C.T. Mitchell's Blog

Breaking Point just received another 5 Star Review.

Here is the review from Readers Favorite:

Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers’ Favorite

Breaking Point: A Detective Jack Creed Novel, Volume 8 is a police procedural mystery novel written by C.T. Mitchell. Detective Jack Creed had a serial killer at large in the Cabarita Beach area of New South Wales. The killer had taken his first victim ten years before, and his most recent victim had been brutally attacked before being burned alive. Creed had O’Halleran breathing down his neck on this case as well, so not replacing Simpson, who was on leave due to health issues, was not on the cards. His choices for a replacement were marginal, to say the least. Detective Sergeant Boston-Wright was the one bright penny in the mix — even if she was a woman. Murder inquiries were traditionally handled by men, but she was the daughter of Bruno Boston, after all. Boston had been Creed’s mentor on style as well as police work. So Creed would give her a try. For her part, Joanne Boston-Wright was determined to succeed, seeing her appointment as an opportunity to finally do some real police work. There would be the extra scrutiny expected by any woman breaking into a man’s field, but she knew she could get past it — she was, after all, Bruno’s daughter.

C.T. Mitchell’s Australian police procedural mystery, Breaking Point: A Detective Jack Creed Novel, is the eighth volume in this detective series, but don’t let that stop you from reading this book as a standalone. I did, and I found myself instantly involved in the action, the characters, and the story. Creed and Boston-Wright are each complicated and strong characters who find the other daunting and not quite comprehensible. That doesn’t hinder them from becoming a dynamic team that’s well worth following in future volumes. I’ve been a fan of Australian police procedurals since I first discovered Arthur Upfield’s half-Aboriginal Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte some years ago, and I’m thrilled to have found Detective Jack Creed. Mitchell’s plot is top-tier, and his story is taut, compelling, and suspenseful. Breaking Point: A Detective Jack Creed Novel, Volume 8 is most highly recommended.

To read Breaking Point, just go to our Books

The post 5 Star Review for Breaking Point appeared first on C T Mitchell.

How would you like 40 cozy mystery novels bestsellers

for free? Take care of your reading for a year with this

mega giveaway.

From Amazon bestselling authors, there are 35 daily

prize winners and 2 major draw winners.

But this promo is only available for a limited time

5-11 September – so hurry. Click on the link below

http://authorsxp.com/giveaway 

 

Good luck!

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Book Giveaway

 

Here’s your chance to win up to 18 Suspense Thrillers books from Amazon bestselling authors

Just go to http://www.AuthorsXP.com/Giveaway for your chance to win

Good luck!

BONUS

Grab your C T Mitchell Starter Library – 2 free eBooks – link inside Breaking Point

The post Win 18 Suspense Thriller Books appeared first on C T Mitchell.

Work your job to your advantage

You’re in a job. Hmmmm……errr….it’s ok….at best. At night you sit back in your comfy chair, stare at the ceiling and dream about how you life would be as a bestselling author. The country estate, the vineyard in the south of France, the penthouse at the beach and the Rolls Royce Phantom in the garage.

You mood swells with confidence. You can almost taste your new life. You reach for for mobile phone and search for your boss’s name.

Wait………

Don’t dial that number UNLESS you want to tell the boss how grateful you are.

Here’s why you shouldn’t quit your day job just yet…

Steady Pay Cheque

Pay cheques can go up and down over time but for most they are steady. Aaah feeling better already
Sex

Let’s be frank. A lot of people have office romances. Work places are the greatest venues for match making until you discover that not all matches are made in heaven. Hmmmm and let’s not think about the office Christmas party.
Promotion

Move up the ladder – got to be a good thing; right? More responsibility equals more pay. Yay!
Extras

Love a corporate expense account. How many lobster dinners do you have at home or on holiday when you are paying the bill. None, never, zip. Exactly. But when you are travelling on business, lobster seems to be the norm. Add in a 5 star hotel room, limousine transfers, airline club membership and the corporate world is looking pretty good.
Job Title

Manager is impressive but what about…..Director….now we are talking. I bet you could out 500 of these little bad boys in a flash. CEO….now there’s a title with punch
Job Hopping

You don’t have to stick with the same company, you can move. Sure you can do that as an author and move to a different genre but you may have to wait a while to earn some money.

Having a job does reduce financial pressure while you pursue your writing dream. There’s nothing stopping you from becoming a bestselling author between 7pm – 11.59pm five nights a week. I mean this is something you really want; right? 

 

The post Don’t Quit Your Day Job appeared first on C T Mitchell.

