Please Mister Wonka, teach me how to draw?

Grah. Since my less than subtle obsession with Resident Evil started up (AGAIN) I've found enjoyment in whoring myself out to random internet sites/forums in search of an RE fix. The best place to get a quality fix? DeviantArt of course! There is so much wonderful heepfuls of humor at my disposal, plenty of LeonxAda love (<3 <3), MEMES!!!, and AMAZING skillz that I wish I had.
(As we speak, I'm putting together an REsident Evil playlist on Itunes of songs that remind me of RE...I'm even spelling it REsident Evil now for cripesake!)
I should be left in a padded room with everything RE for a couple of weeks...until it wears off you know. I'll give it...uh, well. Last time it took until I completed Resident Evil 4 and a week of overjoyment to pass after. Now with Resident Evil 5 on the horizon on March 13th...GOOD LORD I hope I've calmed down by then. I NEED too.
So here comes my point.
I really really really feel like drawing. (RE of course, but whatevs.) And looking at all of the wonderful works on Deviantart makes me want to be just as good. I want to go out and buy a tablet! What in the name of Salazar (Squee! RE reference! Halp mee...) would I even be able to do with it? So not the point! So yeah, which comes to a pressing issue with my "Talents."
I cannot draw freestyle. I need a reference. I need a picture in front of me, most likely in the exact pose/style I need. Sometimes I'd take pictures of myself to use as reference material (HAHAHAHAHA Laugh with me. It's hilarious because I can't do the right pose I need anyways. BWAHA) so anything that I've drawn that is actually good isn't actually mine. Not really. It wouldn't have been an original concept, not my idea, etc. Only the actual pencil to paper could be credited to me. How depressing. For some reason I cannot get a clear enough picture in my minds eye. I'll know EXACTLY what I want, how I want it too look. But when I think about it, all I see is a hazy blurry picture. I can't see any exact details, I can't see it clearly at all. Therefore the transfer from my mind to the paper is of poor quality and a horrible deteriation of the original idea. Which causes me to give up, throw it away, and wish wish WISH that I could be good at drawing. Sometimes the same thing happens to me when I get an idea for writing. I'll be talking myself through the most amazing writing in my head, but once I hurry and find something to put it all down on it's gone. Especially if I grab a notebook and attempt to write it down, my mind works to furiously and everything is lost in translation. And I give up. Running theme eh?
So, I've been trying different techniques....mostly trying to do the outline or sketching where I want things to go before I actually start drawing. I used to flat out REFUSE to do anything like that when I was much younger, but when I got a Disney character drawing guide in Disney World and drew out my mom an AWESOME Mickey Mouse. Than much later I drew the perfect Goofy which is now in her office at work. (Unfortunately I didn't get to scan that one in). I've also tried tracing as well, which makes me feel horrible, but it helps me get the general feel for the strokes I need when drawing. Other than that, I don't really know what else I should be doing to improve. Just keep drawing? I know I got really good at drawing in Sophmore year because of Drawing 1 and now that I haven't drawn anything in forever I've lost what little touch I did have.
So my question is Oh Mr. Guru of the arts, how did you get so good? Or was it just natural born talent? Or was it a combination of both? (I'm thinkin' this one.) Or is it impossible to work for something you have to be born with?

I'm totally going to cyberstalk a bunch of cats at DeviantArt too and ask them bunches of questions, or I could check out the forums. GAH
I cannot draw.
>.<