Ken Fite

February 2020

Hello from Orlando!

Every time I start working on a new story, the same thing happens. I plan. I daydream. I think about where my characters left off in the last book. I wonder where they could go in the next book. What unfinished business do they have? What open loops from stories earlier in the series haven’t been addressed yet? Where do we go from here?

So I plan. I brainstorm. I go for walks. I pace. I use my whiteboard. I map it all out. Then I erase the whole thing and I start over. I repeat this process a hundred times.

Then I throw it all away and I sit down at my MacBook and stare at the screen.

Starting a new project is the hardest part. When it comes to writing, authors try to find the next logical step in their hero’s journey. We look for the perfect idea to write about.

There are a million directions the next story could go in. And any of them would probably work, because there is no perfect idea. I know this. But I stare at the screen a little longer because one must be better than the others and I need to find True North.

So I plan, I daydream, and I think some more…

This period of time is called a lot of things. Research. Brainstorming. Writer’s block. Waiting for the muse to show up. Waiting on lightning to strike. Waiting for inspiration.

There’s a quote about planning from Dwight D. Eisenhower that I’ve always liked: “Before a battle, planning is everything. Once the fighting has begun, it’s useless.”

I know this to be true. My finished stories never look exactly like the plans I had made. But without planning, I never would’ve started. The stories wouldn’t have been written.

My goal for the next 30 days is to figure out my destination, where my hero is headed, knowing full well that once I start writing, that plan will be useless. Because things change. I’ll make different decisions. I’ll have better ideas. And that’s okay. Because without a plan, I never would’ve had any better ideas. That’s what’s fun about writing.

This is how I start working on a new story. I’m starting to realize that writing ‘into the dark,’ taking a step into the unknown, is just part of my process. But it works every time.

January 2020

Hello from Orlando!

I love calendars. I’ve used a monthly and weekly planner for years now along with a big “Seinfeld calendar,” as I call it, on the wall in my home office where I track my writing.

To bring you up to speed if you’re new to the newsletter, when comedian Jerry Seinfeld first started out, he realized that if he wanted to get better at writing jokes, he needed to commit to spending time writing at least one good joke every day. He went out and bought a big wall calendar and put an “X” on the calendar dates when he did his work.

Seinfeld’s goal was simple: Don’t break the chain. He used his calendar to keep him accountable by seeing how many Xs he could put on the calendar in a row. I’ve used a big wall calendar for a few years now to track my daily writing goal the same way.

Today is January 31st. This is around the time the gyms start being less busy. By now most of the people who made New Year’s resolutions have gone back to their old habits. If I’m honest with you, I have a bad habit of not starting things when I need to.

I haven’t started writing the next novel yet. I hadn’t started this time last January, either, as you can see in the picture below, and I think the January before that was the same.

It’s easy to get frustrated with ourselves when we repeat the past. We think, What’s wrong with me? And I should’ve started by now and I’m never going to reach my goals.

We give up on our dreams. We cancel our gym membership. We say it’s too late now. We convince ourselves we’ll try again next year. We lie to ourselves so we’ll feel better.

Today is the day every year when most people’s dreams die…

January 31st…

A date I always seem to notice on the calendar…

And as much as I love calendars, I also hate them… because calendars never lie.

Last year on January 31st, I hadn’t really started on my goal yet, either. Sure, I was “planning,” but let’s be honest–thriller writers “plan” by reading good books and watching movies. I hadn’t put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) until February 1st.

I love using calendars to track my progress toward my big goals and dreams.

Because they reflect reality. You can see where I had days and even weeks where I was stuck. I wanted to write a first draft in four months… it took six. I wanted to finish the final draft two months later… it took five. Calendars are good at telling the truth.

And the truth calendars tell us is this: If you’re intentional and work on your dream consistently, you will finish. It might not be as fast as you want, but YOU WILL FINISH.

So I’m sharing my calendar with you again this year to show you what 2019 was like. How it kept me accountable. How it gave me confidence whenever I placed a large “X” on a day for doing my writing that day… or a number for the chapter I went over again… or the blank spaces that kicked me back into gear because I really wanted one more X.

