Writer's Fallout Shelter

I have always found such statements to have their roots in arrogance, ignorance, insecurity, or defensiveness. Of course we're all going to do pretty much "anything we want to" with our stories - we're in charge, as the writer. But just because a captain's in charge of a ship doesn't mean he can ram it into an outcropping of rock - that'd be silly. It doesn't mean he can just spin himself around on deck one stormy night, point in some random direction, and say "That's our new course!"

Do whatever we want to? Sure. But if one of the things we want is to be read, or to find some modicum of commercial or literary success, then we need to hone and use our writing skills so as to grab readers' attention and hold it. And say things that interest them, too.

If a writer truly wrote "only for himself," then he would keep it to himself, don't you think?