Greg No, my apologies for reacting like an ape. I have complete respect for the endless ammounts of knowledge that could be gained from a traditional education, I guess I just felt threatened by what I passed up. Sorry for being a childish asshole.
Reading is the key to improving your writing. I think you should study and write. But, if you want to improve your writing, study English or Professional Writing. You will be surprised at how much you learn especially because universities provide you with excellent literature that you can learn from.
I have a drive to learn. I read everything I can get my hands on about history, culture, etc. I bought a 220 year old house and know it's history, I have taught myself multiple languages, I have taught myself to write (with help of course, some of it invaluable and it would have taken me much longer to get where I am without the help of one person in particular) but there is always more to learn. A lack of formal education doesn't change anything. Some people don't have the drive to find things on their own, to learn on their own, and that's fine. I'm not one of them and many aren't. So throwing us in a box labeled "uneducated" due to a lack of degree is off putting and discouraging for some, which is unnecessary.
I have a degree in Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics, but my love is fiction writing, so I have taken about four 10-week courses online at http://writingclasses.com They are an internationally recognized institution for continuing education and they have some awesome fiction and advanced fiction classes. They are expensive, but if you have the time and money, I think it is well worth the cost.
ditto that! however, some may need creative writing classes, or even a basic grammar course, to get their writing skills up to competitive levels... but how-to's are definitely not the way to go, unless you want to write screenplays... if that's your goal, drop me a line and i'll send you my 'tools of the trade' list that contains the only good ones for writing scripts...