I did not answer the last question of yours:

As I said, I didn't take a philosophy course, much less intend to be a professional philosopher.

But like you, I philosophize; everything you write has philosophy behind it, and I believe that in what I write too.

Reading a text or work on pure philosophy, by philosophers of the rank of Ben Cain, James Cussen, and colleagues who comment on their work is very good as a break between stories of other genres.