Also relevant I think is that novelists are a vanishingly small part of the population. Very, very few people make a living writing novels or other lengthy tex

Also relevant I think is that novelists are a vanishingly small part of the population. Very, very few people make a living writing novels or other lengthy texts, and not that many people write novels as a hobby (or hoping to sell their book). Not many people write songs either, the other example given here. All in all, I'd say that there just aren't that many jobs these days that require a lot of individual concentration and focus. Those that do seem to have the reputation that it's needed: novelists, some college professors (when they're writing theses/dissertations/whatever), etc. But it's weird; if you asked most people if they think novelists would be more productive at home in their private office, or in a loud, bustling open-office environment, I'll bet most would answer the former. But for some reason people don't seem to think programmers need that.