We had the good fortune of connecting with Robert N. Ruesch and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Robert N., what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I believe my writing is a calling from God. In Middle School, I could see that I had a talent for placing words on paper and touching the emotional hearts of people. That realization gave me the courage to write captions for many of the photographs I was taking. In college, I took a creative writing course my freshman year, and that ignited my desire to work in journalism and as a creative storyteller.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I see inspiration in the people I meet. God has blessed me with a talent to see past the facade of a person, to bring out the story behind the story. Being a multi-published author was not a path I thought I would choose. I wrote because I loved to place words on paper to inspire people. A friend of mine challenged me to be her accountability partner in a writing contest. I took the challenge because of a commitment she had made to be to write a short 500 word story. I didn’t think I could craft a 50,000 word book in 30 days, but that was the challenge. Making the commitment, reporting word count to each other every day kept me on track.
One lesson I learned was there are many people publishing books that are not truth, but claim they are true. I strive to not embellish or alter what is true about the event I am writing about. Many years ago, I read a statement from Charles Kuralt. He said, “let the person tell the story, not you. Write what you hear. Don’t mess with the story.”
My story is simple. In every chapter of my books, I always tell the truth. I leave the reader to see a greater value than before they read the chapter or book. I hope to give them memories and something to think about.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I live, with my bride of 3 plus decades at the base of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Just two hours away is Rocky Mountain National Park, a playground of 680,000 acres. I would take them to Estes Park Center YMCA, the largest YMCA in the world, with eleven hotels, over 300 housekeeping cabins. This is where I grew up, and vacationers from all over the USA molded me. We would eat in the buffet dining room. Walk the trails in the National Park, take in the programs offered on the resort property. We would let life happen!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
In college, my first published work was with Bethany Press. Sherman Hanson was an editor at Bethany and asked me to create a poster for a youth gathering using a college of photos I had taken. Seeing my work published and used across the USA was a humbling experience for me. Later in college, a local daily newspaper hired me. I was primarily in the darkroom developing and getting photos ready for press. The editor would ask me to write the caption copy. From that beginning, I created human interest stories. This small town newspaper gave me valuable experience in seeking the authentic story, the behind the scene back story.
Moving to Colorado, I continued to write all the copy for a family and conference resort, Snow Mountain Ranch YMCA, (SMR). That was part of many duties I had fulfilled working there for 12 years. (Many of the events at SMR became chapters in my second book, When We Were Pioneers, which was written to celebrate the resort’s 5oth anniversary.
Giving credit to only a single person would be incorrect. I had many mentors along the way who guided my talent, nurtured my ideas and supported the concept that I could be an author, columnist, and short story teller.

Website: https://www.robertnruesch.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-n-ruesch-9a028215/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobertNRuesch

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robert.ruesch

Image Credits
Robert N. Ruesch and used with permission.

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