Suggestion for how to get published

I was looking through some old posts of mine, and found an interview I did last year on Amber's blog. It struck me as funny because this was before I got my book contract. Here is the revised version:

When I took an online writing course from Winghill, my first assignment was to research the submission guidelines of my fav magazines. I ended up submitted an article for both Dogs in Canada and Adventure Kayak magazine.

These were my very first articles. One was a personal essay about one of my strange sled dogs - Frozen Turd Wars.

The other came about from my own research to a personal problem. I was planning an extended kayak expedition and wanted to know how the rock-star kayak women attended to nature while crossing huge stretches of water. After I emailed one of my hero kayakers, she sent me back three suggestions:
pee in a sponge,
stand on the back deck of your partners kayak,
or use a funnel into a jar.

Well, I couldn't do any of those things, so I wrote an article about it.

My man had sort of raised his eyebrows at the subject of both submissions, but remained supportive of this new writing thing.

Both articles were accepted!  I felt validated. It led to numerous articles in other magazines and something to put on my resume of previous published work.
Hopefully, one day I'll go to a bookstore, see my book on the shelf and think, it all started in the toilet.

My point in posting this - if you're looking for a pick-me-up, try sending in a short story to a magazine. You get confidence, money and the astonished respect of your man.

And here's the lake this morning after the rain storm. Beauty!