As has been noted, it’s natural to admire skills you don’t have. I’m an engineer. I’ve also played music all my life and once scraped together a living at it for a couple of years. As such, while I have respect for anyone who follows such a difficult path, I’m not in admiration of professional musicians the way I am of, say, a person who makes a living doing theoretical physics. That I could not do.
It’s also natural to admire people at the top of their game in any field. So in the same way that I admire theoretical physicists (to make at living at it, you pretty much have to be at the top), I have a lot of respect for successful, influential writers. But I don’t read much fiction, so I don’t claim to be able to discern a mediocre pro fiction writer from a great one.
I’ve done a lot of writing in support of other endeavors (my engineering, my music, etc.), so this also limits the amount of respect I have for pro writers. I feel that if I had the passion for it, I probably could have made a living as a writer. But I don’t pretend to have the stomach for roughing it financially, which played a large part in my leaving music. So while I’m not in awe of pro writers, I certainly don’t look down on them as someone who couldn’t hold down a “real” job.
I am critical of anyone, in any field, who overestimates their command of subjects they don’t really know. One pro writer friend sent me an essay he’d received from another writer who claimed to have found a flaw in relativity. The essay contained several ad hominem attacks on Einstein, and revealed a lack of understanding of the twin paradox, which it cited as the flaw. My reply explained the simple resolution of the twin paradox, and advised my writer friend to stick to things he knew about.
Over the last several decades, society’s attitude toward different occupations has certainly changed. Economic conditions play a part in this. When it’s harder to make a middle class living, it’s understandable that self-made millionaires are admired more than great writers. Another factor is less education and literacy among the public. (I know more people go to college now, but that’s not the same as education).
It’s just one data point from a work of fiction, but I always found quaint the attitude towards Don Birnam’s life in the film "The Lost Weekend’. For surviving his descent to hell, the guy would end up with… a book. It strikes me as a sign that writing enjoyed more respect among the general public than it does now.
