[princessmarisa]

Check the stickies threads for lots of helpful tips, then post back individual questions in the thread of questions.

Maybe try the looking for language exchange thread to find someone to give you more structured help too.

It will be a long hard journey to teach yourself over the Internet and with textbooks, so if you can afford it maybe look into personal tutors and classes, especially to get the speaking practise you need.
If you want to live in Japan eventually be prepared to study for the long haul and put a lot of hours in.
I am not really sure what your chances of becoming a manga-ka are realistically so don't pin all your hopes on that, just try to end up enjoying learning for the sake of learning.