At 56 I was a burnout real estate agent. I needed to re-invent myself. I decided to do something about it. So I asked myself this question

“Who are the best re-invention artists I know?”

I wanted a list of people who constantly change; re-evolve. One name name consistently came up.

The Rolling Stones

The rest of this article I ‘stole’. It’s from my favourite thought leader James Altucher. Here’s what he wrote about re-inventing yourself which coincidently revolved around the Rolling Stones. Go figure.

“Mick Jagger fooled around with Keith Richards’ girlfriend. I wouldn’t be able to work with someone after that.

But maybe that’s why I’m an author. And not a rockstar.

The Rolling Stones became a new band every 5-7 years. They were “perpetual amateurs.”

That’s one of the keys to staying alive as an artist.

Or as an entrepreneur.

Or staying alive at all… “Remain the same but different.”

And be “open to influence,” Rich Cohen said. He wrote “The Sun & The Moon & The Rolling Stones,” an incredible book about the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band of all time, fate, creation, sex, influence and the art of reinventing yourself.

It was “the gig of a century:” touring with The Rolling Stones the summer of ‘94. Then Rich worked with Mick Jagger on the HBO series “Vinyl.”

But this story isn’t just about The Rolling Stones. It’s about creation, corruption and reinvention.

And the 9 ways you can reinvent yourself today:

1. Use your frustration

Rich Cohen became an artist out of anger. So did The Rolling Stones.

Growing up, Rich’s father told him “blood-soaked bedtime stories” about the Jewish gangs of New York.

“There was this idea where I grew up that if you were Jewish, certain possibilities were foreclosed to you.”

He wrote “Tough Jews,” which heavily influenced the movie “Goodfellas,” and later led to more mob media like “Boardwalk Empire” and “The Sopranos.”

Frustration is fuel for reinvention. Someone without problems won’t create. They’ll count money. And wonder where their smile went.

Frustration wrote, “I can’t get no satisfaction,” the song that Mick Jagger says“prevented us from being just another good band with a nice run.”

“There was this whole soap opera,” Rich said, “A rock band not only has this great blues base… They also have someone who’s addicted to something. And they’ve got this weird relationship between the lead singer and the guitar player. They love and hate each other. And they’re like brothers.”

The Rolling Stones worked these tensions through the music.

And Rich worked his through writing. “I was interested in this idea of expanding what it means to be Jewish and making it more complete,” he said. “And also the stories are so great.”

He wrote “Sweet and Low” about his grandfather who invented the famously pink sugar packet out of desperation.

He saw a single-sided stereotype about Jews. A good stereotype. “But still a stereotype,” he said.

You have to find your frustrations.

And invent from annoyance.

2. Remain open

Mick Jagger went to dance clubs in his fifties.

“We’d go out and have dinner or whatever,” Rich said, “And then you go home. But he would go out… mostly because he wanted to see what was making kids dance.”

“A lot it’s driven by what goes on inside a person.” But it’s also about:

“remaining open”
“and willing to be astonished by new things“

That’s influence. And inspiration.

I read to write.

The Rolling Stones “started out as record collectors with the best taste.”

Look at what you love and then…

3. Ignore the myth of age and wisdom.

Rich’s dad is 83. And he (generally) only accepts opinions from people his age.

“Listen,” Rich tells his dad, “you’re gonna run out of people you can listen to because there’s only a couple million of them left on the whole planet.”

“If something’s huge and people love it, I want to read it to see what the hell’s going on.”

If you hold your breath against change, your mind will cripple with your body.

Look at people 20 years younger than you.

See what they’re doing and…

4. Rip off the best stuff

OR…

6. Be the anti-

Everybody knew they’d get “love from The Beatles and sex from The Rolling Stones.”

5. Liberate yourself

I put step six before five.

You don’t have to go in order. Rules are only as real as you make them. Follow your own rules. Reinvent them.

And you can start small.

Do your morning routine in reverse. Change the temperature of your shower. Order dessert first. I don’t care.

Just let yourself let go of the little habits.

7. Chase something

Jagger would go to Lennon’s apartment on the Upper East Side. Leave him notes. And rarely hear back.

“Everybody has someone they want to hang out with who won’t hang out with them,” Rich said.

Reinvention is a mystery.

“A lot of it is driven by anger and openness. And being willing to be astonished by new things. One good way to keep reinventing yourself is not to be too successful, actually,” Rich said.

You have to “feel like you’re chasing something all the time… [something] you can get but just can’t quite get.”

I asked Rich, “Do you think John Lennon liked Mick Jagger?”

It doesn’t seem like John Lennon would like Mick Jagger.

[Listen at 26:45]

Their relationship is weird. But familiar.

