Ken Fite

I’m making great progress on the new novel. I have a goal to finish the first draft by the time I go to the annual writers’ conference in St. Pete Beach in September. Even more exciting, I think I may have figured out a way to write more than one book starting next year. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but… the plan is so crazy it just might work.

So, any big news lately in the world of politics? Anything to talk about, argue about, debate, get mad about, cheer over? Maybe it’s just me, but politics has really sucked me in over the last few months. I usually get engrossed in politics in an election year, but this year is insane. And just when you think things couldn’t get crazier—surprise!

How often do you spend time on things you can’t control? Especially when you have big goals you want to see come to life? I’ll raise my hand and admit that it’s all the time.

I once heard someone comparing it to running east-west on the field of life. North-south gains yards. North-south gets first downs. North-south makes incremental progress. And north-south wins ball games. But east-west does none of those things. It’s spinning your wheels, wasting your time, looking busy while getting nowhere fast.

As we inch closer to the middle of the year, I want to make a turn. I want to head north. I want to create another story that’s meaningful. One full of heart. One you will love.

The clock is running down. It’s almost halftime. Now’s our chance to flip the script and create something with the little time we have left in the year that we’ll be proud of. -Ken

It’s hard to believe it’s the end of April and a third of the year is already gone. It’s easy to think, what do I have to show for it? Especially when you have a big goal you set out to accomplish for the year. Even more so when you haven’t made much progress towards it. There are always things to blame. Life just got too busy. There’s too much to do, too much going on right now. I’ll get to it later. I still have time. I’ll do it tomorrow.

Sometimes you have to play tricks with yourself in order to make real progress. Because if I’m honest, there’s never a great time to sit down and write a novel. There are a million things we’re responsible for. And endless plans filling up every minute of every day. Not to mention the things we go to which consume our time, like social media and the news which can be all consuming, especially for a political thriller writer. “It’s just research,” I like to tell myself. But at some point you just have to do the work.

Sitting down for hours to work on a big goal isn’t always possible. But you can hack at it. You can cut down some of the brush today. Create the Word document. Come up with a title. Write the first sentence. Come back in an hour and close out the paragraph.

Getting started is the hardest part. But it doesn’t have to be. If you have a goal, and if you’re willing to hack away at it, little by little, you’ll soon find a clear path ahead of you.

A third of the year is gone. But two thirds are left. Let’s do something great with it. -Ken

Happy Easter!

I’ve started outlining the next book in the Blake Jordan series. Just a high-level, general sense of where the characters could go from where they left off in CHAIN OF COMMAND. This part of the process is both exciting and a little scary, if I’m honest. There are always so many directions things could go in and you never know which one is right. But as a writer you have to trust your gut and believe, just like in life, that you’ll end up exactly where you were supposed to be. I’m excited to share more next month.

As a follow up from my last newsletter, audiobooks for the first four Blake Jordan stories are now available on Chirp, Spotify, Apple, and Amazon while the next six books in the series will continue to be recorded this year by the great John Pirhalla. If you’re like me and prefer to read your fiction vs audio, give the beginning of book 1, THE SENATOR, a free listen, and you may change your mind once you hear how John brings the story to life. His many voices and accents, including Morgan’s, are spot on. -Ken

Just a short update this month: my new release, CHAIN OF COMMAND, is now available in paperback! For those who’ve asked, you can pick it up now on Amazon.

Also, the audiobooks are coming along. The first four in the series have been recorded and are up on Chirp right now. They should appear on Amazon/Audible/iTunes sometime in March and I’ll keep you updated as the next six books in the series are recorded by the great John Pirhalla. My goal is to get one recorded a month so all are available this year and the audio for the next Jordan novel I’ll write can release quickly.

March is usually the time where I start to buckle down and really get started on the new Blake Jordan story. I’ve toyed with the idea of writing a limited series with Jami, but will hold off on that for now and will focus on writing Blake Jordan #11 first, and if there’s any time left at the end of the year, I might start on a story to see where it goes. -Ken

I’ve started a tradition where in January of each year I share with you my what my wall calendar looked like from the year prior. Maybe it’s an accountability thing. Maybe it’s to show you how many blank days there were where I didn’t work on a book. Or maybe it’s to show you that in spite of yourself, you can still reach your goal if you keep trying.

