I don’t use existing hobbies as part of my writing because they fulfill a different need. For example, I knit but I don’t write about knitting because my knitting mind is different from my writing mind. My knitting mind is calm and analytical. Sometimes I think about mundane problems while I’m knitting and this helps me sort things out. The act of knitting exemplifies problem solving through tedious repetition and slow progress. My mind while writing is totally different and may literally be using the other side of my brain. When I am writing I think in an excited way and can make big jumps between ideas. Like this…”Hey, wait maybe I could write about knitting. Perhaps a series of mystery books where the heroine is the owner of a local yarn store and each book comes with a pattern.” Note to self. Write that.