I’m ready to take the next step in building my platform. I’ve already got the blog going (thanks for following!!), I’ve got my name in two local papers on a regular basis (and a couple of times in a national market), and I’ve been doing my best to meet agents, editors, and other writers at conferences. Now I’m ready to move forward, and I’ve got a few directions that I’d like to go:

1) Large-readership submissions
2) A portfolio
3) Public speaking

I’d like to address these one at a time to get some good feedback. Let’s start in the most logical place: #1.

Large-readership submissions: I’ve been blessed to have had an article appear in Evangel last year and a short story on Christian Fiction Online Magazine this month, but I’d like to submit more frequently to periodicals with a larger readership. Whenever I think about it, though, my brain freezes. Here’s why:

a. I don’t subscribe to any of these magazines. I have an idea of what they’re about, but I don’t regularly read them all (very few of them, actually), so I don’t feel like I should query them.
b. I don’t know what to write. I just – BLANK. I have some essays and stories that I’ve written just to keep on hand, but I’m never quite sure if I should try to find a market for those, or if I should pick a market and try to create something to fit in it.

What do YOU do? How do you decide where to query and what to submit? Do you submit to magazines that you don’t regularly read? What are your tips for broadening your writing base (getting more by-lines in more places)?