Once you allow yourself to identify with the people in a story, then you might begin to see yourself in that story even if on the surface it's far removed from your situation.

No man however great is greater than his people

Wisdom is like a goatskin bag; every man carries his own.

When I began going to school and learned to read, I encountered stories of other people and other lands.

If a child washed his hands, he could eat with kings.

What you must accept is that your life is not going to be the same while you are writing.

Generally, I don't attempt to produce a certain number of words a day. The discipline is to work whether you are producing a lot or not, because the day you produce a lot is not necessarily the day you do your best work. So it's trying to do it as regularly as you can without making it - without imposing too rigid a timetable on your self. That would be my ideal.