When I was in high school, it occurred to me that you couldn't be a novelist and make a living. Originally I went into journalism only to make money to feed my fiction. I loved it. And it turned out to be fantastic preparation for being a full-time novelist. First of all, the discipline.
People ask all the time about writer's block.
Once you've worked at a newspaper, it doesn't really occur to you anymore. You learn to do more with less, learning to write to space. Which words matter, and which are just you in love with the sound of your own voice. You start to realize what dialogue sounds like. All that is what fiction is really made of.