Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder. Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It's the one and only thing you have to offer.

We (writers) aren't the sort to keep our passions to ourselves, you might have noticed. We shout them from the figurative rooftops.

"The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance, but live right in it, under its roof." (Animal Dreams)