When I was a kid, I had numerous artistic outlets. I used to draw and sculpt with clay (I was actually a pretty accomplished amateur -- I used to create these incredibly elaborate things on top of an old TV tray I appropriated from my mother). Then I started scripting, writing, and drawing my own comic books. I even experimented with multimedia, crudely taping and editing soundtrack music into dialogue I recorded myself. One day those tapes will surface and I will never live it down.
At some point I realized that, while I liked to draw, my talent was not as great as that of those destined to go to college for art. I'm better than average, but not good enough for that.
Also as a kid, I became a voracious reader. This helped me develop both my vocabulary and a feel for writing. I experimented with a few short stories and other things, nothing too serious. Then, in college, on a whim I did my senior Honors Thesis in writing, specifically, writing a collection of short stories. This was the most extensive writing work I'd done to that point.
During college I had an experience that became the inspiration for my first novel, Demon Lord (which, along with a science fiction novel, I self-published). It took me years to finish that. It's not bad, if I say so myself, though it's pretty obviously a first novel.
Since then I've engaged in all manner of freelance writing, editing, ghostwriting, etc., all the while employed as a technical writer. (I've been a technical writer for 12 years.) Now I've got multiple non-fiction books in print, including the two Paladin books (and an essay in another Paladin collection) and I'm working on commercial series fiction for pay (woo hoo!) while still working towards mainstream independent success as an author. Each goal becomes the stepping stone to the next.