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.

Try to meet as many authors, agents, and editors as you can.

I don't even like showing my stuff to publishers and editors much.

For every SF reader of that period, Robert A. Heinlein was also a touchstone.

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.

I've learned that I get blocked when my subconscious mind is telling me that I've taken the work in a wrong direction, and that once I start listening to what my subconscious is trying to tell me, I can work out the problem and get moving again.