I might be wrong here, but there are some connections to Henry Darger who had written the unpublished book Realms of the Unreal, the 15,000 page fantasy. Darger was a janitor, hence bucket and a mop, he drew tons of illustrations on gardens, animals and children, - illustrated book about birds.
They discovered his writings after his death so the "work it took was fun" could mean the satisfaction of finishing the work. Who needs action when you got words.
The last part might mean that people declared that these realms are of course unreal and in your head. There could be more connections.
I might be wrong here, but there are some connections to Henry Darger who had written the unpublished book Realms of the Unreal, the 15,000 page fantasy. Darger was a janitor, hence bucket and a mop, he drew tons of illustrations on gardens, animals and children, - illustrated book about birds.
They discovered his writings after his death so the "work it took was fun" could mean the satisfaction of finishing the work. Who needs action when you got words.
The last part might mean that people declared that these realms are of course unreal and in your head. There could be more connections.