May 28, 2025 • 24 mins
What happens when a grandfather's impromptu bedtime stories transform into a mission to combat childhood illiteracy? Ron Kinscherf's journey from burned-out IT consultant to children's author began with a simple request: "Papa, tell me a book."
When his grandson stomped on anthills in their backyard, Ron saw more than destroyed insect homes—he saw a storytelling opportunity. That moment sparked a series about an ant colony facing challenges that paralleled Ron's own childhood experiences growing up without a father. What he didn't realize was how these stories would uncover his authentic creative voice and launch an unexpected second act in his career.
Ron's approach to play and imagination offers valuable lessons for parents and grandparents. By encouraging children to break conventional boundaries—like imagining tigers in colors beyond yellow with black stripes—he demonstrates how adults can foster creativity rather than restricting it. This philosophy extends beyond family interactions into his visits to schools, where he was stunned to discover many children own no books at all.
The publishing journey hasn't been without challenges. Despite selling thousands of books, Ron candidly shares the financial realities of self-publishing, where illustration costs often exceed revenues. Yet his persistence has paid off with a recent deal with Morgan James Publishing. More importantly, his mission has evolved beyond commercial success—he's donated over 1,000 books to children this year alone, confronting the alarming statistic that only one-third of Illinois children read at grade level.
For anyone feeling stuck in a routine or unfulfilled professionally, Ron's story offers inspiring guidance: "Don't be afraid to make it a side hustle." Whether writing, gardening, or fixing cars, pursuing creative passions alongside other responsibilities can lead to unexpected joy and purpose. Follow Ron's continuing journey at papatellmeabook.com or connect with him on Facebook to learn how imaginative play can spark meaningful change in children's lives and your own.
Want to be a guest on Living the Dream with Curveball? Send Curtis Jackson a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1628631536976x919760049303001600
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Living the Dream Podcast with
Curveball, If you believe youcan achieve.
Welcome to the Living the Dreamwith Curveball Podcast, a show
where I interview guests thatteach, motivate and inspire.
(00:23):
Today, I am joined by authorand storyteller Ron Kinsher.
Ron took a creative way ofplaying with his grandkids and
made it a business, and herealized the stories that he was
telling were similar to hischildhood.
So we're going to be talking tohim about this creative way.
Maybe we can take tips from himand use it to play with our
(00:45):
kids and grandkids.
So, Ron, thank you so much forjoining me today.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Hey, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Why don't you start off by telling everybody a
little bit about yourself?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Oh boy, I live in a little town on the Mississippi
River in Illinois, quincy,illinois.
It's right where Illinois, iowaand Missouri meet, meet.
I kind of say it's whereillinois is pregnant on the west
side, about as fat as illinoiscan get um.
So I had like a 30 year career,um in it, consulting, uh,
(01:16):
selling it products andsolutions, and um, at the end of
it I was just burned out,really really burned out, so I
just quit.
I didn't have really a gameplan going forward.
In the meantime I was havingsome grandkids I had about two
at that point and it wassuggested one time at a Sunday
(01:37):
dinner that I start writing thestories I was creating for the
kids and like anything else, Ikind of just pushed that aside
with all the other ideas I wasgetting for the kids and you
know, like anything else, I kindof just pushed that aside with
all the other ideas I wasgetting at that time.
But then I was outside one timewith my oldest grandson and he
was stomping on all the anthillson our back patio and I was
just sitting and watching, youknow, destroying all these
(01:58):
beautiful homes and I decided towrite a story from the aunt's
point of view about that, and soI wrote that down and I kept
getting ideas of the variouschallenges and circumstances
these ants that live in this antcolony would get into.
So I kept writing, and writingand writing and eventually
someone talked me intopublishing.
One and one all of a suddenbecame 11.
(02:20):
And my last book I picked up bya publisher based out of New
York city.
So it's been quite a three-yearjourney, to say the least, but
it all started with making upstories.
Put my grandkids to bed.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Absolutely, and congratulations on that.
So kind of explain to thelisteners you know the, the
creative way, you know how itworks and how they could
probably use it to play, buttheir kids are grandkids.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah.
So what I did was the generalprocess was putting this one
down for a nap was he would getto pick two stories and then you
read them, the stories, and youleave them and hopefully it
falls asleep.
He was about three, three and ahalf at the time.
So one afternoon he said Papa,tell me, tell me a book.
I was like I would like.
Okay, what do you mean by that?
And he goes tell me a book,make, make, make me a story.
