So many facets of the same figure, the writer. I'd say it's not the clothes you wear, but how you choose to wear them that makes you stand out.

In "On Writing Well", William Zinsser says "Ultimately, the product that any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who he or she is. I often find myself reading with interest about a topic I never thought would interest me - some scientific quest, perhaps. What holds me is the enthusiasm of the writer for his field [...] This is the personal transaction that's at the heart of good non-fiction writing [...] Good writing has an aliveness that keeps the reader reading from one paragraph to the next, and it's not a question of gimmicks to "personalize" the author. It's a question of using the English language in a way that will achieve the greatest clarity and strength."

I guess when you give your best and you're excited about it, it somehow transfers into your writing. And that's when you hook readers with writing they didn't think they would enjoy.

This brings me to my favorite poem, "Be the best of whatever you are" by Douglas Malloch:

"If you can't be a pine on the top of the hill,

Be a scrub in the valley — but be

The best little scrub by the side of the rill;

Be a bush if you can't be a tree.

If you can't be a highway then just be a trail,

If you can't be the sun be a star;

It isn't by size that you win or you fail —

Be the best of whatever you are!"