How can I improve my writing skills?

You can
learn to be a good writer in the same way that you can learn too play the piano. That of course
means practicing every day. There is no substitute for writing and writing and more writing,
along with revising and revising and re-writing.

I liked the movie
A River Runs Through It. The younghad to spend every morning writing a
composition. Then he would give his manuscript to his father at noontime and would be free to go
trout fishing all afternoon. Meanwhile his father would mark it up and give it back to him for
revision the next morning, and this would continue until the father was satisfied and would give
his son a new assignment. This movie was based on the autobiography of a man who was accepted by
some of the best universities in the country and became a famous professor.

I
once read some successful writer who said that if you write a million words you will become a
good writer. (I think two million words might be better.) It doesn't much matter what you write
about. The important thing is to keep writing regularly. Eventually you will find your own style
and your own voice. Writing will become as natural as talking. There isn't any other way to
become a good writer. Writing a certain word-quota every day may seem like a chore at first, but
then it becomes a pleasure, and finally it becomes a necessity. That's when you know you are a
writer.