Ken Fite

April 2019

If you read last month’s newsletter, you may remember how I wrote about my oldest son. He was riding his bike and took a pretty hard fall. I was away from the house when it happened. When I got home, he was in a lot of pain. We decided to take him to the ER, worried he may have broken something.

I put our youngest to bed and waited anxiously, receiving updates from my wife every hour or so. They finally arrived back home at around midnight. After taking X-rays, doctors confirmed my son had a broken elbow. They wrapped it up in a splint and he was so uncomfortable, but we made a little bed on our couch and my wife slept next to him for a few days like she did with our youngest when he broke his collarbone in January.

My son was miserable all week. The splint was hot and uncomfortable. He was in pain. He’d broken his elbow, after all. The doctors said so. But he was most upset about not being able to play flag football after we’d practiced throwing the ball for months.

We went for a follow up a week later to see how long it would be until the break would heal. We figured six to eight weeks, probably. A different doctor came into the room holding the X-rays taken a week prior with a confused look on his face. “I don’t think your elbow is broken,” he said to them. “But we need to take more X-rays to make sure. So take it easy and come back next week.”

We did and they confirmed there was no break and he got his splint off. The doctors at the ER had just misread the X-ray. He started playing football and is doing great!

Of course we prayed for healing (and I know many of you did as well… thank you!). And I’m sure that had a lot, if not everything to do with his healing. But the experience and my son’s reaction stuck with me because I’ve seen echoes of it throughout my life.

When I was twelve, my band director told me I wouldn’t be a good trumpet player and should play the trombone. The truth was, as I found out years later after deciding to switch to the trumpet anyway, he just simply had too many trumpet players at the time.

When I was eighteen, the local radio station said I didn’t stand a chance being a DJ. Five years later, I was working on the air for them at their radio station.

Last year, I went to New York for ThrillerFest and pitched my Blake Jordan series to agents and was rejected by all of them. I thought I had a chance when a junior agent from Writers House asked me to send him the first three chapters of THE SENATOR. But in the end, the series just wasn’t for him. He was more interested in taking on new science fiction writers as clients, which I can understand.

But I don’t give up on my dreams that easily… and if I listened to everyone who ever told me No, I’d never have seen any dream I’ve ever had come true, would I?

I know our mindset won’t fix everything. If my son’s elbow really had been broken, no amount of positive thinking would have changed that fact. But it was interesting to see the change in my son from thinking he’d be in a sling for up to two months to playing football two weeks later.

The thing is, people with authority will try to tell you who you are and often tell you what you’re not. Sometimes it’s a truth we can’t do anything about (a broken bone is a broken bone, after all). But sometimes it’s nothing more than just one person’s opinion.

Our job is to decide what we’re going to believe and if we’re going to let what others think of us define us. And if we have any say in it, deciding what we can do about it.

A quick update on Blake Jordan #6: I just wrote chapter 30 of 60, so I’m halfway done with the first draft and I’m planning on making more progress in May. I’m aiming to finish the first draft by the summer, then work on finishing the second draft so you can enjoy the story a few months after that. I’ll update you more in next month’s newsletter.

March 2019

It’s five o’clock in the morning as I write this. The house is quiet. My youngest is upstairs, fast asleep. My oldest is in the family room with my wife, on the couch after getting into a fight with his bicycle on Thursday and breaking his elbow (the bike won). They’re both asleep, too. So I crept past them, careful not to wake either of them up.

I’ve forgotten what this feels like. The silence. The darkness. The world being asleep.

Except for me.

For over four years, I had a routine. I’d wake up every day at five and write my books. It took a while for the hard work to pay off. Just like an athlete who goes to the gym and trains so they can one day be good enough to play and make a difference at the big game, I, too was training… I was getting my reps in. I was showing up, so I could win.

But then I stopped.

Six months ago, almost to the day, is when I stopped, actually. I had just finished writing my latest thriller, readers were telling me it was the best story I’ve ever written, and I thought I deserved a little rest. I’d been going at this pace for a long time, after all.

So one month became two. Two became four. Time waits for no man, especially those with big dreams. I tried writing the sixth installment of my thriller series. I’d wake up at six, sometimes six-thirty. I’d squeeze ten or twenty minutes of writing in when I could. I’d look for tricks to improve my productivity. Dictation, music to help get into the ‘flow.’

