While a writer can certainly quit writing for a variety of reasons, and all sorts of things can cause the fun to go out of it... are you really, really going to let spite and jealousy toward a total stranger ruin the pleasure you take in creating something of your own? Really, how does that enrich your life one smidgen?

Also, as a faculty member at a university, I am pretty sure your English profs don't know all about the realities of the world of commercial fiction. They didn't lie to you, they were talking about something else entirely.