Writing Tips

So, D4 emailed me and asked how to get short stories published. Here is what I told her, more or less.

Go to your local library and sit down with the latest Writer's Market. (You could look up Writer's Market on-line, but I think they require a membership subscription. There are other on-line lists of publications as well, but make sure the information is accurate before following it.) Look up the type of publication or magazine you want to publish in. Copy the information. Look at copies of the publication in the library and read some of the short stories in them to see if they fit with your writing style and if you want to be affiliated with that publication. Go home and look up your chosen publications' web sites to verify submission policies and editors' names. Write a short submission cover letter for your story and then follow the submission instructions for each publication to the letter. Write some more stories.