Whatever the reason, here is my calendar, with Xs representing the days I worked on a first draft, and numbers showing the chapters where I went through additional reviews.

Similar to the prior year, you’ll notice a lot of white space in the first few months (I need to do something about that). In my defense, it was a very busy year! This year is turning out much the same as I work on getting the series out in audiobooks soon.

Having just released Blake Jordan #10 a few weeks ago, my plan is to spend the next few days thinking of where the series should go from here, and what could be next. Then I’m going to start writing the first draft for book #11… whether I’m ready or not.

Because just like you, I can’t wait to see what’s in store for Blake Jordan. -Ken

I love New Year’s Eve… not only because it’s my wife Missy’s birthday, but it also marks the end of the year and the start of something new (which we’re all ready for).

For the last few years, December has been a down month for me. But that hasn’t been the case this year. Sure, I’ve taken a little time to rest and recharge, but I’ve also been busy with my new release, which I’ll be emailing you about in the next few days!

December is also when I like to reach out to my readers to ask them a few questions…

What do you love about the Blake Jordan series? What do you want to read more of? Last year’s survey responses were so helpful to me. Like TV shows that listen to their fans, your feedback helped me write a story this past year that many of you loved.

Would you please take a moment to complete this year’s reader survey?

I consider your input invaluable to help me write the best stories possible for you in 2024… and you’ll enjoy many hours of reading in return. It’ll be quick, I promise!

Just click here and give me your thoughts. Thank you so much. -Ken

This is going to be a quick newsletter this month because I have a lot going on lately! Today I’ll finish the second draft of Blake Jordan #10 and I’m also in the process of publishing the audiobook versions of books #1 and 2 read by the great John Pirhalla.

As excited as I am for you to listen to John’s performance (it’s going to blow you away) and as much as I can’t wait for you to read my new story when it comes out in the next few weeks, I have to tell you about how I got here. Because once I hit publish, I’ll start to get emails asking me how I do it and quite a few readers telling me how they wish they could write a book, too. I’ll look pretty good, like I have it all together. But I don’t…

Because the creative process isn’t perfect. And neither am I.

If you were to look at my big wall calendar, you’d see a lot of blank spaces on most days of the year where an “X” should’ve been for having done my work for the day.

You’d see me staring at a blank page that should’ve had six hundred words on it.

You’d see me deleting and rewriting a lot of words. Two steps forward, one step back.

But you’d see me pressing on, regardless.

Tomorrow is December 1st which means the countdown is on: 31 days to hit my goal. And if you’ve followed me for a while, you know how I am with going after big goals…

If you have a dream in your heart, something you want to see happen, write it down.

Because a dream written down becomes a goal.

And a goal broken down into small daily steps becomes a plan.

And when you have a plan, and it’s backed by action, a dream becomes reality.

You have to be relentless when it comes to what you want in this world. Because if you don’t go after your dreams, just know that someone else will have you help them go after theirs. I have a big dream to release another story you’ll love within 31 days. -Ken

There’s nothing like a deadline to motivate a writer to get their work done. I added another 20,000 words to the manuscript since my last newsletter, and I’m pretty much done with the first draft of Blake Jordan #10 with a goal to release it by 12/31 this year.

I try to read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield every couple of years. But my favorite time to read it is when I’m at the very end of a novel I need to finish. If you’re a creative person, especially a writer, what Pressfield teaches about ‘Resistance’ is really helpful.

Resistance is what keeps us from doing what we long to do. It’s what convinces us that we’ll start that diet “tomorrow,” or write the great American novel “next year,” or start that business we always wanted to have “someday,” just not today. It’s self-sabotage.

And it’s evil. Because it keeps us from doing the thing we were really meant to do.