And I share it because tomorrow is February 1st.

The gyms will be empty. Resolutions, long forgotten.

The amateurs will have given up, deciding to try again next year.

But I, with my calendar, will just be getting started.

Because I have big goals for this year. But I know a goal without a plan is just a dream.

December 2019

Hello from Orlando!

I love New Year’s Eve… not only is it my wife Missy’s birthday, it also marks the end of the year and the start of something new. For the last couple years, December has been a down month for me. It’s where I take time off from writing and I focus on other things I’ve neglected during the year. I also rest and recharge. I watch countless episodes of FRIENDS with Missy. I watch college football and I play with my sons.

But it’s also the time I like to reach out to my readers to ask them a few questions.

My favorite TV shows (24, Lost) always did one thing I loved: They listened to their fans and took what they liked (and didn’t like) into account to make their shows better.

Around this time, I like to poll my readers to ask the same kinds of questions…

What do you love about the Blake Jordan series? What do you want to see more of?

Last year’s poll was so helpful to me. You said you liked the Parker character and wanted to see him come back, so I brought him back. Like shows that listen to their fans, your feedback told me if I was on the right track or if I needed to course-correct.

It helped me write a story you’d love to read.

Would you please take a moment to complete this year’s reader survey? It will really help me to understand what you like so I can write the best stories possible in 2020… and you will 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

November 2019

Hello from Orlando!

In case you missed it, I released my new thriller THE SHIELD last week. It’s a story I worked on for most of the year, started in January and finished earlier this month. And it’s a story I loved writing. I always get a kick out of reading the reviews that come in and the emails asking when the next one will be out (trust me, I wish it was that easy).

Because what the reader reads is the finished product. They never truly know the story behind the story. Whenever I read a book from one of my favorite authors, whenever I get lost in the story, I have to remind myself that there’s more there between the lines…

Because when you read a book, you’re not just reading a bunch of words…

You’re reading countless hours of errors and rewrites and plotting… second-guessing yourself and trying to find how to tell the best possible story for the reader to enjoy.

You’re reading moments of complete frustration.

And you’re reading moments of pure joy.

You’re reading a book the author is so proud to share with you.

And you’re reading a book the author is terrified to share with you.

You’re reading a piece of their heart, something that took them away from doing other things they deemed to be less important than putting this new story out into the world.

You’re reading a piece of their soul, a part of their life they decided to share.

Accomplishing any big goal you have for yourself is risky. Because when you say you’re done, when you put what you spent time creating out into the world, you realize something you may have never thought about before: it no longer belongs to you.

The story belongs to them now. The reader. It’s theirs to read and live with.

They say stories are never finished, just abandoned. At some point in the writing process, you have to say to yourself, This is the best I’m capable of doing–for now.

Then you have to put it out in the world and see what happens.

Can you be a writer without someone else reading your words?

Yes, of course. But to share what you’ve spent a piece of your life working on with someone else is the ultimate trust building exercise any writer could ever take on.

To trust yourself enough to let it go, to put it out into the world, and then to start again.

Below are some of the amazing reviews I’ve read on Amazon (thank you so much!). I hope you had a great Thanksgiving and I’m grateful to call you one of my readers. -Ken

Here’s what readers are saying about THE SHIELD…

★★★★★ “…outstanding new novel in this series.”
★★★★★ “…you won’t want to put it down.”
★★★★★ “…don’t miss this book, it was fantastic.”
★★★★★ “…I loved the storyline, it kept me reading late into the night.”
★★★★★ “…another great read!”
★★★★★ “…Blake Jordan doesn’t disappoint.”
★★★★★ “…the plot twists make it a page-turner.”
★★★★★ “…another amazing book in this series.”
★★★★★ “…lots of twists and turns, very smooth reading.”
★★★★★ “…the best of the Blake Jordan novels.”

Are you ready for a great story? Click here and start reading now.

October 2019

Hello from Orlando! And Happy Halloween!

My boys are excited for tonight and are getting ready to go trick-or-treating in a few minutes. Meanwhile, dad has just finished the third and final draft of Blake Jordan #6.

