do you write for any magazines or newspapers? county college regular college all counts and county college magazine and newspapers accept everyone and you learn a lot from it.

they also offer noncredit classes at county colleges which generally will have writing classes, which are just workshops and a lot of fun and no one knows anything, they are lost too and the teacher will be a published writer and give out pointers.

surveys in magazines with an essay section is how i got published the first time, but i was very young and it was a big ordeal. i was lucky really. if i had to go through that many essays and interviews now and the stress from all that, i would probably have a stroke. lol.

free newspapers also hire people. they will want samples, that is why its easiest to start with writing for county college or college newspaper or magazine. free newspapers pay really crappy though but it gets your feet wet.

for creative writing, i know someone who was published only doing porn and kept submitting and submitting, the writers guide book tells you how and where to submit. you can buy them at any barnes and noble bookstore, or used from amazon i bet. there is also a book on finding a literary agent, however, they will all want samples as proof that you can write and that you have follow-through to actually get the job done. the same guy who only got published in porn mags, got a BOOK DEAL when he started writing samples of psycho killer stuff. psycho killer books sell right now so there is a market for them. jane magazine and stuff magazine pay $1000 if they use any of your stories. also keep in mind, the average is 43 NO'S to every yes, so brace yourself. after a while the form letter of "no's" will become a little friendlier when they see you keep submitting and changing your stuff and will say things like, "how nice to hear from you again, but unfortunately...." lol. it DOES happen. its important to have something interesting to say, something not typical, one guy who was a professor at the college but always rejected used models of classic literature to write and was ALWAYS REJECTED. the reason is they don't want anything in style that is older than the passed 20 years. they would ask the guy, DO YOU READ best sellers? do you know what is selling? he had no idea. he was an english teacher. he COULD write but he had nothing to say. if he had spent his summers studying abroad and journalling the experience as long as he bothered to go out daily while living abroad, he'd HAVE something to say and it was suggested to him, but he didn't want to. lol. that guy was a trip.

Figure out what genre your writing fits in; for example, if it's a children's poem, you want to target children's and/or family magazines that publish children's stories, etc. You could go to the library and read different magazines to get an idea of who might like to print your work. Expect a LOT of denials....that is one big reason why a lot of people give up, because they think their work isn't good enough after the first few (dozen) rejections. But there are a lot of reasons why your work could get rejected, even if it's good enough. It might not be what they're looking for at that particular time (for a children's book, for example, they may be writing a mag focused on dinasaurs that month, and if yours isn't about dinasaurs, it's going to be rejected, even if it's a fine piece of work) Also, write a brief cover letter when you send it in. Tell where the idea came from, what you're trying to get across with it, etc....and you may get suggestions by the person who responds, even though it could be a rejection. Another thing, don't be afraid to re-write your work and trim it down. That is another error people often make. Most of the time in writing, less is better. When you're done with a piece, put it aside for a few days, week, month, or whatever, and read it again. That gives you a bit more of an objective point of view and helps you see it from a readers angle rather than just your own. Let others (whom you trust, and won't be hurt or offended by their response ~ which often means, NOT your close friends and family) Remember, whatever anyone says about what you write, is THEIR resoponse, not necessarily something that acutally applies to what you wrote. And once you feel your writing is done, PUT DOWN THE PROVERBIAL PEN!!!

oops ~~ it didn't send the last part of what I wrote, which is, ......changing your writing too much can muddle it up, too....small corrections and additions to polish it are ok, but major changes can derail the whole thing.

Oh, yeah, and the most important part,

GOOD LUCK!!!

:)