I know that's not what you meant, Chuck. But I think some people (not anyone here that I know of) want to have been an writer rather than wanting to write. There is a difference between chasing fame and pursuing one's calling. The person whose book you read may want at some point to publish...I think most people would find that a pleasurable idea...but probably on his or her terms. If you look at what you write and you look at what it is being published and there is no nexus between the two, you wonder if it is possible to get published these days without following the latest fad. And yet art, written or otherwise, doesn't follow a fad...it breaks its own ground. It is the true north star that someone who is truly creative must follow. It's not that hard to be a hack writer, churning out words sold by the inch, but that not likely to be writing with the soul of which you were speaking.