I’m so excited to be done! Now I’m just wrapping up some line edits and plan to send the final manuscript to my editor next week. I hope to have the changes a few days later, then I plan to have the story in your hands ready to read by the end of November.

The theme of the new book is how life requires sacrifice and how that often means we must let go of what we want in order to get what we need. Because saying yes to one thing often means saying no to something else. Want to get in shape? You’ll have to say no to Dunkin’ and start saying yes to the gym and healthier foods. Want to write a novel? That means saying no to sleeping in and other things you might want to do.

This book took me a little longer than usual to finish than other stories have taken me in the past. But I’m okay with that. Because I balanced time working on it with spending time with my family… with going to the gym… with doing a lot of other things.

It’s interesting how the theme in the books I write are intertwined with the things I struggle with while I’m writing them. Exploring the idea of sacrifice this year really hit home for me and I loved writing this story. I can’t wait for you to read it in just a few weeks as soon as these line edits are done and my editor does her magic.

For now, it’s time to have some fun collecting chocolatey treats from our neighbors.

But the trick’s on my boys—dad tax on candy is 50% this year.

Keep your eyes peeled over the next month… I’ll keep you updated on book #6. -Ken

September 2019

Hello from St. Pete Beach!

If you’ve received my newsletter for a while, you may remember that last summer I went to New York City and attended ThrillerFest. It was a great conference for writers. And I really enjoyed rubbing shoulders with the likes of Lee Child, George R. R. Martin, and many others. The sessions on writing were good. But I felt a bit out of place there.

Then I found out about NINC (Novelists, Inc.). I learned they had a conference just two hours west of my home in Orlando and, while it also had a lot of information for traditionally published writers, their indie membership and workshops were growing.

It seemed like a good mix of both sides of the writing world. I was in!

I arrived on Wednesday and have met a lot of really great people. The sessions I’ve attended have mostly been on how to advertise on Amazon, Facebook, and BookBub and have been really useful. And the conversations I’ve had with other writers about what’s working for them were helpful, too. As an introvert, I of course felt anxious about coming, but it’s amazing what can happen if you step out of your comfort zone. 

And best of all, my wife drove the boys over after school on Friday and were able to enjoy the TradeWinds Resort while I learned about the business side of writing.

Win-win, so I’m really glad I came.

If you’re trying to grow and get better, you have to do things that are uncomfortable. And be brave. Because great things never came from staying in our comfort zones.

A quick update on Blake Jordan #6:

I finished the second draft last week, but I’m going to have to do a third draft, which I plan on starting soon. Next week, I have to travel to Omaha for a few days. That’ll throw off my routine a bit, like this week did. But I’m determined to finish this book.

I’ll keep you updated and hope to have more progress to share next month. -Ken

August 2019

We’ve stockpiled our pantry with enough food and water to last us a while. We’ve brought in all of the lawn chairs and anything else Hurricane Dorian could use as a deadly projectile. The only thing left to do now is go to Disney World and take advantage of the shorter lines! So that’s what my family and I will be doing today as we try to get a little bit of fun in before the weather turns bad and we have to hunker down.

A quick update on Blake Jordan #6:

The good news is I’m continuing to make progress on the second draft.

The bad news is I’m only about 75% through. And I’m going to have to do a third draft, but I know it’s going to make the story better. I can’t wait to be done so you can read it.

This has been a busy season for me. I’ve prioritized a lot of things ahead of my writing. Sleep, exercise, spending more time with family. I don’t regret any of it.

Sometimes I wish I had more time so I could do more. I once told that to someone. Their response has always stuck with me: “Ken, there’s never enough time to do everything in life… but there’s always enough time to do the most important things.”

I’m excited to keep working on the story so I can finish it in the next few weeks.

But I’m just as excited to spend time doing the most important things, the things that really matter, so I have a reason to keep writing. Thanks for your continued support and I’ll update you on the new story next month. I know you’re going to love it.

July 2019

A quick update on Blake Jordan #6… I’m making good progress on the second draft. Right now I’m about a third of the way in and trying to work through one chapter a day. That’s not my usual pace. In the past, I’ve been able to do about two chapters a day. But it’s been a really busy summer this year with a lot going on and I keep reminding myself about the importance of consistency and how it has a compounding effect.