(03:11):
So I go what do you want me tomake a story about?
So we looked around the room wewere in and he picked a
medicine bottle.
So I had to make a story upabout a medicine bottle, kind of
on the spot, and the one thingyou can't do as a grandparent is
you can't say no way you can.
But you know, in that type ofsituation, you know you don't
want to disappoint the kids.
(03:32):
So I made up a story.
Um, that led to more of thosetypes of situations going on and
it got to the point where hewas asking his mom and dad to do
that type of thing and I kindof got in a little bit of
trouble because I put them onthe spot where they had to start
making up stories.
So the you know, the basic gistof it is just using your
imagination to create theseenvironments for, for your kids
(03:55):
or grandkids, um, where they canuse their imagination, because
the way I look at it is a kid'smind, you know, three to five
years old, is yet to be moldedby anything.
It's just wide open to any typeof possibility.
And you know, when I go visitschools, a lot of times we'll
make up stories about animals.
You know, I ask them what theirfavorite animal in the zoo is
(04:16):
and they'll tell me whatever.
And I ask them what color thatanimal is and they'll always say
the tiger is yellow with blackstripes.
And I say why is?
And they'll always say thetiger is yellow with black
stripes.
And I say why?
It doesn't have to be, it couldbe whatever color you want that
animal to be.
And then we go off and continueto make stories and, you know,
just twist facts around a littlebit.
It's all make-believe and um,that's kind of how this all got
(04:38):
started.
And, uh, it's just a creativeway.
And imagine, it's a way to toplay, um, and we were doing it
also with their Legos and, youknow, creating various scenes
and things like that and mixingup their Legos with other toys
they may have, and just you know, just kind of breaking outside
your barrier, your comfort zonewhen you're playing with your
(04:59):
kids.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Okay, well, tell the listeners about the process,
about what you learned aboutyourself doing this process well
what I learned about myself.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
I learned to trust my talent more than anything else
because, like I said, it was notin a, I didn't have any jobs or
anything going on, and I'vealways been creative.
My degrees in radio and tv.
So I did some of that before Idecided I need to make money and
um, but I was creating parodycommercials and all that type of
stuff.
So, um, I went on this journeywithout knowing anything about
(05:35):
it.
You know, trusting myself andtrusting the decisions I would
make.
Um, I get again, I had no ideawhat I was doing.
No idea, I mean, I wrote thewords.
I wrote the words, I had tofind an illustrator, I had to
find out a way to get it public,all that type of stuff.
You know the legalramifications, the business side
of everything.
But I trusted that I wouldfigure it out in some fashion.
(05:58):
And I was talking to somebodyone time and it says I, I, I
like remove the handcuffs frommyself and just went on this
journey and kind of took achance that this, this would all
work out and things would befine, and it and it kind of did
so.
I don't know if I answered yourquestion correctly, necessarily
(06:19):
, but a lot of it to me was justeverything kind of fell into
place and it felt like God waspushing me in this direction
because all the people thatstarted entering my life during
the course of this process likethe gal who does my proofreading
just came out of the blue.
She was an old friend from highschool, popped in out of the
blue right when I needed anillustrator.
Just things like that continuedto happen throughout the year
(06:43):
year and a half process.
I started doing this.
I call it kismet, justserendipity, it just happened.
But I guess the point I'm tryingto get across is life is too
short not to have fun.
I've talked to a lot of peopleyou know, friends and that have
jobs they don't like.
(07:04):
But you got to be able to findsomething that you do enjoy.
Or you're just going to gothrough the same routine day
after day, and it doesn'tnecessarily have to be a job.
But there's got to be somethingin your world, whether it's
gardening or something along youknow, something along those
lines that you have to giveyourself time to do.
I'll buy that feeling thatyou're just in a rut, that
you're doing the same thing overand over and over again.
(07:25):
You go to work, come home, havedinner, sit in your chair,
watch TV, maybe read a book.
You know the same thing overand, over and over again.
There's got to be somethingoutside that, and that's what
I've found, and I'm so muchhappier since I found this.
It's just opened up a lot ofdoors for myself.
It's opened up the creativeside of myself, opened a lot of
(07:46):
doors for myself.
It's opened up the creativeside of myself and it's and what
I found out is that a lot ofthe stories I'm creating are
actually things that I havelived through.
You know, an example is I wentthrough four or five books and I
had a friend that was readingthem and this is before I even
published anything and shebrought up the fact that, uh,
she thought it was really coolthat I had a female matriarch
that was leading this colony ofants.
