A very good place to start testing out your writing on the world beyond your family and school is in the letters page of newspapers and magazines. All letters are addressed to the editor. Keep it brief and topical, and you may well find your words in print.

A good letter to the editor has:

a clear point to make.
simple language so the reader can understand easily. If it is hard work to read, they won't read it.
some emotional reason for writing.
a clear explanation of the context - it doesn't assume people know what you are talking about.
three paragraphs at most for the main letter section.
NO waffle - every word must justify its presence.

Take your topic and find a single opinion about it that you want to express to the world. Then express it. Briefly - in a letter to the editor of an appropriate magazine or newspaper section.

To the editor, The TV Guide. Dear Sir, I watched the TV series, Sensing Murder, and am disgusted. Grieving people are filmed weeping as they recall the details of the deaths or disappearances of their loved ones. Then Australia's 'best psychics' search for fresh clues. In all episodes we were told of amazing new evidence delivered to the police. The first episode was filmed over four years ago. Nothing has come of any of them, yet there is no follow-up and no-one is told that "Australia's best psychics" failed - every single time. Isn't it about time our television networks had some sense of responsibility? Let's hope this sort of television is never permitted to happen again. Lynne Kelly