There’s a lot to keep track of as a writer if you want to be a success. Gone are the days where you could just grow a writer’s beard and sit in your study and daydream and write. There’s advertising you have to constantly be monitoring and adjusting. There’s email from readers (which I love!) you need to reply promptly to (which I am bad at!). And when you find time, there’s that new novel you’re trying to put out into the world.

I have to remind myself that the most important thing is the novel. That should be #1.

And I have to remember it’s not about what we do-it’s about what we consistently do.

Excellence isn’t a one time event. I don’t want to just write a good book. I want to write a book that you will love… a story that will mean something to you. One you’ll remember for a long time. The only way to do that is to be intentional every single day.

A few weeks back, I joined a gym. I’ve tried to go at least three times a week. There’s a trainer I work with named Gil and he says if I want to see results, I really can’t go less than that. I thought differently after the first day and my body was sore for seven days.

But consistency is key, he says. Along with eating better, which I’m trying to work on.

Because our overall health is the accumulation of all of the decisions we’ve made, good or bad, over time. And I think the trick is making better choices and letting them compound as the days pass. It’s hard to make the gym a priority. Just like sometimes it’s hard to focus on my new book with so many other things I really need to work on.

The truth is, if we have a goal and we’re persistent, we will get it.

But if we’re consistent, we will keep it.

My goal is to release Blake Jordan #6 by the end of September and by now, you know how I am with goals. So here’s to eight weeks of being persistent and consistent so I can deliver a story I hope you will love. 

June 2019

Hello from Indian Rocks Beach!

Missy and I are away on vacation, celebrating our wedding anniversary while grandma’s at the house watching the boys this weekend and doing whatever grandmas do whenever mom and dad are away (probably something involving lots of sweets). While our anniversary was last month, we needed to wait until school was out and sports activities were all done before we could finally get away for a kid-free weekend.

But today, I’m also celebrating finishing the first draft of Blake Jordan #6 on Friday!

First drafts are tricky things. Nobody has ever read one of mine… mostly because they’re terrible. They’re so bad that if God forbid anything ever happened to me before I could write a second draft, I’d hope Missy would find the file in my computer and delete it before it could ever see the light of day. Stephen King calls first drafts “writing with the door closed.” The story is just for the writer. First drafts require nothing more than being willing to write something bad so you can rewrite the story into something better.

So now I’m on phase two. I said what I wanted to say, and now with the next two rewrites, I need to say what I mean and make it into a story that will be remembered.

This story was so hard to write. If you read my last couple of newsletters, you probably could sense that I was struggling. You’d think the writing would get easier, but it doesn’t. And if I’m honest with you, the thing I was really struggling with was perfection.

I’m a recovering perfectionist. And it bleeds into every single part of my life. When Missy hangs a new picture on the wall, the first thing I check is if the frame is straight. When I work in my office, I have to have everything perfectly centered and symmetric.

And when I write a novel, I feel that same pull for everything to be perfect the first time.

But it never is. And it never should be. That’s The Lie we all deal with when trying to do something meaningful. We think it has to be perfect. We waste a lot of time making it so. But The Truth is the first draft of anything is never perfect. Even the final draft has its flaws. But you can’t get to a final draft if you’re not willing to write a bad first draft.

Last month, I was barely past the midpoint of my story. But I came to a realization while I was working: to stop aiming for perfection and instead, to try to get some perspective.

Because when you’re writing a novel, you don’t know if your story is going off the rails until you get to the end. You don’t know how things are going to connect until you’re finished and you can step back, take a good, hard look at the thing, and then judge it.

As soon as I decided to aim for perspective instead of perfection, everything changed.

The first draft is done. Now I know how to make the story better. I have perspective. I’ve won the battle against the dreaded first draft and I’m resting so I can win the war.

If you’re a recovering perfectionist, like me, try looking for perspective instead of perfection. It just might give you what you need to finish whatever you’re working on.