(08:07):
I had a queen and I did nothave a king.
I thought about it and said youknow, my dad passed away when I
was five, so I never quoteunquote had a king in my world
as I was growing up.
So a lot of things that werehappening were somewhat
paralleling to not the way I wasraised and the things that I
(08:27):
went through as a child.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Well, this is also, you know, kind of taught you
about the state of literacy inkids.
So you know kind of explainedthat.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yes, so the so when the first time to visit a
classroom and this is actuallythe first classroom I went to
you know, I read to kids and Ihad books to give to the kids
and the teachers are telling methat that will be the only book
that kid has at home, and I wasjust blown away by that.
And you know, another teachertold me that their parents will
(09:04):
throw this, throw that book awaybecause they won't want them to
have it.
And I was just, it's just mindboggling.
So I will not visit a classroomnow without having a sponsor or
a philanthropic group oranything like that Give me books
.
You know, buy books that I cangive to the kids.
I just will not visit aclassroom now without having a
sponsor or a philanthropic groupor anything like that.
Give me books, buy books that Ican give to the kids.
I just will not do it.
This year we've given away overa thousand books to kids in our
community, but in doingadditional research in the state
(09:28):
of Illinois, where I'm from,about one third of the kids are
reading at the level thatthey're supposed to be reading
at.
You know it got really badduring COVID and it's gotten a
little bit better.
But illiteracy leads to druguse, unemployment, criminal
activity.
It's just a long list of thingsthat illiteracy leads to and
(09:52):
none of it's really good.
So I don't want to say it's thecross I'm bearing for everybody
to try.
You know a big mission of minebut it just blew me away and I'm
trying to get in front of asmany kids.
You know, one thing I found out,too, curtis, that I found that
is interesting is when I govisit these kids and I visit
kids of all age, all age levelsis I always ask them what they
(10:17):
like to read.
And the younger kids first, youknow kindergartners or second
graders all say they like toread.
Then you ask the older kids,when they get to junior high
level they like to read and theydon't.
And I always ask them why.
And I personally think a lot ofit has to do with the things
they're being given to read.
Um, and if I, when you went toschool, the stuff you had to
read in school, I don't know ifyou enjoyed it or not, but it
(10:37):
was things that you were given,you were made to read something,
and I think anything thatyou're made to do you're going
to have a negative.
It's going to have a negativeimpact on you, and so I think
that's a big reason for it.
I think that schools would havea list of books that kids could
choose from or use graphicnovels or something else.
That would still get the basicpoint across that they're trying
(10:59):
to teach these kids they mayenjoy reading, and the point I
try to make to these kids iseven in this age you know we're
doing a Zoom call here.
It's recording this we didn'thave this you know, a number of
years ago, but you still have tobe able to read.
You still have to be able tocomprehend, no matter what
profession you go into.
I mean, I was in sales.
(11:20):
I had, I had to be able to read, you know, and I had to be able
to put together an email thatmade sense, because I could have
the best product in the world.
But if I can't communicate tothe person on the other end of
that email, they're not going tobuy anything from me, it's just
.
Or if I want to be a mechanic,all that stuff's going to be
downloaded and you have to beable to comprehend anything you
do in this world.
Even if you're an athlete, youhave to be able to read a
playbook.
(11:40):
You have to be able to look atcontracts to understand what
they're saying.
So that's the type of stuff Itry to stress to these kids, and
that English isn't this classof English isn't the devil.
It's something that should beenjoyed, and sometimes that can
be a hard message to get acrossto these guys.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Well, explain to the listeners what you know the
world of creating books is likeand you know what advice would
you give somebody that's lookingto break into writing kids.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
It's fun, it occurs.
It's funny because Cause Ivisited some high school kids
and I told them the process Iwent through, and one kid raised
his hand is like Mr Ron, itdoesn't sound like you would
recommend this as a career path.
It was like I'm not saying that, it's just.
You gotta be ready to besmacked in the face a few times.
Um, because to me the industryis upside down.
(12:33):
Because, you know, I thought so.
This was my mindset when Istarted doing this.
I write the manuscript.
I find an illustrator.
She draws the pictures that arein my brain.
I put it all together and printit out.
Right, Curtis, make sense.
So that's how I self-published.
Then I found out, you know, ayear and a half later, you know,
(12:54):
okay, I might be good at this.
Maybe I should find a publisher.
Publishers don't want that.
Agents don't want that.
They just want the words youcreated.