But now, six months later, I realize the truth: there’s no substitution for hard work.

Somewhere along the way, I’d forgotten that. I’d forgotten the secret to my success. And when I look to my left at my ‘Seinfeld calendar,’ as I call it, where I drew a big fat X over each day where I hit my word count, I realize I’ve been tracking the wrong thing.

Because the goal isn’t to write a certain number of words, regardless if they’re good or not. The goal isn’t to have a completed manuscript at the end of all this, written haphazardly in random pockets of time. That wouldn’t be fun to write or fun to read.

The goal’s to show up and follow a system that’s never failed me since I started all this. “You can’t control the outcome, but you can control the process,” someone once told me. “Don’t try and hit a home run. Just go out there and hit a single, every single day.”

Success requires sacrifice. Despite my hero I write about knowing this, somehow I forgot about it, too. It took six long months, but I think I finally get it now. My Xs on my calendar shouldn’t represent hitting a daily word count. They should represent keeping a promise I made to myself to wake up before the rest of the world and do what I love.

That leaves me with only one option, if I really want this: to recommit and begin again.

For those who are wondering, I’m close to halfway done on Blake Jordan #6 and just finished writing chapter 25 of 60. Thanks for all of your encouraging emails, I’m looking forward to getting back to my early morning routine to finish the story for you to enjoy.

February 2019

Hello from Orlando! For this month’s newsletter, I’m not going to bore you with the details on my progress with the next Blake Jordan novel. Just know it is coming along nicely and I’ll go into a little more detail next month on where I am with the new story.

Today, I want to write about my friend Peggy.

She first emailed me about two years ago. Like many emails I’ve received from new subscribers and fans, she let me know how much she enjoyed my Jordan novels. Peggy also gave me a little bit of feedback that I honestly did not see coming…

“You need an editor,” she wrote.

I reread her email and scratched my head. “I have an editor,” I wrote back.

“Well, then you need to get a new one,” she replied. “Ken, you have promise as a writer, but you use the word ‘that’ too often. And you use it wrong. When the subject is human, use ‘who’ not ‘that,'” she wrote along with several other nuggets of wisdom learned from someone who spent her life writing her own novels in her free time…

Things I probably should’ve learned in high school English class, but I must’ve been too busy goofing around with friends to care much about all of that grammar nonsense.

Over the years, Peggy has helped me often. I’ll bounce ideas off her for feedback. She’ll encourage me to not just use ‘Peg’s list,’ as I call my notes of what she’s taught me to fix my writing, but to learn what she’s shared so I can become a better writer.

I was so excited for her to read my latest novel, but she still found one small mistake.

“But only one,” she wrote, encouraging me and telling me how much I’ve improved.

When I asked how she was doing recently, she let me know she wasn’t doing too well.

I found out that Peggy experienced severe bone loss in her jawbone along with a few other issues. Everything can be repaired, but the copay will be $10,000 to $15,000.

Then Peggy sent me a link to a Go Fund Me page and I did what I could to help.

But after I saw how far she still had to go to meet her goal, I got to thinking about my 3,000 newsletter subscribers and the power of many people coming together to help.

I’m no math major (remember, I goofed off a lot in high school), but I realized that if my readers were so inclined to donate as little as $5, maybe Peg’s goal could be reached.

If you’ve enjoyed reading Blake Jordan’s adventures as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them, know that Peggy had a lot to do with it. There’s nothing like a gaping grammatical error in a book to take you out of the dreamlike spell the author put you in.

Thanks to Peggy, I’ve had fewer errors and learned a lot about how to write better.

Click here to read Peggy’s story and to help make her whole again. -Ken

January 2019

I’m not ready.

I’ve had plenty of time since the last novel to relax… to enjoy the holidays with the family… to work on advertising and think up the plot for the next story I want to write. Too much time, really. I released THE HOMELAND, Blake Jordan #5, in September. Looking back, I should have started #6 in October. I should have, but I didn’t…

Taking a break in between projects is important. It gives you perspective. It gives you inspiration. It lets you refill the creative well so you can dip back into it and (hopefully) come back with something just as good if not better than the last creative thing you did.

So tomorrow’s when I’m supposed to start writing again. But like I said, I’m not ready…

I’ve had this feeling before. The night before I took the SAT. The night before I took the GMAT. The night before a big job interview. I needed just a little more time to get ready.