8. Go from fan to imitator to original

“A lot of musicians starts with a song,” Rich said. “The Rolling Stones started with an idea.”

But they needed help transitioning from fans to imitators to originals.

So Lennon and McCartney wrote The Rolling Stones’ first “original” song.

[Listen at 22:15 for the full story]

9. Never stop re-inventing

In the beginning, they ripped off blues bands.

“And then in the ‘70s, they kind of turn and get into reggae. And it’s a whole new thing”

“Then Mick Jagger goes to Studio 54 and discovers disco. And suddenly they have this album that’s like a fight between disco and the blues caught on vinyl and that’s ‘Some Girls.’”

Rich said that was their last great album. Because they stopped reinventing themselves. It’s the death of every good artist. Your skill withers. Your brain atrophies and your fans move on.

Without you.

I don’t plan on being a legend.

Or getting any satisfaction…”

If you like what James wrote check out his website http://www.jamesaltucher.com or check out his podcasts and good re-inventing.

 

The post Re-Inventing Yourself appeared first on C T Mitchell.

Let me declare straight off the bat I have no idea what it

means by Britain leaving the EU.

But what I do know is that I’m all IN. I’m INto writing.

I’m INto providing you my best quality writing. And quite

frankly that’s all I can do.

As for the Brits and the rest of the world? I don’t think anybody knows.

Will there be less books sold in Britain?

I don’t know but I don’t think so. Book distribution is global. Books

are also downloaded globally. Maybe people will have more time to

read. I really don’t know.

******************************************************

Who do you know needs a free read?

http://www.FreeCrimeBooks.com 

******************************************************

How will Australian writers react?

Business as usual. I’m still writing. I’m still looking for distribution channels

in all sorts of markets. We live in a global society and I’ll be making

connections in numerous markets whether or not Britain is a part of the

EU or not.

Will Amazon Crash?

Maybe but I doubt it. The world’s biggest book seller has it’s fingers in

many different product lines – it’s not just about books.Overnight stock

markets have wobbled – maybe a good time to buy?

What can I do about BREXIT?

Sit back. Have a cup of English Breakfast or Earl Grey tea and read a good

book. If leaving the EU was your Breaking Point, read this

Amazon UK

Amazon US

Amazon AU

And one final thing. RELAX. Everything will be ok

Have a great weekend!

The post What Does BREXIT Mean For Readers? appeared first on C T Mitchell.

An interesting question “where do you get your inspiration from?” It provokes two emotions both in equal measure. I love it because it makes me reflect on how I came up with each idea, and I hate it because it makes me question, sometimes doubt things. The worst thing that could happen to a writer is running out of inspiration, and each time I finish a book I think, “I’m never going to have such a good idea again”. So it’s a very worrying question!

Rejection’s inspiration came from seeing something on the news about a guy who had committed a mass shooting. The guy was Martin Bryant  and he was responsible for Australia’s first mass shooting at Port Arthur in 1996.  Australia had never had a mass shooting before, so it made me ask the question ‘what set of circumstances could be so bad that a person had no choice but to murder innocent people?’ – and that was the beginning of the idea. I used this Aussie experience, coupled it with an all too familiar issue in the USA and brought it to a small country town in northern New South Wales, Australia. You won’t pick the ending!

Shattered was completely different. To start with it wasn’t going to be a mystery, because at the time I came up with the idea I had no idea how successful Rejection was going to be. Shattered was going to be a story about a group of people who through a common connection devise a cruel and painful plan to torture this person who had done them all so wrong. The concept came from two separate incidents. A conversation with a Mafia boss in his nightclub (I used to manage the building in which the nightclub ran) and an adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express. I took a basic idea, expanded it dramatically, and made a story from it. In the end, Shattered retained some of those elements although very loosely. The Mafia boss, unlike my victim in Shattered, is still living today in my home town.

Ultimately, the ideas for my books come from people – seeing how they treat each other and behave towards each other. I like to take the smallest flaw in that behaviour and magnify it a thousand times until it becomes dangerous.

One idea running through The Secret of Barnesdale Manor is loneliness. As an only child, I’ve always been a bit of a loner. I enjoy the company of others but I can easy enjoy my own company. Charles Abernathy, a rich land baron outside Bangalow, NSW was a loner. He wanted people in his world but he could easily do without them at the same time. I’ve felt a bit the same way ( but I’m not a wealthy land baron). It’s this loneliness that I wanted to exploit in The Secret of Barnesdale Manor. And so loneliness became a significant part of the theme.

