Overcompensate much?

When I was writing Dwarf's Blood Mead and The Mark of the Sea Serpent, the word I overused and had to search on to replace with other phrasings was "grim." There was way too much grim in that book. Grim, grim, grim. For What We Did to Save the Kingdom, the word in question is apparently "cheerful."

Mostly with a certain level of irony.

Analogy

"I was drafted in the eighth round of the junior draft by the Hamilton Red Wings. I showed up to camp to find seventy-five other players on the ice. I phoned my dad crying my eyes out, but he said, 'Son, just do one more day.' The next day I called and said, 'Dad, there are forty-five guys better than me!' He told me the same thing, 'One more day, son.' The fourth day I called him back and said, 'You know what, Dad? There's nobody here who can do what I can do.'" -- Pat Hickey, quoted in Dave Bidini's The Best Game You Can Name

You think his dad was surprised?

I don't. Because mine wasn't.

In case you missed it: the fourth day did not make him say, "I'm better than everybody! Nobody else is any good!" And that's important, too.