On to a new challenge
Thank you all for the lovely words, the kind offers and prayers. It’s helped a great deal, but it looks like the forces at work have other plans for this family and we are having to say goodbye to our home. We get to see what it’s like to sleep together in two bedrooms on the floor, until we can change our circumstances. Thirteen of us.
…that also includes an aged Grandfather.
This is going to be interesting.
Some of you have asked how the book sales are going and I appreciate that question. Even received an email an hour ago from David Farland asking how the sales were going. Here’s what I told him:
Book sales are slow to none right now. People are leery of first time authors and self-published ones especially, but we continue to contact book bloggers and send out eBooks for reviews and the input/reviews we’re getting back are pretty good. Only sold a few hundred at most so far, about 100 of those being by my own hand (physical copies I bought, then resold). I’m new to this, but getting a forced education.
A bit discouraging sometimes, but I get over it and keep pushing every day. My time is coming. Just have to keep going.
The difference between me and most newbies (I’m assuming this here) is the circumstances. When we attended a writers class, Kathi and I heard a lot of ‘wouldn’t it be nice if‘…or ‘if I ever get‘…whereas I’m looking at this as ‘I will and must make this happen to feed my children’. We had a good measure of success with the comics–so I know this works. It’s not a belief or a hope…I know this stuff works. It’s a matter of time.
My challenge keeps coming back to doing this on a prayer. We saved pennies (literally) to get the 2 proof copies of Prelude. Then I sold a proof to a fan to pay for the first set of 25 books (he bought it for $135). I sold the books signed for $10 each, then bought 50 on the next round. It’s been tough and slow…but it works.
It’s also keeping us humble, but we’re learning. And hey–it DID help me buy some diapers once! LOL
So where is this all going to lead? I’m not really sure, but I’m excited to get there. I’ve spent 42 years preparing for this.
If you haven’t read Prelude to a Hero, Demoni Vankil or seen our new website, please do. Tell a friend. I think you’ll enjoy the story.
…and wish us luck!!
Read MoreWorking as a family
It’s been a while since I was able to make a post, mainly due to the stresses and rigors of everyday life–coupled with the deadlines (self-inflicted) to publish another book (or three) in the Wanted Hero series.
The experiences we have been having are worth noting, because I have seen a tremendous change in my family…especially the children. As challenges arise from our poverty, each of the children has stepped up in their capacity and assisted the family as a whole. From Evan and Leilani working jobs to keep diapers on the baby and gas in the car, to Jessica and Asia helping mom around the house with meals and laundry, to Nathan who has become my master gardener. Even the smallest ones, Jami on down find ways to come to mom’s rescue by keeping Wynnie smiling and laughing.
That has left dad freed to write with all his might, day in and day out and to focus on the primary bills of the household, which have become substantial.
It may not sound like much to you, but the point I’d like to make is: we have a certain level of harmony in our home.
Harmony that could not have been achieved unless we had been blessed enough to experience the opposite. To appreciate the food we eat every day because we have gone without for a time–always making sure the little ones had enough first. To be grateful for heat in all its forms, when we were forced to cook by firewood and take sponge baths with a bowl of warm water in the shower.
The funny thing is…no one ever remembered or complained about the TV, or the radio or the Internet being gone. Hmmm.
The great blessing I have seen as ‘dad’, is my family working together…as a family. Like they should: lovingly, patiently and with an eye focused on the body as a whole.
We were blessed to go camping this last weekend and to be with our extended family in the mountains. A new friend of ours was so kind as to pick us up, with our gear, drive us there and then come pick us up again a few days later. Just so we could have the experience and get away from the struggles of life for a moment. Thank you Ryan.
It was heaven. Everyone was happy, we worked together, we had rationed out our food and even brought some home. But when I asked the children what they liked the most about the whole trip, the answer was unanimous:
They liked that we were together.
So though life is providing greater challenges, I would suggest that you consider working more closely as a family.
…because when you do, those ‘challenges’ become blessings and experiences you’re not likely to trade for anything.
-Jaime Buckley
Share Tweet Read MoreA house of creativity…or insanity.
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:
Read MoreShare your Holiday Traditions!
This is my two favorite weeks before Christmas. The smell of caramel. The aroma of sweet breads and imported Swiss chocolates. Walking into the kitchen and dining area to find hand made goodies that would impress Willy Wonka himself.