The truth is, we’re never really ready. We could always use one more day to prepare.

People say that writer’s block isn’t real. They say that people don’t get talker’s block. Or plumber’s block. You can’t call your boss and say you won’t be in because you have a bad case of worker’s block. But I’m here to tell you, writer’s block is real and it’s alive and well… it’s more of a mental block, convincing yourself that you can’t do something.

But to make any dream come true, we have to ignore The Lie and listen for The Truth.

Because The Lie is that everything has to be perfect before I can begin. That fancy new keyboard I just ordered this week that won’t be here until sometime next month… The Lie is I have to wait for that to arrive before I can start. But The Truth is, any old keyboard that works is good enough for me to use. The Lie is I have to have my new story completely planned before I start. But The Truth is my best work comes when I write into the dark and even surprise myself with the ideas I come up with as I write. The Lie is I need more time, maybe another month or two to outline an amazing story. The truth is if I wait, it will be harder to start and I’ll get behind on my goals for the year.

I have big plans for 2019. I want to write two novels and my first short story this year. January 31st is when most people give up on their dreams and vow to try again next year. But I can’t do that. Because I planned to start on 2/1 and finish by the summer.

And you know how I am with goals.

So tomorrow when I wake up, I’m starting. I’m not ready. But I’m starting, anyway.

Because even though The Lie is telling me I ‘need more’ before I can start my work… The Truth is, just like you, I have everything I need to work on my dream right now.

December 2018

I hope you had a great Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Festivus, and spent time with family and friends. I’ve enjoyed having a few days off to throw the football with my oldest, wrestle with my youngest, and just relax for a change before life gets busy again.

Besides Christmas, New Year’s Eve is my second favorite day of the year. Not only because it’s my wife Missy’s birthday, but also because of the hope that a new year brings to us. The possibilities seem endless…

Tomorrow, I’m going to start working on the next Blake Jordan novel. I hope to write two in 2019, plus a short story. Seems like a lot, right?

I’m hoping I can get it all done. But as they say, hope is not a strategy…

So while writing even one novel seems impossible, I have to keep reminding myself that I’ve already written five. I’ve been thinking a lot about that and how success works. And this quote keeps coming to mind: “Eighty percent of success is just showing up.”

If that’s true… then what makes up the other twenty percent? Ever wonder about that?

I’ve been thinking long and hard about this the last few days and I think I figured it out… if eighty percent of success is showing up, I think the twenty percent is following up.

The truth is, I’m good at showing up. I’ve started a lot of things in my life. I’ve started about 30 jobs. I started classes for countless majors in college (I had so many credits when I graduated instead of a double major they awarded me a double bachelor lol). I’ve started a lot of businesses, too. But I’m starting to realize that what matters isn’t just showing up. It really is following up. It’s having laser-like focus on one task, be it a writing project or an exercise goal or anything else… and hitting it hard until it’s DONE.

People won’t remember what you started. But they will remember what you finished.

I have to remember that…

So while I’ll be ringing in the New Year tonight and making crazy goals for 2019, there’s just one resolution I’m going to make and will try my very best to stick to all year long…

…to finish what I start.

November 2018

Just a quick update to let you know what I’ve been up to lately. If you got my October newsletter, you read where I mentioned that I was going to take a few months off from writing so I could ‘sharpen the saw.’ You know, spend more time with the kids, sleep in, rest, focus on improving myself. I love it when I come up with a plan.

But I hate it when I don’t follow it…

I think my November started like many people’s Januaries. They have big plans on how they’ll take on the world. They’ll hit the gym. Lose weight. Read 50 books. Then they get to February and give up because the motivation they had on January 1st is gone by January 31st. So then they decide to just try again next year…

To my credit, I did sleep in more… and I spent more time with the kids throwing the ball.

But I also had a few other personal goals I wanted to do that I never got started on.

It’s easy to look back with regret, whether it’s the last 30 days for me, or maybe the last year for you. We had big plans on how we were going to spend our time. We were going to do great things. And maybe we did, but not as much as we thought we would.

The year’s not over yet. We have 31 more days to love more, to spend time with those who matter, and to keep the promises we made to ourselves on January 1st this year.

So tomorrow, I’ll try again. And I’ll keep my eyes on what’s ahead, not on my regret…

Because it’s okay to look at the past. Just try not to stare.

