Very interesting! I visited Lisbon a month ago for a couple of days (yes I know I was part of the problem!) and I’ve rarely seen a city more overrun by tourists … definitely worse than Barcelona and probably on a par with Venice.
It didn’t feel like a city where normal people live and work (and we went quite far afield). Pretty sorry to see it in this state I hope they manage to sort it out.
Native English speaker here - my English teacher at school always used to say that in order to write well, you need to read well.
That probably doesn’t help you in the short term, however! But, yes - finding “good” authors you enjoy is a good way to go.