Stephen King hit the meaning of being a writer (even if I am just an un-published fanfic writer) over the head:

"They all think that having an imagination like mine must be quite nice; aside from making all this dough -"

(Though, being a fanfic writer, I don't make $ and don't mind, either _)

" - I can have a little mind-movie whenever things get dull."

(And that helps when your reading fanfic, too _~)

"Mostly they're right. But every now and then it turns around and bites the sh+t out of you with these long teeth, teeth that have been filed to points like the teeth of a cannibal."

Creepy, but true. I mean, how else would I write darkfics and angst and all these weird magicky stuff? Not without imagination, that's for sure.