3 Tips for Writing Success with Kindle Worlds

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. Kindle Worlds, a 2015 Camp NaNoWriMo sponsor, asked author Cat Johnson to share her three tips for writing success… and how she used them to finish a story within an established World:

As far as I’m concerned, any day a writer finds the time, energy and inspiration to write it’s a win, but in the NaNoWriMo world, an official “win” is reaching that 50,000 word threshold by November 30. Some years I’ve accomplished that win, others I haven’t, and looking back I can attribute a successful NaNo month to a combination of three things. It doesn’t matter whether you’re writing your first novel or your 51st, I think we all need a goal, support and inspiration.

Here is my personal trifecta, the perfect storm for writing success…

1. “You gotta have a goal. Do you have a goal?”

This line from Pretty Woman (1990) is as true for writers as it was for Julia Roberts’ character. It’s the reason I first decided to try NaNoWriMo almost a decade ago, and why I continue to participate annually, because without that goal of 1,667 words a day and 50,000 by the end of the month it’s too easy to wander aimlessly like a traveler without a destination. Or worse, to decide to sit this trip out completely. NaNo provides both the destination and the roadmap to get you there.

2. Support, or camaraderie if you prefer. 

Writing is a lonely profession. I spend more time with my work in progress than with my family, but that doesn’t mean I toil alone. NaNoWriMo always gave me a sense of being part of a larger group as we all work toward a common goal. I find myself seeking interaction with other writers at other times of the year but it never seems as strong as that NaNo connection.

3. Inspiration. 

Call it a muse if you want, but to me it’s a spark of an idea I can get excited about. One that gets the adrenaline pumping and gets my butt in gear—not because I have to write the story, but because I want to write it. That’s when the words really start to fly.

NaNoWriMo builds our writing muscles and hones our “authorly” skills; I find myself using the techniques I learned in November whenever I face a writing challenge. I utilized my NaNo skills and the three steps outlined above when, in the middle of an already packed schedule of writing deadlines, I decided to write a story for Amazon’s Kindle Worlds program, which allows you to write within worlds created by other authors, or “Kindle Worlds”. I didn’t have the time, but I really wanted to do it, so I did. Here’s how my three steps got me through, all the way to the win, publishing my novella, Game On, in Bella Andre’s “Game for Love” Kindle World.

I took the total word count I needed and the time I could wedge into my schedule to devote to the story, did the math and set a daily manageable goal for myself.

Why? I wanted that sense of connection and camaraderie, of contributing to a larger whole, and found that writing a story of my own creation within another author’s established world gave me that.

As a Kindle Worlds contributing author, I drew inspiration from the Kindle World in which I was writing. I got a spark of an idea that grew. I got excited about my story and even more so about being part of a larger whole.

Now that I’ve become a world licensor myself and other writers are inspired to publish their own stories written within my Hot SEALs Kindle World that feeling of connection has continued and grown.

Nothing can top NaNoWriMo for providing writers what they need for success, but if even one person finds themself inspired, motivated and encouraged enough to write and publish because of my Hot SEALs Kindle World, I will consider that my biggest win of all.

Cat Johnson is a New York Times and USA Today  bestselling contemporary romance author. As a hybrid author, Cat has multiple series with publishers Kensington and Samhain, as well as the bestselling self published Hot SEALs series. She writes both full length and shorter works.