A house of creativity…or insanity.

Posted by Jaime Buckley on Jul 13, 2011 in Family | 0 comments

Sometimes I don’t know what to think about my own family…but by the end of the day, I’m usually smiles and silently thanking the heavens for the crazy lot that lives with me.

Right now all I can hear is Jessica and Asia in the other room, laughing. They’ve been at it for over 35 minutes, telling one another stories about how people have scared them and made them jump in the silliest ways. Kathi laughs as they tell their stories and cut out sections of cloth for blankets they’ve been making.

I recently got the “Little Rascals” movie for my younger kids. I loved the originals when I was growing up–so I wanted to share them with my kids, especially Simon (4) and Carley (3).

…at dinner, Carley walked past me, arms waving through the air as she loudly gave her dramatic speech:

IT’S NOT FUNNY!

Posted by Jaime Buckley on Jul 11, 2011 in Point of View | 0 comments

The self-serving in Washington HAS TO STOP–and WE THE PEOPLE are the ONLY ones who CAN stop it!!!
I got this email this morning from my beloved Uncle Bob, (retired Army) and it got my blood boiling.

Sending it off to 20 people is NOT enough, when it’s something this important.

The following email is uncut.

I challenge you to read this and NOT have the will to pass it on to your 20…

No one has been able to explain to me why young men and women serve in the U.S. Military for 20 years,
risking their lives protecting freedom, and only get 50% of their pay. While Politicians hold their political
positions in the safe confines of the capital, protected by these same men and women,
and receive full pay retirement after serving one term. It just does not make any sense.

Monday on Fox news they learned that the staffers of Congress family members are exempt from having
to pay back student loans. This will get national attention if other news networks will broadcast it.
When you add this to the below, just where will all of it stop?

35 States file lawsuit against the Federal Government

Governors of 35 states have filed suit against the Federal Government for imposing unlawful burdens upon them.
It only takes 38 (of the 50) States to convene a Constitutional Convention.

This will take less than thirty seconds to read. If you agree, please pass it on.

This is an idea that we should address.

For too long we have been too complacent about the workings of Congress. Many citizens had no idea that
members of Congress could retire with the same pay after only one term, that they specifically exempted
themselves from many of the laws they have passed (such as being exempt from any fear of prosecution
for sexual harassment) while ordinary citizens must live under those laws. The latest is to exempt themselves
from the Healthcare Reform… in all of its forms. Somehow, that doesn’t seem logical. We do not have an elite
that is above the law. I truly don’t care if they are Democrat, Republican, Independent or whatever.
The self-serving must stop.

If each person that receives this will forward it on to 20 people, in three days, most people in The United States
of America will have the message.. This is one proposal that really should be passed around.

Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution: “Congress shall make no law that applies to the
citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress
shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens
of the United States ..”

You are one of my 20+

If you feel as I feel–that the leaders of this country have taken advantage of their positions to further their own personal agenda’s at the price of the American people, then get this message to others. Show them this article, tweet it, Facebook it and let’s use the media to put the pressure on those who claim to serve the people!

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Mexican Kim Chee (for breakfast)

Posted by Jaime Buckley on Jul 7, 2011 in Jaime Journal | 0 comments

I love food. My dad is an awesome chef…me, not so much, but my belly IS by design and i love to cook for my kids and guests–especially my best friend Ondi, when I can get him to show up.

Love almost any kind of food, but anything Asian will get my attention first. One of my all time favorites is Kim Chee. Something my dad got me hooked onto when I was a kid and I never survive for long without it. Unfortunately, store bought Kim Chee is usually garbage, so I started making it at home.

My first batch was in 1990, soon after I was married–which I felt was a huge success. Made 5 gallons of it, but made the mistake of putting it in direct light to ferment for several days and it became so hot, my linebacker friend, Steve Nawahini had to eat it–which he did, out of the jar, without blinking…while the rest of us teared from the fumes in the air.

Last night I couldn’t sleep, so I started another batch. I wanted a really good recipe, something as close to an authentic recipe as I could find, not a white persons version.

Thank you YouTube.

After several videos, I found the BEST way of making Kim Chee, even if you are going to do a variation. Forget the rest of the video’s and watch this video for the best method by Maangchi!!

Its clear, she shows you all the steps…and BTW–BE CAREFUL WITH THE CHILI POWDER!! I decided to go ‘hot’, but I got it hot enough to make the hair on my butt fall off. Yeah…ouch.

