In our last post, we talked about letting fear pass through us so we can move forward.

This week, we learn to harness to enthusiasm.

I’m sure I’ve said this too many times in meetings, videos, blogs, and newsletters—once we stop having fun with writing, our reader stops having fun too.

Sure, we sometimes have to command ourselves to sit down and work on our stories, batting away distractions as if they were flaming Molotov cocktails.

But once we close the door and sit to write, are we enjoying it? Or are we grinding it out? Have we become so mechanical and rigid in our process, we’ve forgotten the wild enthusiasm that flooded us when we first felt the thrill of creating our own worlds and characters?

We must remember how it started. For must of us, writing fiction wasn’t a strategic decision. It was a compulsion.

For now, stop worrying about what the world will think or if your book will be a success.

Strap onto the sheer joy of creating and ride it till the end. If you’re tired and empty, look around you. The universe is bussing with enthusiasm. It surrounds us, and we can reach out for a hit whenever we need it. We can piggyback on the artistic boundlessness of others.

Artist dates are wonderful for reawakening creative enthusiasm. So is consuming others’ writing or other forms of art. For example …

Have you seen Everything Everywhere All at Once? It’s an A24 movie that is SO WILD, it will make your brain explode. There is no doubt they had a riotous good time while writing and filming it.

And it won 7 Oscars.

I am not ambitious enough to try to create anything like that yet (the screenplay must have been an insane amount of work!), but it opened me up to thinking beyond the limitations of what’s been done before.

Ask yourself:

• Where can I surprise people?
• How do I make their jaws drop?
• Can I pass on the same enthusiasm my favorite writers and artists invoked in me?

Forget structures and formulas for a second.

Get curious. Get passionate. Embrace enthusiasm!