This article was in the Guardian. I recognize many of the thoughts of Tim Lott, who wrote it.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/20/tim-lott-life-as-an-author

Tim  Lott

The comments at the bottom of the article are worth reading (expand them), particularly the one about the 60% of people who want to be writers, imagining that it’s all J. K. Rowling easy-peasy wealth and celebrity. It wasn’t for her when she was trying to find a publisher for her first Harry Potter book, though fortunately, that turned into a publishing juggernaut which will keep her for the rest of her days.

The John Dos Passos observation quoted made me snort in recognition at the truth of it: “Writers are like fleas, they get very little nourishment from one another.”