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Fuck all that.
If you want to send your work in to various papers, magazines, or whatever, then go ahead, it's not a big deal. However, personally, I'm diving right into novel writing. I'm planning to send my manuscript out to a few publishers and a couple of small ones, and I'll see how it unfolds. I'm tired of people saying you absolutely NEED to start small; if it works for you though, go for it. But for people like me, it doesn't.
Just keep practicing and practicing, read up on your grammar (I suggest English Grammar for Dummies; I used that, and it helped me out a lot), learn your sentence structure, word usage, and the whole shebang. And if you think you're ready, take a stab at novelism and REVISE, REVISE, REVISE. Have people you know (I'd suggest ones who are actually good at language, such as teachers or the sort) to take a look at it and give you some honest-to-God feedback and suggestions as to how you could improve your piece.
Not all authors started out small. Some just did their manuscript, sent it in to a few places until one of the publishers said "we'll give you a try" and put it through the press. Look at some of the trash sitting on store shelves! You can do it if you really apply yourself, and are serious about learning the mechanics of writing.
Also, I'd suggest having a thesaurus handy if its novelism you're giving a try, so you don't overuse certain words in your piece.
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"I love Wagner, but the music I prefer is that of a cat hung up by its tail outside a window and trying to stick to the panes of glass with its claws." - Charles Baudelaire
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