I like this quote by William Alexander who won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature.
“The way things are, are not the only possible way they can be. Stories are the first way we figured that out.”
From the NY Times article on this year’s NBA ceremony, which celebrated several books that seem to illustrate that idea.
ph.d. in creative writing 
True, it wasn’t until I heard “Why aren’t you writing?” that I started to feel truly supported by my loved ones. “Follow your dreams, dude.” is nice and all but there’s nothing like being held accountable to your own gift.