No one really wants to admit they are lonely, and it is never really addressed very much between friends and family. But I have felt lonely many times in my life. ↗
That process by which you become a writer is a pretty lonely one. We don't have a group apprenticeship like a violinist might training for an orchestra. ↗
If you write fiction, you're by yourself. There are certain advantages to that in that you don't have to explain anything to anybody. But when you get in with others who share the loneliness of the whole enterprise, you're not lonely anymore. ↗