Now I have to motivate myself much more than I had previously.

An SF author who reads only SF will have little new to contribute, but someone with a broader experience will bring more to the table.

Even if you only want to write science fiction, you should also read mysteries, poetry, mainstream literature, history, biography, philosophy, and science.

Genre labels are useful only insofar as they help you find an audience.

Science fiction readers probably have the gene for novelty, and seem to enjoy a cascade of invention as much as a writer enjoys providing one.

It's a tough job to tell a story when the audience already knows the ending, and the ending is bleak.

That's why editors and publishers will never be obsolete: a reader wants someone with taste and authority to point them in the direction of the good stuff, and to keep the awful stuff away from their door.