Tips from James Scott Bell and some writing friends.
1. What training does a career in writing require?
Mostly it is SELF training. You must teach yourself to write. You can read good books on writing, take courses, go to writing conferences, etc. But the most important thing you must do is WRITE, each day if possible, and APPLY what you are learning. You learn by writing, trying, seeing where you need to improve, and writing some more. There is no shortcut.
In college I wrote to an author I admired asking some of these same questions. He wrote back ...