October 2018

What a whirlwind these last 30 days have been. Thank you so much to all of you who downloaded my new Blake Jordan thriller, THE HOMELAND. The Amazon reviews coming in have been incredible along with the hundreds of emails pouring in as well. If I haven’t responded to yours yet, I promise I will reply back soon!

The most common question I’ve been getting is this: When will Blake Jordan #6 be ready?

I just have to smile. It’s amazing to me how it can take eight or nine months to write a new story that can be read in a sitting or two and then readers are ready for the next one.

I have some ideas on how I can write faster to come out with new stories, both with the planning/outlining process as well as the actual writing. And I’m pretty excited about it.

But first, I’m going to rest. Why? Let me explain…

One of my favorite nonfiction books I’ve read over the years was The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I remember reading it years ago while in college. I wanted to learn how to be MORE effective. How to get MORE done. And how to be MORE productive.

But I remember that I stopped reading when I got to the last chapter.

It was called “Sharpen the saw,” the last habit that author Stephen Covey wrote about.

If you haven’t read the book, you should. But I’ll explain what this last habit means…

Sharpening the saw is about devoting time to renew yourself physically, spiritually, and mentally. It means eating well, catching up on sleep, exercising, and resting. It means taking the time to get your head right and put first things first so you can be more effective with the other six habits.

The habit reminds me of the Lincoln quote I’ve read many times over the years: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I’ll spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

I remember rolling my eyes the first time I read that quote. Just like I remember skipping that last chapter on sharpening the saw when I read the book in college.

But eventually, I went back and reread the book and read through that last chapter…

I could be wrong, but I think a lot of people are like me. They skip the last chapter. Who wants to ‘sharpen the saw’ when you can just go out and get started on the next big thing we want to accomplish? We need to be MORE and get MORE and do MORE!

The world demands more of us. And we demand more of ourselves. It’s the way it is.

Right?

Well… I’m starting to believe that this is a mistake.

I see a lot of writers cranking out a new novel every couple of months, one after another. I want to get faster and like I mentioned earlier, I have some really good ideas.

But right now, I must sharpen the saw.

Because I have five fairly good novels out in the world. But most of the world doesn’t even know that they exist. I’ve spent so much time working on the next big thing, I’ve never taken the time to learn how to find new readers to share my stories with them.

But I also need to rest, exercise, and spend a little more time with my family…

Because the truth is, the most important chapter in most books is the last chapter. That’s certainly the case in my books. It’s the chapter that brings it all together. The last chapter is what the story is really about. It’s the truth the writer wants the reader to know.

If I’ve learned anything, it’s this: Don’t ever skip the last chapter.

So I’m excited to start writing #6. But right now, I’m more excited to sharpen the saw.

September 2018

I’m excited to be done with Blake Jordan #5. This was the hardest book I’ve ever written, in so many ways.

I was supposed to start on January 1st after publishing my last novel the day before my birthday last year (my goal was to have 4 novels done before I turned 40).

But January 1st rolled around and I wasn’t ready. A week went by. Two weeks went by. Three, then four. Finally, second week in February, I started writing without a full outline and decided to outline a few chapters along the way as I moved forward, step by step.

For those who aren’t writers, that’s like walking a high-wire without a net! Blindfolded! Exciting if you know what you’re doing and you’re careful. Very messy if you don’t.

I moved forward anyway, even when I didn’t think I was ready. Because you can’t always control the outcome, but you can control the process. My process was to beat writer’s block and show up every day with faith that I’d figure out what to do that day.

So that’s what I did, day in and day out, for eight long months.

I battled so many dragons along the way…

Self-doubt. A harsh critique at a writer’s conference in NYC which made me take a long hard look at myself in the mirror and decide if I wanted to be bitter or really get better. Procrastination. The dragons were all different, yet they were all the same. They said, “You can’t do this. Turn back and go home. You don’t belong.”

It was so grueling. There were times when I wondered if I was going to make it to the end of the high-wire. I could hear the cheers from the crowd far below (thanks for all your encouraging emails!) which made me want to keep going, slowly, step by step.

I learned a lot along the way. Lessons that are helping me become a better writer.

Believe me when I say, while it was hard, this new novel is the best book I’ve written.

I’m so proud of this new story and I can’t wait for you to read it.

