Here’s a tip from Gilbert King, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Devil in the Grove: Tell anyone who’ll listen to you about the project you’re working on. According to our boy Gilbert, this is a great motivator to keep writing and push yourself over those inevitable humps that you’ll face along the way. Make what you’re doing sound fascinating — and you’ll not only capture the imagination of the person you’re talking to, you’ll also reignite your own enthusiasm. You’ll also feel obligated to keep going.

This advice reminds me of something a mentor of mine, Wendy Rue, once told me. Wendy was an entrepreneur extraordinaire and a pioneer in helping women reach financial independence. One day she said to me, “If you hold an idea too close to the vest, it withers on the vine. Get it out into the world and tell people about it, because you never know where a great idea that can help you might come from.”

Just today, I was in my local library and struck up a conversation with a young man sitting next to me. When I told him I was a writer, he asked me what I was working on. I started talking about my YA novel and he started talking about the things he likes about fantasy and a series that he really liked. He suggested that I might write each book in my series from a different point of view — certainly an interesting idea. And he said, be sure to include magic and something about the four elements, because people love to read about them. He definitely gave me something to think about!

So, the next time you’re meet someone who’s receptive, whether by happenstance or at a social event, why not set the goal of getting them excited about the story you’re working on — whatever it is — because when they get excited, you’ll get juiced about getting to where you want to go with it. And then, write on!