The Top 10 Ways to Become a Writer have been composed from many interviews of successful authors.

1. Read & Write a Lot

This was the most popular answer given by the authors interviewed. In order to become a writer you need to read a lot of different books and practice your writing. By reading and writing you open up the door to becoming a better writer. You're learning and opening your mind up to new ideas.

2. Set Daily Goals

Daily goals are important to become a writer because it helps keep you motivated and gives you a purpose to your writing. If you don't have goals, you'll put your writing on the backburner and won't write regularly the way you would with goals.

3. Study and Practice your Craft

It's important to practice writing to become a writer, because with every story you write you get a bit better each time. I agree. The very first story I wrote was horrible and I am glad that publishers rejected it. Because slowly over time by reading more, and writing more, my writing is being to improve. If you're not writing, how are you ever going to become a writer?

4. Find a Mentor and Work Hard

Some writer's claim a mentor really helped them become a writer. It depends on what's best for you and how you learn. If you're better off by yourself, great. If not, perhaps a mentor or teacher might help you get closer to learning to become a writer. I know when I was considering whether or not I was good at writing; an English teacher really inspired me by giving my special assignments and encouraging me to write outside my comfort zone. If he hadn't gone above and beyond, I might not have taken up writing.

5. Believe in yourself and learn to write from the Heart

This is important because only you know what you want. I've always wanted to become a writer, so regardless of what my family and friends have thought, I have never given up on this idea. I think it's important to soul search and find out what you really want, and if it's writing what's you want, go for it.

6. Find Support

Having some kind of support system is important to help you become a writer. Support could come from family, friends, other writers, or just someone to bounce ideas off of. Support can also be financially like it was for Piers Anthony, Dean Koontz and many other popular authors. Either way support is great when you're down and you need someone to help inspire you or lift you up.

7. Feedback & Rewriting your Work

Editing and feedback are an important part to become a writer. Once you get your first manuscript done, you need to edit, rewrite and rewrite again until it's perfect. Often feedback is an important part to learning what works for you and what doesn't. Just remember it's only someone else's opinion. Take from it what you need to learn and move on. Don't harp on it or over-analyze. Get back to writing which is more important.

8. Always be Professional

Like any career, if you want to become a writer you need to always be professional. Keep your cool, try to remember this is a job. By being professional you're learning to become a writer. Remember that whatever you write on the internet is there to stay and might be copied to other websites. Don't be negative and always put your best foot forward.

9. Self Publishing Advice

When you become a writer, an important step is publishing your work. There is a lot of debate about self publishing versus using a publishing house. Before you make a decision, make sure you have all the facts. Self publishing might work for you if you have a lot of time and money to spend on marketing yourself. But if you don't than don't accept packages that you have to pay to get yourself published. Remember the goal is to be writing not marketing yourself.

10. Never Give Up

The last piece of advice is to never give up. Don't let anyone kill the dream if writing is what you really want to do.