Great in stir fry though! That’s what I made for the family this morning: eggs and rice with some pastrami and Kim Chee. MMMmmmmmmmm!!!!

Love you all–have a GREAT day, and trust me, try making some Kim Chee, but do it the way Maangchi does it!

God Bless,
Jaime

Mapping the Future

Posted by Jaime Buckley on Jul 6, 2011 in WANTED HERO | 0 comments

When I go shopping with Kathilynn it’s usually so we can spend time talking alone about the story and what we want to do next as a family when it comes to Wanted Hero. It’s amusing to watch some of the looks the housewives give me when I get animated in the isles of grocery stores, waving my arms around and talking about the various races or how certain families were brutally murdered and that I felt the villain who did it shouldn’t get caught (I once looked at a lady, shrugged my shoulders and whispered…“At LEAST not until book four…don’t you agree?”). People think I’m nuts and Kathi just laughs.

The publishing industry is changing so fast I’m having a hard time staying in the flow. In fact, if it wasn’t for David Farlands Daily Kick I’d miss a lot of what’s going on. My habit is to keep my head buried in my projects and work hard and fast until I run out of energy or pass out. I don’t pay a lot of attention to what others are doing…and it’s getting to me. So I brought the subject up to Kathi today while shopping:

Can we create a system that will help us as a family to build Wanted Hero into a successful story and support our family financially?

I know full well (as did Kathi), that our one book (Prelude) sitting there on Amazon.com isn’t going to do us much good. People like it and we’re growing interest…but we also sell it for $.99 specifically because people just don’t know who I am as a writer yet. I had a fan base with the comics–but I don’t DO the comics anymore and that group (for some reason) has not transferred over to the book…and that’s perfectly ok. It’s the way writing goes, but our goal now is to change that if we can–to create a series of books that readers not only enjoy, they go crazy over them.

Kathi has a difficult time with how big the Wanted Hero universe is. All the notes, backgrounds, intertwining lives, events, prophecies and side stories that tie into Wendell and his life. It’s literally 20 years of ideas and though not all of them are great ideas…they all end up becoming springboards TO great ideas…which in turn dramatically increases the size of the story. We simply don’t have years to come out with 2-3 books. The story needs to grow faster!

So how do we get the story out faster to the readers, so;

readers have entertainment and don’t lose interest in the story;
readers actually gain interest in the story and recommend it to those they know;
the story itself is not compromised, and;
the story is produced in rapid succession to feed readers and feed my family.

I had a few ideas that I shared with my wife, which I’d like to share. The most important thought was to create a basic system of how we literally produce the books. Not a rigid box we conform to, but guidelines, such as 40,000+ words in a few months, rather than 200,000+ words a year. Maybe 10 chapters averaging 4,000 words each. Then there could be follow up books, like Hobins field guides which aren’t required for the series…but they certainly enhance the enjoyment of them.

Then there are background stories of characters in the books, histories and obscure knowledge about the vast world that people might enjoy. All created and illustrated to enhance the readers experience.

What this came down to was having to make the decision to produce as best we can, as fast as we can, so people can enjoy as much as they can. My desire is to not only bring you a great story, but to create a universe rarely seen. I can see it in my mind and I’ve dreamed of it for decades…the real test now is to bring it to you.

The perfect memory of a 2 year old.

Posted by Jaime Buckley on Jul 3, 2011 in Simon Says | 0 comments

It never fails to amaze me when it comes to the memory of my children.

As you probably know from my posts, we are a Dr. Who household. Love that series and have watched it for years. We own every season as soon as it comes out and even have the older versions back to the 70′s.

This obsession run through all of my kids, even the babies. Simon was a fan the moment he saw his first show when he was 2 years old. But I didn’t know how much he loved the show until recently.

When a good friend of mine came to pick me up for the Game Creators Guild meeting, he came inside for the first time since we moved here. Simon didn’t know who he was and…being Simon and a whopping 4 years old, he drilled my friend to see if he was worthy to be in his domain.

“Hey.”

“Yes?”

“Do you like Doctor Who?”

“Yes, I do.”

“You DO?!? …I do too! Do you like the one where…”

Simon proceeded to talk about shows he’d not seen since he was 2 and my jaw dropped. Described in perfect detail were the villains, the plot and how the Doctor won the day (with full sound effects included of course). This has continued for the last few days–Simon sharing all the things he’s remembered to such an extent, we pulled out the old DVD’s and started watching them over again.

Simon, of course, had to point out the details and say “See,…I told you that’s what happened.”

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