I think my childhood experience was too positive to conclude that.

Well, I've always found it to be. I'm sure there are some writers for whom it's not, for whom it's more like a "job," but I've always considered myself living in two realities - the one my body is walking in and the one I'm making in my head as I'm walking. It means I'm rarely ever very "there" in physical reality. And in worst cases it's an automatic escape hatch, so whatever's going on in reality, I can just go hide in my writing world. And it's not that I don't write about things I consider important, but I have to stay attached to reality somehow... and the thing is, that hasn't really kept me happy. It's just a band-aid covering the bullet hole, so to speak (I can't believe I actually used that phrase in my thesis...).