If you hope to launch a career as a writer, it will be important that you do not make the mistake that so many fresh writers make of simply sitting down at the computer, putting their hands on the keyboard, and beginning to type; if you want to become a writer, there is a whole lot more to the process than this! Of course, you may not want to spend the time or money on writing classes (or, you may simply think that you will learn more on your own – which might actually be the case!), but just because you are not taking writing classes does not mean that there are not still things you should do in order to learn how to be a writer.
The first thing you need to realize about writing is that there is a lot more to writing than the writing itself; in fact, the act of reading is as important to writing as actually writing, because as you read, you will naturally learn things from other writers – and in time, this knowledge will show through in your writing.
A lot of writers also have a tendency to finish the first draft of their manuscript and then decide that they are done with it; however, writing the manuscript itself is only one small part of the process, as you will actually spend more time editing your manuscript than you ever spent writing it – so practice editing even now, taking a second look at everything you write, so that you will be ready when the time comes to edit your manuscript. And if you hope to find success in writing, understanding how the world of publishing works will be of the utmost importance; you cannot simply go to a publishing house with your manuscript and expect them to publish it – but rather, you will need to find an agent. It can be a long and difficult road to actually land an agent, but you will need to send out letters to a lot of different agents, hoping that one of them will take the time to read your manuscript!