I mention this anthology because it is Chicken Soup for the Soul! My first nationally published story was in Chicken Soup for The Mother and Son Soul. I've gone on to submit and be published in four other CS books. Most CS stories come from "new" writers but you have to be good to be selected. Only ten percent of stories submitted make the first cut and that's out of thousands of stories submitted. There is an amount of editing help that will be provided to help you, but that depends on who the Co-Author is and if you have a really great story.
I bring up CS for several reasons. First and foremost, anthology series are a great place to submit your work and CS always has titles they are accepting stories for. Visit their website to see if you have something to contribute. It's great practice not only writing, but learning the process of story submission and hopefully selection. Additionally, read the CS history, it's a great story of an idea grown to world wide success!
I'm going to post Blogging: Part II and also introduce you to some writer friends of mine who will provide you with so many resources for opportunities to write. It may not be where you want to be ultimately, but we are talking about Orange Roads, getting the journey under way!
I started my writing career with a column in an industry newsletter - I was the Dear Abby of the new era voice mail systems being sold to large corporations. I've also written a weekly e-mail column since 1999 called The Monday Motivator - every Monday, and numerous other books, copy for web sites, and more.
