Yeah, it's amazing what image we have of anyone in the artistic fields. I remember meeting my first author - going to her house - when I was in college. I expected a mansion with a pool. *snerk*

One of my college professors had written a slew of mystery novels, and was a television scribe. I'd never heard of him before I went to college - and he was an amazing teacher. Anyhow - he told us the first day of class that if we were writing to become the next Stephen King or the next Great American Writer? To give up now. Because seriously, the odds of it happening...are slim to none. And after you get your first book published and few have read it, the wonder passes. But if you are writing not so much to get published or fame or fortune, but because you have something to say - then be a writer.