Over the years, I've entered many short story and flash fiction competitions and also sent them to e-zines. I now have these combined in a book - Sibling Rivalry and Other Short Stories. Many of the stories, especially ones entered in Doorknobs and Bodypaint have guidelines for submissions. For example, one story (Sibling Rivalry) required the story to be set in 1942 and there were certain phrases or words that had to be included (I can't remember what those were now). Writers are fortunate that there are so many outlets available online for creative work.