May 2019

I have a confession to make. Recently, I’ve come down with a really bad case of comparisonitis. If you’ve never heard of it, it’s often caught by scrolling through your Facebook feed and compulsively comparing your accomplishments to someone else’s.

A little backstory…

I’ve been a member of a number of Facebook groups for writers over the years. When you don’t know too many other writers in real life (this is mostly a solitary job after all) it’s great to be a part of a community to get feedback and pick up some tips to improve.

Writers share what writing programs they use, how to get more words in per day. They share advertising ideas and strategies, cover design tips, and let everyone know when they accomplish a really big goal like finishing a book so we can celebrate with them.

It’s especially fun to see posts from new writers who just finished their very first novel. It reminds me of the day I finished my first one… how I just stared at the screen, trying to decide if the story I’d just written with was any good or not. But I’ve recently noticed a new trend in these Facebook groups I’m in: writers finishing a novel in just a month.

***

It’s hard to believe them, sometimes. We fiction writers lie for a living, after all. Did it really only take a month to write? Or thirty days spread out over several months? Still, I often go out and check their books out. They’re pretty good. They often have several typos which makes me wonder about quality vs quantity, but overall, they’re very good.

The fastest I’ve ever written a book was the second in my Blake Jordan series, CREDIBLE THREAT. I wrote and published it in 120 days. That was fast for me. Since then, I’ve tried to write as fast, but just can’t do it. I’ve tried to improve my speed. I’ve bought the best keyboards money can buy. I’ve tried dictation. I’ve tried everything. Nothing worked. I was okay with that. Who wants to write a novel in a month, anyway?

***

Then Joe showed up… a new member in one of these Facebook writer’s groups I’m in.

He arrived like Jackson Storm arrives in Cars 3. In the movie, Jackson Storm is a new generation of high-tech racers and runs circles around all of the old timers out there on the track, including our hero, Lightning McQueen. In the same fashion, Joe is a different kind of writer. Forget about writing a new book a month. Joe posted how he was consistently cranking out a new novel every three weeks. Then three weeks became two and after a while, Joe started publishing a new novel every single week.

Last year, Joe put out a total of 50 novels. FIFTY. NOVELS. And so far this year, he’s on track to write a lot more. In the last two and a half weeks, Joe’s written six more.

That’s like a new novel every three days, people.

Every couple of days, when I see a new Facebook group post from Joe, my comparisonitis flares up. My eye starts twitching and I think about my goal for the year: to write two novels and a short story. Then I go and reread the many emails sitting in my inbox from readers asking when the next Blake Jordan novel will be done and then my other eye starts to twitch a little and I wonder about how different life would be if this writing thing could just come easier. If only I could be like Joe, I start to think…

***

Comparisonitis is highly contagious. In fact, you more than likely have some variation of it yourself. I’ve thought a lot about it recently and about going after goals in general. On my computer monitor, I have a yellow sticky note. Here’s what it says:

“The purpose of a goal isn’t to hit the goal. The purpose is to become the kind of person who pursues their dreams with an unwavering pursuit.”

Whenever Joe’s posts pop up, I feel the flare up coming on and my eyes starting to do their thing and I shift my focus to this yellow sticky note. I force myself to remember that this is a solitary job. I’m running a race, but there’s nobody else out there on the track with me. I can run faster if I want to or I can walk. Either way doesn’t really matter.

Because what really matters in the end is if I’m happy with the race I’m running.

I force myself to remember my own goals for the year: two novels and one short story. I make myself remember that Joe and I are on two entirely different tracks. He couldn’t write my stories the way I do, just like I couldn’t write his. Joe’s out on his own track somewhere wearing shiny new shoes with rocket boosters attached to them, I imagine.

And that’s great. There are many paths to success. Joe’s found his. I’ll find mine.

I’m out here on my own track with a couple of old sneakers that work just fine for me. Would I like to write faster? Of course I would. But I try to keep my focus on doing what I can with what I have, believing that the writing itself is the only reward I really need.

Because the purpose of a goal isn’t to hit the goal, but to become the kind of person who pursues their dreams with an unwavering pursuit… the only cure to comparisonitis.