What’s interesting is how Resistance only kicks in when you decide to make progress towards the things you feel called to do. Big goals that can’t be accomplished in a day. The things you have to work on day after day, week after week, month after month.

Want to land a job as a telemarketer? Go for it. Resistance will let that one slide.

Want to land your dream job? Or get an MBA? Or write a book or lose 40 pounds?

Resistance will let you get started. But it won’t let you finish. Not without a fight…

None of us really know this. We think it’s us. We don’t have the discipline to do big things. We can’t focus long enough, or control our eating, or get organized enough. Nobody ever teaches us that we’re not the problem. Resistance is the problem. Not us.

The best way I’ve found to overcome Resistance is to trick it. Don’t tell yourself you’re writing a novel. Tell yourself you’re just going to write a thousand words today. For fun. You’re not starting a business. You’re just going to set up a business checking account. You’re not going to lose 40 pounds. You’re just going to drink your coffee black today.

Resistance will go back to sleep. Your goals are in check. You’re okay being mediocre. As long as Resistance thinks you’ve given up on your goals, he’ll give up on his, too.

But one day, Resistance will wake up to find our daily tasks built a thriving business… those daily health choices have helped you lose the weight… and those thousand words have added up and the novel is done. And Resistance will let you win this round.

He’ll go back to sleep and save his energy for the next big idea you come up with.

Know your enemy,

And know yourself,

And you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.

And it will take a hundred battles to accomplish anything big. But it’ll be worth it. -Ken

I’m just getting back from the annual writers conference I go to in St. Pete Beach, Florida. This was the fifth year I’ve attended and I always look forward to hanging out with my writer friends in real life vs the monthly Zoom meetings where we catch up. There’s also a lot of great presentations on writing, marketing, and everything it takes to be an author entrepreneur. To attend, you have to have a certain amount of sales per year, which means the presenters we get know we’re the “real deal,” and as a result, the tips and tricks they share are definitely on the next level and just amazing.

But I think what helped the most was listening to sessions with multi seven-figure authors speak. Many of them have been joining us each year and were sitting out in the audience right where we were before they hit a tipping point and things took off.

And as much as I loved hearing of their success, I enjoyed hearing of their failures, too.

They get stuck a lot.

They find writing hard.

They overthink things.

They were all just like me… it was reassuring to know I’m doing things the right way.

I’m blessed to have found something I enjoy doing so much, something that brings happiness to others, and I’m excited to keep going and see how far I can take things.

The work we choose to do fills such a large part of our lives. The only way to be truly happy about what we put out in the world is to do great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. They say you’ll know it when you find it. I’ve found it.

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In other news, I’ve passed the 50,000 word mark on the new Blake Jordan novel. Only 25,000 more to go, which should be about 25 days work, to get to a finished first draft. Also, the great John Pirhalla finished recording the audiobook for Credible Threat, Blake Jordan #2, last night and will record #3 in December. John’s performances are always so amazing and I can’t wait for you to hear these stories come to life on audio!

I’ll keep you updated on the progress of Blake Jordan #10 and the audiobooks. -Ken

We made it through another “I” hurricane. Last year, Ian hit right after I returned from my annual writer’s conference at St. Pete Beach. This year’s I storm came a little early. Thankfully Idalia missed us for the most part, although it did spin up a few tornadoes since we were on the eastern side of the storm. Getting a tornado warning at four in the morning to “seek shelter now!” will wake you up better than coffee ever could.

Blake Jordan #10 is… well… it’s coming along. I stopped writing at the midpoint because I wanted to meet with my developmental editor in LA. She had a lot of good feedback which I’ll use as I sprint to the finish and write the second half of the story.

As far as audiobooks go, I’ve commissioned my cover designer to create the audiobook covers for books #1-10 (including the new one that I’m writing). And my narrator, John Pirhalla, finished recording of THE SENATOR and starting next month will record one book a month until they’re all done. So once I finish writing the new story, getting the entire series out in audio will be the next thing I tackle. By the way, John totally nailed all of the characters. I’m excited for you to hear his performance!

I hope you had a great summer. Now it’s time to buckle down and get to work. -Ken