People often tell me that they have a great idea for a story, but in reality their ideas rarely work for me. Generally something bad has happened to somebody they know – even occasionally to the person telling me the story. But horrific as it might seem to be the victim of this story idea, unless I can actually feel the crime myself, I can’t mould it into a crime fiction book. I need to understand both the perpetrator and the victim and what makes them tick.

When I was writing Murder on the Beach, I was intrigued by the idea of somebody who was so self-sure about themselves could at the same time be so vulnerable to the outside world that they didn’t pick up on their own short comings. I wanted to see how one error of judgement, and the lies that then became essential in order to sustain that mistake, could escalate into a truly terrible and deadly scenario. That one thought led to another. Once I had an idea of the consequences of this lie, I then had to intertwine all my characters and my imagination started to fly. It was kind of easy – I have observed my characters for years. I enjoyed writing this – some people call it therapy.

Breaking Point was born out of thoughts about an irritating neighbour. But while my early books were short novellas, I wanted to delve a bit more into the lives of the characters exposing them more to my readers. My 5 star reviews are proof I’ve hit the spot.

That’s how my inspiration comes. By reading about or witnessing behaviour that can be exaggerated until it becomes murderous and by letting my mind go wild. As long as people continue to be unique, interesting, and with a mix of good and not-so-good traits, I don’t believe I will ever run out of ideas. Inspiration is all around me.

The post My Writing Inspiration appeared first on C T Mitchell.

Were you a bit of a scribbler when you were a child? Did you like to write letters, sometimes in different coloured pens?

Everybody was born with a talent and yours just might be writing. Let’s look at some key identifiers to prove my case.

You Were Always A Story Teller

As a child were you the one your family looked to for a story? And did you often come up with something pretty creative, seemingly at the drop of a hat even though you might not have known very much about a topic?

Expressing Yourself On Paper Was Easy For You

Some people prefer to express themselves on paper. They have a way with the written word and feel more confident about written expression than the spoken word.

Did you ask a significant other out on a date or even to marry them by slipping them a written note rather than simply calling them?

You Were Always a People Watcher

Did you often sit and observe others taking in finite details about the person and then playing stories in your head as to who the person was or what the person did?

People watchers make great writers because they can see things in others, store them away and then retrieve the details later when writing a scene or character.

You Felt Like An Outcast

A lot or writers are loners, preferring their own company over others. That’s not to say they are introverted and don’t like socializing but generally their mind world is a lot higher than the one they find themselves in. So they prefer not to participate. They feel like they are an outcast in their non perfect world.

You Had A Journal Filled With Ideas

And most likely more than one journal. Every time a new idea or flash would come into your mind, you would write it down.

So does any of the above ring a bell? If you say ‘yes’ to all five, then you are definitely a  writer. You owe it to the world to express your story – you may just change somebody’s life for the better. Get cracking. Start writing today AND publish your book. The world is looking for more bestsellers!

The post 5 Signs You Were Born A Writer appeared first on C T Mitchell.

Goal Setting or Not Goal Setting

At the time of writing this email, I am just 2 weeks into

2016. At this point I have a couple of choices as to how

I view the rest of 2016. I can have my vision of the future

clouded with uncertainty and stumble along in hesitation

OR I can attack the balance of the year with anticipation.

My half empty glass friends would tell me that already 4%

of the year has gone and that I’ve possibly missed opportunities.

But I like to think that there is still 96% of the year for me to

make my mark.

Having a positive vision of your future will give

you the strength to ‘keep going’ when the road gets a little

bumpy. Heaven knows this is true for me. I started my new

eating plan at the beginning of the month and lost 3kg (6.6lb)

in the first week. But as the second comes to an end, I’m down

just 1kg for the week. I could chastise myself and possibly

throw the towel in because I did not have another 3kg week OR

I could analyse where I dropped off the wagon and get back on

plan. I’m choosing the latter.

To have a vision of your future, do you need a rigid set of goals?

I’ve read a lot of books and articles on goal setting over my life time.

I’ve bought journals, written them up……..and then neatly stacked

them back of the shelf to gather dust. I’ve never been one to formally

plan my life via a 5 year, 1 year or even monthly goal sheet. Sure I do

do short spells of mind mapping and plotting out my tasks, but even they

go off the rails.

The problem I discovered by having a huge list of non achieved goals

is that I get depressed and put off formalising any future plans. How

about you?

BUT…..

when you do go back to your goal journal and see that you’ve actually

achieved a goal, then that creates a real sense of euphoria.

