Perhaps every time anyone is praised it means that someone else somewhere is going to be ignored
I, personally, have found reading a continual support to writing.
Canadians are Americans with no Disneyland.
Every writer has to find their own way into writing.
There are certainly times when my own everyday life seems to retreat so the life of the story can take me over. That is why a writer often needs space and time, so that he or she can abandon ordinary life and "live" with the characters.
In a way, the characters often do take over.