I also share my steps to publication in this post. Small steps have been crucial to my being where I am now, writing wise, though at the time each small step seemed insignificant in the overall scheme of things. So the other thing I've learned is never to despise small steps! They mount up over time.
I've also learned the value of persistence, patience and can confirm that the old adage of never giving up is true. I couldn't tell you how often I read that in author interviews when I was starting out and thinking something along the lines of "well, it's okay for them to think that, but will I ever get there?". I thought that a lot when all that came through the door or in my inbox were rejections. I also confidently expect to be rejected again for competitions and so on but am now better at accepting this is just part of every writer's life. (In some ways it proves you are a writer!).
So in answer to my point above, if you don't give up, are prepared to rewrite and rewrite and rewrite (as often as necessary) and are open to new writing ideas, yes, you will get there. What nobody can tell you is the time frame. You have to accept you are in for the long haul. The advantage of that is you get the time to develop your ideas, improve your skills at expressing said ideas and when publication does come, you will appreciate it more.
It is crucial to be open to writing ideas that might initially have not occurred to you. I would still like to get my novel The Trouble with Mother out there and hope to revisit this but at the moment it is on the back burner. I had never anticipated my first book would be short stories or that I would write non-fiction and love it. But I explored those avenues and am now so glad I did. I didn't just stick rigidly to my initial idea of the novel.
So be open and don't be afraid to try new writing ideas like this. You may find, as I have, a love for these other forms of writing and extra strings to your bow are always a good thing!
And, whatever stage you are at with your own writing, good luck. (Though hard work can help give good luck a handy shove in the back and certainly without that hard work, no amount of good luck can transform a piece of writing into one that is publishable).