So you send an email to thisemail address or whoever, just
with the words.
So you tell me how, in twopages, they know how that book
(13:16):
is going to affect those kidswithout the pictures that I have
in my brain.
To me that's idiocy, but that'sthe way the majority of
publishers want to operate, Um,so, so I I couldn't believe
something.
You know, I'd be on calls withagents and stuff like that.
Okay, I've got three or fourself-published books.
I think they're really good.
(13:38):
Would you like to look at them?
No, it's like why?
Well, you've gone too far.
It's like what do you mean?
I've gone too far.
I've taken all the hard workout of this for you.
I've got it illustrated, I'vegot the ISP script.
So the basic gist is I thinkthe publishing world wants to
control everything.
They want to own your IP orintellectual property so that
(13:58):
they can use it as you, as youfeel fit.
So that's that's in my world,the publishing world.
I got lucky finding MorganJames because they're letting me
keep my IP.
Um, so that's kind of what,where I'm, where I'm at right
now.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
So that's kind of where I'm at right now Well,
kind of talk about how yourmother played such a big was
such a big influence on you andyour writing.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
My mother.
Yes, well, it's kind of a Uh.
So, like I mentioned, my motherpassed away when I was young
and I was.
She had to get.
This was back in the sixties.
So she had six kids.
She we had no real family aroundthe area because she moved
prior to me being born from theEast coast.
(14:45):
My mom was born in Manhattan,my dad was born in Brooklyn, so
they moved, you know, a couplethousand miles away to Illinois.
So she had no real family.
So she had to go back to school, get a job and provide for the
six kids.
So a couple of the kids were inhigh school, one was in college
and we I was left alone, a lot.
So I was had to create a playwith my GI Joes or my Lincoln
(15:10):
Long.
Whatever I had to do, I had tobe, you know, be self-sufficient
.
So from that aspect, thatmethod of survival, so to speak,
that you know that helped mefor my creative you know the
creativity that I have today.
But she, we also didn't back inthose days there wasn't cable TV
(15:31):
, there wasn't video games.
We got three channels and weweren't allowed to watch.
There was nothing on afterschool, you know, and during the
day, other than stuff that kidsshouldn't be watching.
So I, if I wanted to beentertained, I had to basically
entertain myself during thosedays.
Um, outside of that, my mother,um, is probably the strongest
(15:52):
person I know, because veryindependent person, fought for
everything.
Because she, if you think aboutthis, she had to raise six kids
in the late sixties.
And if you knew what was goingon in the world in the late
sixties, it was not.
It was a pretty tumultuous timeand she was, and many women did
(16:14):
not have jobs at that time.
They're the stay-at-home momtype thing and so she had to go
get out in the workforce.
And you know, just looking backon it, what she was able to do
was remarkable to provide for uskids and somewhat keep sanity
going on in our house with, youknow, the teenagers, you know
the boys being torn on alldifferent ways during what's
(16:36):
going on with Vietnam and allthat other type of stuff.
So, yeah, she, she, uh, yeah,she was something else,
something else.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Absolutely so.
Tell us about any upcomingprojects that you're working on
that need to be aware of.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Well, the uh, um, like I said, you know the uh.
I don't know if I said this,but the last book I wrote and
published self-publishers hasbeen picked up by a publisher.
So Morgan James has picked itup and that should be out.
So I'm kind of I'm writing, um,but I'm not publishing anything
because I'm kind of waiting tosee how that works out and if
they're going to be interestedin doing anything more with me.
(17:14):
So I'm not at a standstill ofcreativity, creative wise, but
I'm kind of at a standstillpublishing wise, because you
know, this isn't.
You know you're asking about,you know, recommendations.
You know being an author andwhat I would suggest to other
people, this is not amoney-making venture.
To say, you know, being anauthor and what I would suggest
to other people, um, this is nota money-making venture to say,
(17:38):
you know, I have to payillustrators.
I can't draw the picturesmyself, and when you're selling
books, you know, for $10 each,there's not a whole lot of
profit margin, you know.
So if I'm paying an illustratorX amount, I have to sell X
amount of books in order tobreak even, and I've got 11
books out right now that I paidan illustrator for.
So, um, I, you know, to behonest, I'm in the hole, and
(18:03):
people are sometimes shockedlike that, cause they'll ask me
how many books I've sold, andI've sold thousands of books,
but I'm in the hole, um, so I,I'm kind of in a situation where
, if this works out good withthe publisher, works out well
with the publisher.
