By C.J. West
Suspense. Creativity. Action.

This week I told L.J. that I’ll be leaving the blog as a regular contributor soon.

L.J. and I have been friends for years and it was a hard decision to make. I really enjoy reading the blog and I’ve certainly learned a lot from Hitch’s posts on e-book creation and from Tom’s posts on forensics.

Some things have cropped up for me recently and as I thought about my schedule I realized that while I enjoy reading posts about the business of writing, I don’t enjoy creating my own. Bookselling has always befuddled me. I get a lot more joy writing about family, psychology, and inspiration, which I do on my personal blog.

I’ll come back often to read the blog and chat with you all in comments and once in a while I’ll guest post when I’ve got something to say.

What will I be doing in the meantime?

I’m about 15,000 words short of completing the first book in a new series that explores the lives of two recovering heroin addicts. This will be my first traditional mystery and it hits close to home because it centers on the life and work of my brother. He’s never been an addict if you are wondering, but he does some great work employing people who might not otherwise be able to find a job.

At the same time I’m outlining the sequel to The End of Marking Time. Those of you who read the book will remember the ending. I’ve been thinking for two years about the series and finally I’ve come up with an idea that allows me to continue the storyline and deliver an ending as shocking as the original. I’ve actually got the inspiration for a third book and the evolution of the story world has me revved up to get writing.

I also have two short story projects that I’m committed to writing in the near future.

In the last two weeks I’ve also discovered the Audiobook Creation Exchange, which is an Amazon affiliated company. I’m working to create audio book versions of all my novels. I’ve been told by many readers that they enjoy my voice (from my Blog Talk Radio days) and that they’d like me to read my own books. I’m not sure I’ll publish versions that I read, but I’m going to give it a try and see what I come up with.

With all these things competing for my attention I needed to make some changes to focus my energy. I’m going to dedicate the next several months to writing projects and hopefully I’ll end up with two completed novels and maybe a short story or an audio book as a bonus.

I’ll look forward to seeing you here. Between visits you can always find me on my Facebook page or my blog.

Some Retreats Launch You Ahead

By C.J. West
Suspense. Creativity. Action

This last week I locked myself in a friend’s apartment to block out the noise of everyday life and focus on writing. I imagined entire days doing nothing but working on my latest mystery and dreaming up ideas for what comes next.

That’s how I drew it up, but it didn’t turn out that way.

On Monday there was my CJ West Kills Blog to write.

On Tuesday I met with someone about a new project and then spent the afternoon running between my doctor’s office and the lab for X-rays and blood work.

My Wednesday was a complete bust. I had a commitment that lasted 14 hours. The only writing I’m doing in the 26 minutes left in the day is this blog.

My retreat may sound like a failure to you, but it was very productive. You’d think a writer would spend a whole lot of time writing, but the truth is that the pressure to sell books often distracts me from what I love most about this gig—dreaming and storytelling.



This week I’ve made great progress on the mystery I’m currently writing. I’m now into Act III and the climax of the book is taking shape. Getting away has helped me recharge my creative batteries and the story is really flowing.

When I’m able to dedicate multiple hours to a project day after day I feel the depth of the story grow. Each day I develop a deeper understanding of the characters and as the plot unfolds I find myself adding elements that neatly fit plot and character in a way I couldn’t achieve without the continued focus day after day.

I deliver realism in my work that isn’t there when my writing sessions are separated by too much time.

I also had an unexpected bonus fall from the sky last weekend. While I was on the beach (supposedly relaxing), I developed the idea for a sequel to The End of Marking Time. I’ve always had trouble with a sequel because of the way the book ended, but last weekend I worked out much of the plot of the sequel and I’m confident the ending will be just as shocking as the original.

Even the small amount of time I dedicated to focused writing has really helped me. It’s fairly easy to do what I’ve done if your schedule and home life allow. Simply set aside the time to write and ignore those distractions when they come calling.

For most of us that's easier said than done.

Whispering Pines Writers Retreat
West Greenwich, RI

If that's the case for you, try booking a week at a retreat like The Inn at the Oaks in Eastham, Massachusetts.   A space like this is not only inspiring because of its beauty, by pulling you away from the little emergencies of daily life, this retreat allows you to focus your energy on writing for a weekend, a week, or longer.

If going it alone isn’t your thing, you can go for a conference like this Writers Conference at Ocean Park, held in Ocean Park, Maine this August. A retreat like this offers more than a beautiful quiet setting. A good writers conference offers writing classes, assignments to spur your creativity, and the camaraderie of working alongside other writers.

One of these types of getaways is bound to help you launch your writing project forward.

I hope you find a way to pour yourself into your writing this summer no matter which type of retreat you choose.

Future Looks Grim for Professional Criminals

By CJ West
Suspense. Creativity. Action.

In the last few weeks I read Flash Foresight: How to see the invisible and do the impossible by Daniel Burrus. I highly recommend this book. It shows us how to spot trends in the marketplace and create a thriving business by preparing to meet needs consumers don’t even realize they have yet.

Today I thought it would be interesting to apply the concepts of this book to the life of a career criminal.

Burrus suggests that we look for hard trends that will impact the marketplace and then anticipate the problems and opportunities they will create.

One of the trends affecting everyone are the three “digital accelerators” according to Burrus. They are the vast increases in computer processing power, storage, and bandwidth we are experiencing each year. These three factors have contributed to the explosion of cameras and social media.

The last thing a criminal wants is his picture being taken and shared around a vast network of people trying to identify him. I explored this idea recently in Thugbook, a short story about a social network that shares photographs of crimes in progress. With the proliferation of smaller and smaller cameras and social networks it is only a matter of time before someone implements an idea that combines cameras and social media to help prevent crime.

If you are a criminal or your customers are criminals, it is time to be thinking about clever disguises or some other way to thwart all those cameras.

Another trend related to the digital accelerators is the shift to electronic banking. Fewer of us carry as much currency as we once did. We do carry credit and bank cards and those present opportunities, but banks are getting smarter about protecting themselves from losses.

We may see a future like the one depicted in The End of Marking Time where no currency is ever exchanged. This would make dealing drugs and fencing stolen goods very difficult, but the loss of freedom would be so great should the government try to do away with currency there would be a major backlash.

On the plus side for the criminally minded, there are new opportunities to steal electronic funds, though I wonder if the level of sophistication required to steal from banks will be so high in the future that it will be easier to make an honest living than to outsmart the electronic watchdogs.

One final note on the digital revolution and its impact on crime. In the past it was unlikely that  data obtained by a law enforcement agency in one state would ever be shared with another. In the future, biometrics will be more prevalent and it will be simpler to connect data sources together.

In a future where states share biometric and other data about offenders, it will be more difficult to evade capture by moving within the country.  The heads of any large criminal organization may want to consider small tropical islands or large tracts of heavily wooded land to hide out in.

These changes are suggested in fun, but you’ll be glad to know that based on the FBI data I’ve been reading, serious crime is decreasing. I don't think crime writers will run out of real life stories to feed our work, but the trend is certainly encouraging.

I’d highly recommend reading Flash Foresight and using the tools inside to find the trends in your business.