If you have a dream and you’re stuck and scared to walk that high-wire, do me a favor.

Stop hoping for everything to line up for you. Take some time to plan your work the best you can, then start working your plan. Take a step in faith. See what happens.

Because hope is praying for rain. Faith is bringing an umbrella.

August 2018

Good news! I finished the second draft of Blake Jordan #5 a few minutes ago and I thought I’d take a quick break to let you know.

This was the hardest book I’ve ever written, but I’m so proud of it.

I’ve been working on the things I learned while at that writer’s workshop in New York.

The criticism I received from the pros up there was pretty direct. There were a few things I needed to work on if I wanted to become a better writer. I’ve taken all the feedback to heart. I even started the second draft over again when I got back home.

If you want to become better at anything that really matters to you, you have to be willing to listen to feedback and then be brave enough to do something about it.

That doesn’t mean you change everything about you

And it doesn’t mean you become someone you’re not.

But it does mean taking a good hard look at yourself in the mirror and admitting you’re not as good as you want to be and then doing whatever it takes to improve.

Starting from scratch was hard. I didn’t want to do it. I just wanted to get through the manuscript and call it done so I could relax for a while before starting the next project.

But I knew I was better than that. So, I said a little prayer, stepped through the fire, and came out the other side a little bit better than I was going in.

Here are the next steps:

I’ve already started line editing the novel. I’m about halfway done. I’m going to continue with that and need to have the manuscript to the editor on 9/17. I should have it back a few weeks after that. Then I hope to share my new story with you a short time later.

P.S. I’ll be sending you updates a little more frequently for the next few weeks. I’m excited to reveal the title and book cover with you as soon as they’re ready to share.

July 2018

Hello from New York City!

I’ve got some pictures to share with you, but first let me give you a quick update on my trip to NYC this week. On Monday I arrived and the first thing I did was head downtown to revisit the places I wrote about in my 3rd Blake Jordan adventure, In Plain Sight.

I walked by the secret government spy building at 33 Thomas (yes, it’s real). Saw cameras watching my every move. A couple of guys stepped outside and watched me. I could imagine a character like Morgan Lennox, the computer genius in my books, tracking me as I passed. It was a little creepy, but interesting watching New Yorkers pass by totally unaware of what’s really going on inside the building with no windows.

But I know. And if you read the book, you do, too.

Then I went down to Dona Bella to have a slice of pizza. This is where Blake and Jami got something to eat at the end of the novel. The guys were super cool and the pizza was amazing as usual. After that, I walked by Federal Plaza, where the Bureau has their New York field office, and where the last scene in the novel takes place.

So that was Monday. On Tuesday, I was in an all-day writing workshop called Master CraftFest where I got to critique other writers’ work and they critiqued mine. Good news: I learned A LOT to improve my writing. Bad news: I need to start at the beginning of my second draft for Blake Jordan #5. We’ll see how it goes, but I’ll probably have to tell my editor to give me another month. That was really the whole point of the trip, to become a better writer. So a minor delay, but it’ll give you a better story to read and it’ll help me sleep at night knowing I gave you my very best.

Wednesday and Thursday was CraftFest. I learned about story structure, creating better villains, and other topics. Yesterday kicked off ThrillerFest. I met R. L. Stine (Goosebumps), George R. R. Martin (Game of Thrones) and Lee Child.

I SAID LEE CHILD, PEOPLE!

We talked about my thrillers and he took my card. So who knows, the guy who writes Jack Reacher might read one of Blake Jordan’s adventures. A guy can dream!

Thursday ended with me pitching the Blake Jordan series to countless agents and acquisition editors from the top New York agencies and publishing houses. I got six No Thanks, but the last person I pitched to liked the idea and asked me to send Blake Jordan #1 (The Senator) to read. I’m not sure if it’ll go anywhere, but it goes to show that you should never give up and never stop believing in yourself. And if it doesn’t work out, I’ll stay self-published because I want to keep writing more Jordan stories.

Today, ThrillerFest continues. I need to get ready and head downstairs so I can learn about outlining, creating compelling twists, and hear James Rollins interviewed by Steve Berry. Then I’m headed back home to Orlando at noon. I can’t wait to see my family and be back in my office. This was a fun trip, but overwhelming for an introvert.

Here are a few pictures from this week. I’ll keep you updated on Blake Jordan #5. -Ken