A poem by Jimmy Stewart

God Bless America on Veterans Day

I try to be a live and let live type of guy, but I am seeing a trend where anybody who shows patriotism is ridiculed and labeled a bigot, I see us losing many of the rights we took for granted and nobody seems to care. I am unsettled and not sure what to do about it. I've been look for a new direction to take this blog. For the time being I think I'll post videos like this. I don't if anybody will look at the next few entries, but a the very least... it makes me feel better.

Grandma Peg

When I last saw Grandma Peg, it was only a couple of weeks before she passed away. I tried to ignore the fact that she had failed. She was still alert, but it was obvious she wouldn’t be around much longer.

“Why won’t God take me home?” she asked. “Why does He keep me here?”

Jokingly, I told her that God wanted her to say a few more prayers on my behalf on account of my wayward tendencies. She laughed and reaffirmed that she did indeed pray for me on a daily basis. Not only me, but she prayed every one of her children and grandchildren. Because her memory wasn’t what it was, she had actually made a list, so as not to forget anybody.

Faithfully she prayed every day. For her, it wasn’t going through the motions. She had a personal relationship with Jesus. In my entire life, I have never met anyone who loved him more.

She liked to tell the story about her operation. While on the table, she found herself floating above the grass of a green meadow, holding the hand of a man who she knew to be Jesus. They were in a place that she believed to be Heaven. She didn’t want to leave, but the man said she would have to go back and tell anyone who would listen that Heaven was real. Like a good soldier; she did as she was told.

Anyone who knew Grandma Peg got a sermon or two whether they wanted it or not. She wasn’t discouraged by ridicule or bad behavior. She simply continued to pray. It didn’t matter if you believed or not. You were going to get your dose of Jesus with your noodles, mashed potatoes and iced tea. She ministered in the only way she knew how…with love and food and prayer.

On that last visit, Grandma Peg repeated the story about Jesus in the meadow. It was exactly the same as the first time I heard it. Nothing had changed. She had clung to that experience like an old rugged cross that has now been exchanged for her crown.

I am sad that Grandma Peg is gone, but I am happy that she is where she wanted to be. For if she isn’t in Heaven, there isn’t much hope for me.

I hope she can still pray for me now.

She prayed for me when I was selfish,

She prayed for me when I was bad,

Sometimes when my life was the darkest,

Her prayers were all that I had.

New E Mail Address

Effective immediately, my new email address is rickkelsheimerbooks@yahoo.com

Einstein's Desk

When I look at this picture, I am amazed that Einstein was still hard at it so late in life. It inspires me to keep writing and gives me hope that I can produce many more books over the next few years.

Snow on the Wabash

Nice Post By The Lawrence County Historical Society

Friday, November 21, 2014

Rick Kelsheimer - November Speaker

 

November 24, 2014

7:00 pm  

Lawrence County Historical Society

Museum on the Square

Presents

Rick Kelsheimer

Author of  book

South Union

Kelsheimer's newest book is based on tensions between the Unionist families and southern sympathizers in the area along the Embarras River and county line near Flat Rock.

The book review on Amazon.com  describes the book as follows:
When Samuel Farmer answered Abraham Lincoln’s call for volunteers to fight the Southern Rebellion, he promised his family that he would return home in a few months. Farmer, like most soldiers on both sides of the conflict, thought that the war would be over in ninety days. After battles in places named Fort Donelson and Shiloh, it soon becomes clear that the bloodshed wasn’t going to end anytime soon. As the months turned to years, Copperheads and Confederate guerillas bring a war of terror to the Wabash Valley. Friends and neighbors suddenly find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict. The Farmer family along with the residents of South Union struggle to survive against the deadly attacks by Southern Sympathizers while their husbands, fathers and sons fight for the Union Army in the heart of Dixie. At ten years of age, Will Farmer finds himself caught up in a local war where the enemy doesn’t differentiate between men and boys. He is forced to become a man in a world that still views him as a child. Far from the glory of the battlefield and based on actual events, “South Union” is a story about the forgotten war waged by the families left behind. It is a portrait of courage and heartbreak faith in the darkest of times.

According to the biography on Amazon's Book page:  Rick Kelsheimer, author of The Hanging of Betsey Reed, Wa-Ba-Shik-ki and The Adventures of Wabash Jake, is a native of southern Illinois. After many years as a behavioral therapist and substance abuse counselor in Colorado and Texas, he returned to his hometown of Robinson, Illinois. He now owns a book store and the local bowling alley. He lives with his wife Angela and has five children, along with two grandchildren and one ill-tempered Chihuahua. 

New Book Almost Finished.

My new book "Paradise Bowl" is getting close the final chapter. Look for the release late Spring 2015. After that I will be finishing the sequel to the Lost Slab. The working title for that book is The Dark Bend. I hope for it to be released for Christmas 2015.

Buy more books
Rick

This picture is worth a thousand words

When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash...

Putting Emotion into words

Whenever I'm at a book signing, I'm often asked how I come up with my characters. How do you make them believable and three dimensional?

I try to write as I see the character in my mind. I try to create a visual picture by whatever means I can. Sometime I think of a person I have known or sometimes I see a picture in a magazine or someone in a movie or something on television. The inspiration can come from anywhere.

Fore example: Johnny Cash's video "Hurt" is a powerful picture of a man looking back at his life and pondering how he could have done things different.

I would use the video as an example how to paint a picture. Look at the expressions on his face? Hurt... regret... hope and faith. They are all there. Johnny Cash was a conflicted and complicated man, who experienced the extreme highs and lows of life and somehow, managed to keep his faith through it all.

The trick now is to transfer this image of a hero or villain or any man nearing the end of his life to the context of your story. It could be a grandfather looking back and thinking about how he would have been rich man if he wouldn't have had kids, or in the case of Johnny Cash... looking back at the price of his fame. A life can be well lived or wasted and full of regrets. It is what it is and we only get one shot at it. Whatever the case, in hind sight we could have always done better.

A believable character is never perfect and has been battered around by life like the rest of us. He has a wrinkled shirt and gets his hands dirty. He helps the old lady cross the street and then beats himself up for not spending time with a lost loved one when he had the chance. He is a saint. He is a sinner.

Getting subtle emotion onto the page is the key.

Buy More Books
Rick

The True Meaning of Christmas

Merry Christmas