Choose topics you enjoy writing about and research related websites, magazines, local businesses, and local newspapers to pinpoint the organizations that focus on your area(s) of interest.
Send an up-to-date resume of your work history complete with samples of your previously published work (if any) to all of the contacts related to your main area(s) of interest located in step 1.
As a follow-up to submitting your resume, draft an original article mimicking the style and tone of other writers doing similar work, and send it out simultaneously to all of the web sites, businesses (who need writers to composes brochure or manuals), magazines, and local papers, and be sure to include a short cover letter briefly explaining your background and experience with the subject, asking them if they would like to publish your article.
Contact one of the many popular information media websites that regularly hire freelance writers such as: DemandStudios.com, EditFast.com, Mediabistro.com, Guru.com, Newsjobs.net, and Poewar.com.
Continue communicating with the agencies you previously contacted (Steps 2 and 3) while continually initiating new contacts to keep yourself moving in the right direction, i.e., being paid to write papers.