Creating New Writing Opportunities

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A friend of mine who is an artist also writes a column about the area art scene for a local magazine. It's something they didn't have in their pages before, my friend saw the need and now she has a new writing opportunity. When I was in college, I applied to the campus newspaper. Prior to that I had barely any publication experience. But I applied anyway, was accepted, and got to write an article on a band competition that was well received. One of my courses at university was Creative Writing. In that course, our instructor taught us how to use the Writer's Market annual reference book. Thanks to that knowledge, I had success in getting my poetry published, including the now-defunct Odessa Review alongside the work of Judson Jerome, a recognized poet and editor of a major writer's magazine. I was once a member of a public speaking club called Toastmasters Interntional. It helped me a lot in learning to write speeches. Eventually, I began writing the club's weekly meeting notes for the local newspaper. That taught me public relations and another dimension of journalism. Now that I'm on my third book, just last night I discovered some writers' circles on Google+. There are many links shared there to help create new writing opportunities, and I can hardly wait to try them. Creating new writing opportunities is not only fun, it can also be scary when you're trying new types of writing and new ways and places to sell your work. But it's all very rewarding.