Yesterday I had that experience. Ten years go, probably in some January

I enthusiastically sat down to plan out my life. One of my goals was to

own a C200 Mercedes Benz. Yesterday while I sat in the dealership in

between finishing the paperwork and sipping my latte provided by the chef

catered kitchen inside the dealership, a vision came to me that I had once

written the goal to own such a car. The feeling of accomplishment washed

over me and I gave myself an internal fist pump (one doesn’t fist pump in

Mercedes Benz showrooms; at least not in Australia)

Now while I can’t say I sat down and read my goals daily for the past 10 years,

pulled a rubber band on my wrist and sang Kum-bi-ah, my vision did come true.

What’s your vision of the future? In a little over 3 years I’ll be 60. I have a very

strong vision – image of how I will celebrate that day. Let me know your vision

and I’ll share my 60th birthday vision with you.

Have a great day. I appreciate your readership and friendship.

C T Mitchell

www.facebook.com/ctmitchellauthor

The post The Importance Of A Future Vision appeared first on C T Mitchell.

I’ve been a James Patterson fan for quite some time and when the opportunity to have lunch with the world’s bestselling author in Sydney, Australia in May 2015, I immediately booked my ticket, grabbed a flight and finalised my travel details.

The lunch was organised by Dymocks Bookstore as part of their Literary Events at the luxury 5 star Shangri-La Hotel in the Sydney Rocks area and was attended by 240 James Patterson fans. Mr. Patterson was here to promote his latest venture into children’s books; a passion of his to get young people back into reading. As part of his visit he would also be donating $100,000 worth of books to local school libraries.

On the day of the lunch I flew early from Brisbane, about an hour’s flight from Sydney, checked into my hotel and settled into a nearby coffee shop to relax and prepare for a great lunch. Having flown specially to be here, I wanted to ensure I got the most from today’s lunch – I wanted to ask James Patterson a question.

Arriving at the venue I made myself known to the key organiser and was shown to my table; perfectly positioned on the front row in front of the stage. I couldn’t be happier and introduced myself to the other 9 guests on the table which included an editor of a leading magazine and an author of 6 novels.

As lunch was being served, James Patterson sat on stage being interviewed by a leading Australian radio personality for around an hour. Here’s what I gleamed from his conversation:

It’s never too late to start writing. Just start!
Work hard – there is no short cut. In his office he may have up to 50 projects on the go; 13-15 of them being his most active. You need to put in the hours to complete this work load.
Read, read, read. Reading helps improve your life and your writing. Encourage young children to read.
Authors can ‘out do’ actors. He told a funny story of having dinner with Clint Eastwood and a movie director in an Italian restaurant in Washington one night. A lady came up to their table and asked him for his autograph. Clint Eastwood commented that he “really needed a hit movie quick” after being overlooked by the woman.

The lunch conversation was light hearted, fun and entertaining. James Patterson came across as a very down to earth person and was engaging with the audience. Questions were then invited. Of the 6 taken, I got the first one in.

“As a newbie author, how can I get my books seen so that I can sell more books? What marketing tips can you give me?”

Here’s what James Patterson told me:

Don’t worry about marketing. Leave that up to your publisher to figure that out.
Learn how to plot and outline better. James Patterson told the audience that he writes outlines of around 80-90 pages, submits them to his co-author who then flesh his work out. The co-author submits their progress work every week from which James Patterson edits and resubmits. This process continues until the whole book is complete.
Have a hook at the end of each chapter. It keeps the pages turning.
Write more. The more you write, the better you can potentially come. The more books you have out in the marketplace, the better the opportunity to make money.

Boom! Short and succinct. Now while I did agree with the last two points, I was very sceptical about not worrying about marketing. As a newbie author since February 2015 and no marketing muscle behind me, I was having very little sales success and was being drawn into the marketing hype bombarding my email inbox on how ‘a piece of software or a book promotion idea’ would solve ALL my book sales dilemmas and catapult me to the top of the Amazon bestseller lists. But I was willing to put his ideas into action.

After lunch I thanked him for his advice, grabbed a signed copy of Truth or Die and eventually headed home the next day to put his words of wisdom into action.

To help improve my plotting and outlining skills, I purchased James Patterson’s Masterclass on Writing. The course consists of 22 videos, pdfs and an outline of his book Honeymoon. The videos are entertaining but the real juice in in the pdfs, work assignments and the outline. You can even submit your work for critiquing; if you are game.

At $90 it’s a very worthwhile investment in your writing career. Grab it.

But the best advice I got from James Patterson was simply to work hard and write more. And after 5 months as a mystery, thriller and suspense author my output has dramatically increased with 4 novellas hitting top 10 in categories; 2 of which hit #1 in both the US & UK.

Thanks James Patterson for your great insight. I’m now chasing you!

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