Your granddad's friend is Patrick Leigh Fermor? He seems to me good evidence that if you are a morally good person, writing well is a big force multiplier. And if you want to be good, maybe reading Fermor is more effective than reading Horace.

I always thought that getting your kid to school should be the thing you write in red on your calendar, your main goal and achievement of the day. In my case, it usually was.