Fiction
Short stories are probably the easiest way to start off, even if your goal is to write a novel. Submitting short stories to different magazines will help you get familiarized with the submission process, and immunize you (to some extent) against the pain of rejection. The experience you get writing short stories will be valuable when you start writing a novel, and it allows you to experiment more freely with less of a time investment.If you've already written some short stories, try to see which genres they fall under. While you may resent having to categorize stories that weren't written with any specific genre in mind, it will help you know which publications will most likely accept them. Some example markets include: science-fiction, fantasy, Christian, horror, and romance.
Many publications also publish poetry alongside short stories. Most contemporary poems no longer follow the strict rules for meter and rhyme that you might have learned studying Shakespearean sonnets in English class. Reading the poems that actually get published nowadays will help you get an idea of what trends they usually follow. Of course, if you are convinced that you can become good enough at your own style of poetry, then go for it.
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