Rosalie Koehler and her inspiring work

Meet Homegrown Wisconsin author Rosalie Koehler and her inspiring story!

Rosalie has enjoyed writing poems and stories since grade school. She has taken part in several Red Bird / Red Oak writing roundtables and is a member of the Wisconsin Regional Writers Association. She is also a piano teacher and writes songs and lyrics.

Rosalie lives in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin with her husband, Steve. They have four grown children and seven grandchildren.

About the Book:

LITTLE GIRL, GET UP

This is the compelling true story of Rosalie Koehler’s venture to Bangladesh in 2001 to visit her daughter, Amanda, a Peace Corps volunteer. It gives you an idea of Amanda’s life there and details a terrifying event, resulting in their unexpected evacuation and return to the United States during the September 11^th terrorist attacks. This was a journey of self-discovery for both mother and daughter, which required resilience of spirit, a positive approach to life and the importance of listening to God’s voice.

 Printed copies can be ordered directly from Rosalie Koehler at this email address: skoehler@ameritech.net for $12.00 plus $2.50 shipping. She will accept paypal or will advise mailing instructions for personal checks.

Rosalie was motivated to write and publish this memoir as a result of her journey to Bangladesh to visit her daughter, Amanda. With Amanda as her inspiration, Rosalie shares her story to inspire believers and unbelievers to have courage in adversity and joy in serving others.

AJ Knauss: Room Four, a novel...meeting crazy emergencies

About the Book:

It's just after Christmas and Alan Fries, hapless accountant, wonders why nurses with antler hats are hovering over him. He endures a three day coma stuck with only Jerry for company, an 87 year old crank who died in the same room earlier but is waiting for someone to sign the death certificate. Jerry and Alan becomes dead flies on the wall of an aging Chicago hospital and observe the staff...the doctor who leaves his sperm sample in the work fridge, the veteran nurse putting the kibosh on an intern's crush, the holiday hamfork injuries and the various nutcases who file through the ER doors. When they uncover a billing scandal and the truth about the corrupt CEO who is bankrupting the hospital they get to work. But can they put the proof in front of the eyes of the living in time? Can they save the hospital before driving each other crazy? Will Alan get resuscitated and start the bucket list he never had? A grouchy, laugh-out-loud, heartwarming tale of how tough love shines through the crustiest exterior.

ISBN: 978-1477572436
$11.95 Print
$3,79 E-book

AJKnauss says:

ROOM FOUR grew out of many moments in the ER that left me scratching my head in amazement. One day a patient was actually admitted to the hospital, wheeled up stairs, and died while still on the ER gurney. And as I listened to two doctors argue about who had to fill out the death certificate, I wondered if bureaucracy could be so bad that it could hold up your soul…and the character of Jerry was born. His voice was the most fun to write. He gets away with saying anything.

Alan, the narrator, asks all the questions that we all do, most often “why me?” This book was an attempt to discuss that, not necessarily to answer it. By making both characters invisible to others, it forces them to talk more than they normally would if they had met at say, the bus stop. Once Alan and Jerry started talking, the book almost wrote itself.
Seeing it published is a thrill, tempered at first by the usual artistic neuroses of “what if it’s terrible?” When Kirkus named it one of the best books of 2012, I almost fell out of my chair. I am more motivated to write the next book now. I chose the indie route because I had an army deployment coming up, had two literary agents tell me how they loved the book but didn’t know how to categorize it, and I was tired of the slow pace of writing queries and getting rejections. How hard is it to market a genre-bending paranormal medical comedy? Well, it isn’t easy but it’s a lot of fun.

 

About the Author:

I am a practicing emergency physician and I have been in the army in various ways for sixteen years. Both of those professions have led me to wonder if the long arm of bureaucracy could extend into the afterlife. Before medicine, I waited tables, sold shoes, bred praying mantises for a lab, drove an ambulance in Chicago, and sold advertising. I‘ve traveled all over, moved to Wisconsin in 2003, and love to call it home. I am so very grateful for my patients and colleagues, who react with compassion and bravery in some of the most challenging of circumstances. It is a privilege to witness some of the everyday things that happen in the ER. When there isn’t time during a shift to contemplate the big questions, I talk it over with my book characters the next day.

 

Connect with AJ:

Amazon Author Page
Web site

 

 

Phil Nork's sentimental journey: Legends of the Lake

About the Book:

December 12, 2011

Recommended For Ages 13+

Grandparents and Great-Grandparents are the foundation of a family. Come read about “Gramps and Nana” their family and a very special summer cottage tucked away in rural Wisconsin. This is a story about nature, fun and relaxation … but it also tells about the special relationship a boy of divorce has with his great-grandparents.

Share the legends or myths he heard while growing up every summer at this special retreat. Be there when Nana teaches him many valuable life lessons that he uses his entire life. Share in the happiness and the sorrow of one family as they truly experience the love they have for each other. Legends of the Lake is a lazy Sunday drive through time, involving generational memories and shares the joy and sorrows of one family, a summer at a time. Family vacations can bring back a lot of memories. This story lets you follow the summer vacations of one family. Come feel like a part of the family enjoying the lake, fires, fresh lemonade, and learning from life experiences with the characters. The memories of youth, once you are older, leave you wishing you could go back.

This truly is a book to bring a smile to your face and a warmth to your heart. It's a quaint story about a family, the Krons, and their generational memories starting with the great grandparents and ending with the last generation's character. It begins in 1910 and concludes in 1984, describing their colorful life details and traditions, ending with the main character coming back on his 50th birthday to relish the lasting memories of his past. This book is one of the ones that give you that warm fuzzy feeling inside.

Buy on Amazon

$12.95 - Print

$2.95 - Kindle

 

About the Author:

Philip Nork was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. After moving to Nevada and accepting a job which left him on the road way too often, he started having dreams...dreams about the women of his life and how they impacted him. After jotting down these "memories" and being able to mold them all into a manuscript that not only told an "interesting and unique story," but left a heartwarming message at the end, he decided to publish this real-life fiction piece to see what would happen. Would people connect with his journey of self-discovery?

They obviously have since Phil now has four reality fiction books and 1 poetry book available. They all center around divorce, how a child reacts to that divorce and the people around him who help him become a whole person again.

 

My review:

It’s 1910,  a simpler life, when Eddie drives his Model T north from Chicago to Delavan, Wisconsin to buy a lake lot and build a cabin, with indoor plumbing but no bathtub, because that’s what the lake is for! Fictionalized memories of summers on a lake, the author recreated a multi-generational story of tall tales, sneaking growth of the lake community, and the toll of changing society.

Told in retrospect from Eddie and Connie’s grandson—Phil—who spent summers on the lake in the sixties, readers take a step back in time to watch America growing up. Lots of references to the Cubs.

Legends of the Lake is a frank journey of a family’s adjustment to changing times.