay in circulation.

When that book is accepted (notice I said when, not if) I will need to get into promotion mode.  For those of you who followed my posts on SWN you’ll already know that I am firmly committed to that concept.  Still, it isn’t easy for me and it is even tougher to maintain momentum once you start getting it.

The new website is still pretty raw but it is my first attempt at building a site so I hope you’ll forgive me.  I will be working on it pretty much continuously to get it where I want it to be… well as continuously as I can in between editing and writing.

In terms of projects, I’m currently editing the first book I wrote “The Goddess Renewed”.  I want to have it completely reworked in time for the World Fantasy Convention here in Calgary.  I intend to go to the WFC and actively pitch the book.  Hopefully I’ll meet with some success.

I’m also going to be editing the short story collection I compiled when I did the 30-in-30 self challenge.  If you’re wondering what that is, I’ve talked about it quite a bit in the archives.  Please take a few minutes and have a look.  If I get enough interest in the challenge I will probably run it again before the year is out.  Suffice it to say that I learned a LOT from it.

That’s all the updates I’ve got for you right now; I will be attempting to add some of the content we had planned for SWN but it will depend entirely on time in between writing and editing projects.  If there is something you’d like to see please let me know.

Stay tuned.

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.