Hi Caleb! First, the portrait has a very cute charm! Second, the technique when using charcoal is quite different to pencil and it seems to me you're using it more like the latter? I'd recommend watching some videos on charcoal drawing, it's really nice once you get the hang of it and very useful when exploring form.

I cannot explain to you how beautiful this piece is

In my opinion, it would be better to do some exercises using a pencil first. You have to improve the form, the face proportions, and struggling additionally with the smearing charcoal - it's too much. Careful pencil hatching gives more control over the values and doesn't look like dirt. And, have you ever practised drawing simple forms, like spheres or cylinders, or uncomplicated objects like fruits and vegetables? It's generally not a good idea to start learning from portraits. Believe me, I tried it myself, got stuck and finally returned to fundamentals (see my blog or gallery).

For now, I would focus on just getting the shapes right. Start by using only straight lines to block in the biggest shapes (the head) and work your way down to the smaller forms. Do not worry about texture or details, just squint your eyes to see the abstract shapes of shadow. You can google “Rembrandt lighting portrait’ to find photos that give you very clear shadow shapes. As far as not having time for classes, you can learn a lot with just 5 minutes a day of free YouTube content (Proko, Michael Hampton, Ron Lemen, Glenn Vilppu, Jonathan Hardesty, etc.) or an Andrew Loomis book. I don’t know how busy you are, but usually people waste more time that they think. Look for any downtime you could utilize, like waiting at the doctor, lunch break, eating dinner....and never be without a sketchbook, so you can whip it out whenever you have a couple minutes

This figure can be corrected by using Loomis method. It's easy and with practice you can improve your drawing. And for shading, observe from which side light is approaching. I hope, it may help

I agree with @James Doane. Definitely have a good start going! Focusing on the fundamentals first like structure and form will help immensely in the long run.

Hi, Caleb! You need to focus more on overall forms. It looks like you are drawing what you think a face looks like and not drawing what you actually see. Look for shadow shapes and try drawing those shapes. Keep practicing... you have a very good start!!