Reading is also a creative activity if you're doing it right. You can learn more from a story that's left the tracks than from a successful story.
Fiction begins with the senses, and the senses go to work in a place.
A lack of narrative structure, as you know, will cause anxiety.
I learned to love stories by listening to them.
I lost my job and started painting houses with a friend. The marriage had ended about the same time the career did.
As a writer you can and should expect to hear conflicting responses to your story.