Thoughts about short stories and publishing

So getting published is getting published. That thought/ said I am going to work on my short stories ideas for two reasons. One so that I can have a body of work that (hopefully) be published and two so that I can explore my worlds. I really only three worlds. I have a hard sci-fi one, a high fantasy one and I have an alternate earth one. The hard sci-fi one is a huge universe, I do not have just one galaxy but the whole universe in that one.
 I have different planets and different kinds of peoples but they all are dealing with the same threat of The Empire. Generic I know but why re-invent the wheel? When anyone talks about an Empire we all pretty much get the same images. Not good, controlling and kills anyone who tries to stand up to it. Now I do put my own spins on it but in general The Empire is just the villain and I am more interested in the heroes of my stories. Why they are fighting The Empire and what they hope to gain from getting it out of their little systems. That kind of thing. I have many different kinds of species living my universe but I like to more than just humans. I think that makes the story more interesting if you have more than just the human perspective in it.
Now on to my high fantasy world. Now this one I think I have something a little more unique maybe not terribly but maybe just a little. The pantheon of gods who are elemental based and have jobs. Like the main goddess in my first story is the Lady of Water and she is the protector of the seas, sailors and the marsh lands. Her main attribute is water. Not all my gods are like that but many are. I have different species in my fantasy world too. I do have the normal of humans, elves, dwarfs and the like but I have beings of pure elemental expression. They are the servants of the gods, their hands per say. I have a strong love for water so I have many water themes in all my writing. I like to have fire and water met, it seems to me to be the source of all life, where fire and water are there is life. But I have an unfortunate romantic steak in me.
 In my alternate earth I have a mixture of all my other worlds and I think that is because I started thinking about this one for about 20 years. It was my imaginary world. It was my play ground and I have all kinds of people in it. They are mostly human but not all them are from earth originally. I have human aliens, as in they are genetically human but they were born and raised on different planets. I have the elementals there but they are just called sprites. I have magic and superheroes and spies and watchers from lore. I have just about everything in my earth because I wanted to play in all those worlds when I was a kid. I still do but I have made some rules about it. Magic as rules, the sprites are just trying to help the earth stay in balance and the human aliens are just trying to just along.
The only ones who have been mostly immune to my changes into adulthood have been my superheroes. They are still mostly the same. I have refined their characters and the like but they are still superheroes and villains and in the middle of the two. I am very proud of my superheroes and their world within my world. Maybe I will finally(!) write them out but I have the most trouble writing them out. I can think up a new story for just about everyone else but they are very difficult to write out. It is not that I do not think that they do not want to be it probably just has to do with me. I am probably just not making them talk to me enough about whatever story I am thinking about with them. But there are my worlds. I love them and I have lived in them for too many years. Sometimes it makes me feel like I have missed out on other things in life but I really like my worlds in my head. Good thing because I want to write them out huh?