Noticing Newbies

About a year ago I stumbled across this site, signed up, read a few stories, and went away. I ignored the emails encouraging me to dive back in and do something. Recently, an email touted a daily 300 word flash contest, and I followed it for a while then jumped in and posted an entry (the judge picked the other one that day).

Now I'm back, thinking this site might be useful, and not being quite sure where to start. I haven't created a profile or uploaded a cool picture of myself (oxymoron?). But here's who I am.

I'm a retired IT professional writing short stories. I have about 20 of them in various states of disarray, at anywhere from 300 to 8,000 words, including about a half dozen I thought were far enough along to submit. I've collected a handful of rejections and even had one acceptance to a minor online college journal. I'm not at all methodical about submissions (but I do keep a spreadsheet).

I'm interested in contests and prompts, especially if I can manage to get any feedback out of them. I think of myself as a mainline literary writer but I do have a tendency to wander off into fantasy. About half my stories have something fantastic or pseudo-fantastic going on in them.

I'm not ready at this point to throw my portfolio onto a web site I've only begun to explore. But I wouldn't mind dipping my toe in a semi-cowardly, half-committal sort of way.

Suggestions?