At 19-years old, I started out as a reporter on our local newspaper.  Have also worked as an advertising copywriter and a high school English teacher.  Currently I am employed by an international corporation as a professional writer in their creative department.  

If you dream about becoming a writer, my advice is to wake up, and get a little practical experience by doing something like getting on your school paper.

The good news is that there are jobs out there for writers.  Look around.  Everything you see in the media has to be written and there is a writer somewhere creating that magazine ad, that TV commercial, that web news article, that clothing catalog, etc.

What I've found is that good writers are rare and companies are willing to pay you to write for a living.  You may not particularly want to write advertisements, but jobs like that are valuable in one regard:  you write every day.  Writing every day, regardless of the subject matter, teaches you how to hone your skills.  Then when you do sit down to write that fictional novel or short story, you've got the tools to create something that people will want to read.

As Ernest Hemingway wrote, "We are all apprentices at a craft where no one ever becomes master."

There are no short cuts to becoming a good writer.  As a college professor told me, "You have to write a mountain of shit to get to the good stuff."  It's true.  You have to spend a lot of time paying your dues writing things that end up in the waste paper basket before you start getting good.

If you think I may be of help to you with your writing, drop me a note.  Be glad to try to help where I can.

   Steve