Three Things to Do Right Now

To get published:

1. Subscribe to "The Writing Kid," "Funds for Writers" and "Funds for Writers: Small Markets" over at www.fundforwriters.com. They're free newsletters with weekly advice on getting published and appropriate markets. If you're already a subscriber, go through the past 3 issues and outline 5 magazines or anthologies you could write for.

2. Spend ten minutes brainstorming article and short story ideas. Brainstorming: don't rule anything out, have fun being ridiculous, go to every extreme. The coolest ideas come out of the weirdest ideating sessions.

3. Start writing your bio. Write a summary of everything you've done so far; write a bio that you want to come true in a year; write a bio focusing on everything weird and wonderful about you; write a bio that makes you sound like the Rhodes Scholar of all Rhodes Scholars. Start creating the brand that is your name.