Raymond Buckland: Writer of the Year

  • by Denice Rovira Hazlett
  • April 11, 2013
  • 474
                        
Summary: Author Raymond Buckland has been putting pen to paper since childhood and has crafted a career from the written word. This year, at the University of Akron's Wayne Regional Writing Awards, Buckland accepted a special honor, that of Writer of the Year. Story: As an accomplished writer, one of the most frequent sentiments Raymond Buckland hears from people is this: "I want to write a book." They talk about "someday" and "maybe" and "if I ever get the chance." But Buckland, author of more than 50 books translated into 17 languages, says there's just one thing a person should do if they want to write. "Write!" insists Buckland. "Don't let it be something you're 'going to do,' but write anywhere and everywhere. Don't worry about whether or not it will ever get published; just write!" That's precisely how Buckland began his career more than 40 years ago--by putting ink to paper. His first three published books were written while commuting on the Long Island Railroad in the early 1960's, huddled in a corner seat and scribbling all the way into the city. Buckland's love of writing--and putting words on paper--began long before that, though. Whisked away by his family to Nottingham, England from London during the war, Buckland spent a lot of time with his father, Stanley Buckland, higher executive officer in the British Ministry of Health. The elder Buckland was also an enthusiastic writer, published author, and Raymond's main source of inspiration. The two, he says, were "more like brothers than father and son." Stanley Buckland formed and served as president of several writers' clubs, where young Raymond would accompany his father to listen as writers read their works and critiqued one another. On the bus home from the city to the suburbs, the boy would share with his father his opinion on the writers, declaring one, in particular, utterly horrible. But his father insisted the young man just needed to get it out of his system, offering coaching and crafting that "horrible" writer into a published author. When his father set off to work, young Raymond would surreptitiously abscond his dad's treasured Royal typewriter, to the tune of his mother's admonition, to pound out short stories, zipping them off to publications with queries. Science fiction, mysteries, and poetry tumbled out of that typewriter. Buckland even crafted a western, Buck Land Rides North. But it was the parody he wrote of Robert Browning's poem "How they Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix" that found a place in print. His was titled, "How They Rode the Great Race From Beeston to Arnold." In it, Buckland changed the mode of transportation from stalwart steed to Raleigh bicycle. "I sprang to the saddle, and Morris and he; I pedaled, Dick pedaled, we pedal'd all three. 'Good luck!' cried the crowd, as the starter's gun cracked, 'Luck' echoed the birds, speed none of us lacked. Behind stayed the starter, his gun sank to rest, As onto the race track we pedaled abreast." Since Raleigh was based near Buckland's home in Nottingham, the company took a liking to the piece and printed it in their newsletter. Voila. The beginning of Buckland's career as an published author. From there, he wrote comedy sketches, ventriloquist acts, radio and variety shows, and television scripts for some of England's best-loved actors and comedians of the day. In 1962, he emigrated from England via seven-day passage on the S.S. America during one of the roughest crossings the ocean liner had ever experienced. He landed in New York on March 8, his mother's birthday, with $15 in his pocket and set about writing non-fiction part-time while working for 10 years for British Airways. That writing took off, allowing Buckland to depend on his words for a full-time career. When he and wife Tara began yearning for a house and land, Holmes County, Ohio became their home, and Buckland, like his father, founded a writers' group, the Killbuck Valley Writers' Guild. The current version still meets weekly at Jitters Coffee House in Millersburg to discuss projects, trade critiques and celebrate successes, of which Buckland has had many. In 2012, Buckland won third place in the first annual Poesies Open Poetry Slam at Jitters Coffee House. And just recently, the author signed a multi-book contract with Penguin Books for his Victorian Mystery series set in 1881, based on an idea conceived while waiting for his vehicle at Millersburg Tire. The Bram Stoker Mysteries are told from the perspective of young Harry Rivers, a fictional gopher and stage manager for Henry Irving, manager of the Westminster's Lyceum Theater, and his business manager and personal assistant, Bram Stoker, who eventually penned the Gothic horror novel, Dracula. Cursed in the Act, the working title of Buckland's first book in the series, will be released in Jan. 2014. On Saturday, April 6, Buckland added yet another award to the many he has received, this one the Writer of the Year award at the 10th Annual Writers Workshop at the University of Akron Wayne College. Most of his fellow Killbuck Valley Writers' Guild members were there to see him honored. Buckland is thankful to have a writing career that has not only allowed him to survive and keep a family, but to advance up the ladder in book publishing. That's quite an accomplishment for any author. His plans for the future? "I plan to keep on writing. There are so many books I want to write," he says, adding, "So many books; so little time!" But, day by day, word by word, and book by book, he's making it happen.


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