Passion. It’s what makes a writer keep writing, page after page, year after year, alone with only a keyboard or pen and that silent voice that says this is too important not to share. Passion—for words and their possibilities. It’s a drive that can’t be denied, that ignores loneliness, frustration, and disappointment. It’s what builds a world within a world, an alternative existence that can become more real than reality. It’s what makes a writer keep writing through rejection, poverty, and anonymity. The words are what matters. They are the product of passion, and the connection to everything else.