Thoughts on Literature

Has any of the 'writers' among you thought for a while as to why are you writing THAT piece of writing? Many good authors, directors, artists or for that matter any creative "doer", who earns a great repute in his field, ends his career by "doing"(write/paint..) his own life story or snippets of it..and generally with a tragic end..but, why should we learn about others problems when we have sufficient probs of our own? Whom is the literature intended at? (putting apart the 'enlightening' ones intended to arouse feelings of patriotism, create awareness etc. ,indeed, these are only a scintilla in the Sense-Binding 'science' of literature)