But it’s more than that. The children are smiling and laughing together, no matter what crisis or trouble life may bring during these two weeks. It’s a time when Grandma comes over and spends her days teaching, loving and working with everyone one of the children. Even Carley (2) who can’t seem to get her hands out of the White Chocolate and protests when you want to wash her hands.
It starts with the lights and the Tree we pull out of storage, gingerly wrapped with ornaments crafted with care and passion for the family traditions we have been building for 20 years together. It starts with family prayer and submitting a small scrap of paper that goes into a white infants sock, which represents our gift tot he Savior. It starts with a grounding in belief: that we are a family. That we do, indeed love one another with all our hearts, and having everyone together, safe, healthy and happy is Gods greatest gift to us this season.
I’d love to hear what your family traditions are this time of year.
Read MoreWhat’s the Difference?
I had a young man ask me today about one of my sisters. He wanted to know why she didn’t talk to him, return his texts and so on. My response is something I wanted to place before you, not because I’m expecting anyone to agree with me, but because I think it’s a mode of thought worth pursuing.
Understand that I have some strong old time values, and I try very hard to think them through and have a principle based reason for them. I raise my family and protect my family by them. They are not negotiable. I don’t force them upon anyone…but I do hold them up and require others to abide my them if they socialize with us.
The issue is communication between the opposite sex. It’s become casual in society, especially with technology, where you can have private conversations in an instant. Say anything, share anything, and mom and dad don’t have to know a thing. Text, text, text, phone calls, instant messaging, Facebook private messages and so on…
Well, as a father and husband, relationships are very sacred things to me. Emotions are to be shared with certain people IMO and my associations are not taken lightly or casually. This goes double for my kids. I tell my children not to take their friendships casually. I have great and lasting honor for my friends. Text and private time with the opposite sex doesn’t make sense to me, unless you’re courting (notice I don’t use the word “date”). Why do you need it when nothing and I repeat, NOTHING good can come of it, other than opportunities for bad things to happen?
So my counsel was this: I strongly encourage my sisters NOT to talk to men, respond to texts or have phone conversations casually. Why? Well, first off because there’s no need to associate with a man privately when you can have all the polite conversation and social engagement in a general setting with others around. If you argue that point with me, my question is simple: what is your intent? Why do you NEED to have ‘private time’ with the opposite sex if there’s ‘nothing going on’?
Secondly, just because you have the technology to have a conversation and get around the father/big brother barriers with the click of a button, doesn’t mean you should. If this were 100 years ago, would the father of that lovely girl want you to casually grab her arm and skirt her off to a side room to talk privately?
Not likely.
I wish our society had better standards. I’m not going to hold my breath.
However, I will stand by the standard that a male who tries to get around the moral structures of a family openly challenges the protective powers that be. In layman’s terms, ‘yer asking ta get a whoopin bucko.’
It’s the standard I require of guys who show up on my doorstep, and the same standard I drill into my sons. So argue with me if you like, but I would wager your father and mother, whether they agree with me or not, would appreciate a man with honor and respect knocking on their door, rather than the alternative.
Read MoreThe Razor Reception
The first sign of a Buckley event is the splash of non-traditional. The reception to my daughters wedding was not in white with lines of tired smiles and small plates of cake and ice cream punch. Oh no, this was an invitation to entire families, bring the kids for playing in the water, softball, volleyball, watermelon and all the home made root beer you can drink. Picnic in the sun, with laughter…and a head shaving party at the pavilion.
Head shaving? OH yeah. It was the coolest, heart warming thing I’ve been involved in for a looong time.
My grandson, only 4 years old, has Leukemia. He is the most brave child I have met and we all love him dearly. When he learned his hair would eventually fall out, his magnificent father smiled at him and said that when that day came, he would shave his head too.
Well, there were a few of us who felt the same way…and his hair fell out right before the reception. So my daughter encouraged our family to include this act of support into her own personal moment with her new husband, who agreed.
So we did the eating, we did the playing and we did the traditional stuff…and then we opened the mic and made the announcement as we rolled out the sheets, hooked up the sheers to the extension cords and brought my grandson to the center ring with his father.
What happened made me cry and then cheer. My grandson shaved his fathers hair off…and found a near endless stream of others wanting to express their love and support by submitting themselves to the buzzer.
How appropriate that by daughters new last name just happens to be “Barber”.
Read MoreMy Latest Book
