A Writer's Research

I have read a lot of 'How-to-Write' type books. I've bought even more. I have more than an entire shelf in my closet. If you added it all up, I think there's probably over 3-400 dollars worth of information, narrative, name dropping, and useless advice just sitting there. Even though I bought all those books, read most of them, and hoped for some magic answer, I didn't *poof* into some super publishing powerhouse. No one asked me to pose for the cover of a magazine. My books weren't made...