I'm hoping, though, you know,we'll do additional projects
together and maybe, you know,reprint.
You know we'll redo the.
(18:24):
You know what I've already gotin the can, or they'll help me
with some progress going forward.
So you know that that decisionhopefully be made in a couple of
months.
But the thing I'm still doing iswriting.
I mean, I keep getting ideasfor this.
I've got, you know, I've goteight books about the Zan colony
published, and I probably gotanother nine written that I
haven't done anything withno-transcript.
(18:56):
So, as things happen to me, Igo.
You know that'd be perfect forthe.
You know, for the queen to livethrough, or that's a lesson my
grandkids just learned, you know, that's something I can
incorporate into a book.
So the ideas are still there.
It's just the I.
I mean, I'm still going to goto schools.
I'm still going to do all thattype of stuff.
You know, I'm still going totry to get as many books as I
(19:20):
can in kids' hands and I've gotorganizations reaching out to me
in this area that want me to,you know, do things for them.
One organization here in townI'm ghostwriting books for them
to help use as a curriculum tohelp behavioral challenge kids.
So I'm involved in that project.
So you know, I got a lot ofirons in the fire right now.
(19:43):
I just I'm kind of like that.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Atlas that was pushing the rock up the hill.
Was that the guy?
I can't remember who?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
the guy was yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I'm, I'm pushing that rock up and I may be two thirds
of the way, but I, I'm reallywanting to get to that top of
the hill.
We're going to just push itover the end and things start,
you know, snowballing for me andI got started really unleashing
this creative junk.
I've got going on on my headand entertain a lot of kids.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Well, so people can keep up with everything that
you're up to throw out yourcontact info.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah, Papa, tell me a book is my website and it's
just spell out Papa, P-A-P-A.
Uh, tell me a bookcom.
You can also get there.
Um, Ron Kinsherfcom.
Kinsherf started to spell.
Some people think it'sK-I-N-S-C-H-E-R-F.
Uh, everything's out there onmy website all S-C-H-E-R-F.
Everything's out there on mywebsite all my books, all my
titles.
There's a little video aboutmyself out there.
There's samples of my work andthe illustrations out there too.
Reviews are tagged in there too, so you can read some of the
(20:44):
reviews and you can also followme on Facebook.
Just, you know, just search forme and I'm out there, and
that's kind of where I postupdates on my projects and stuff
like that.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
What closes out with some final thoughts.
Maybe if there was something Iforgot to talk about that you
would like to touch on, or anyfinal thoughts you have for the
listeners.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Oh boy, that's a tough one.
I think you've got abouteverything.
I mean I don't want to dissuadeanybody out there to sing it or
, you know, writing aboutchildren's books.
I just want, and you thinkabout all the writers out there,
curtis, that have done this.
Most of them had other gigsbefore they did this.
You know, the baldachis, thechristians and all these type of
people.
They they were lawyers orpolice officers or private
(21:23):
investigators and they startedwriting while they still had
other jobs.
They just got lucky andsomebody found them and, you
know, were able to publish theirstuff.
But there's 95% of us out therethat are doing this as a side
hustle.
Um, don't be afraid to make ita side hustle.
Don't make, don't be afraid tomake anything a side hustle,
(21:44):
whether it's gardening, fixingcars, whatever you happen to
enjoy.
Don't be afraid of the sidehustle, trusting yourself.
Because that's what I did andit's worked out pretty well.
You know, like I said, I'm I'mabout as happy as I've ever been
.
Um, you know, money's, I meanmoney.
It's great you got to be ableto put food on your table and
all that type of stuff, but it'snot the end all.
Um, I guess that would be myfinal message of any of that
(22:09):
made sense.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Absolutely.
Ladies and gentlemen,ronkinsheriffcom or
papatellmeabookcom, please besure to keep up with everything
that Ron's up to Follow ratereview.
Share this episode to as manypeople as possible.
Follow us on your favoritepodcast app.
Visit wwwcurveball337.com formore information on the Living
(22:33):
the Dream with Curveballpodcast7.com for more
information on the Living theDream with Curveball podcast.
Thank you for listening andsupporting the show.
This does not happen withoutyou and Ron.
Thank you for all that you doand thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Oh, no, thanks for having me, it was fun.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
For more information on the Living the Dream with
Curveball podcast, visitwwwcurveball337.com.
Until next time, keep livingthe dream.
Welcome to the Living the Dream Podcast with
Curveball, If you believe youcan achieve.
Welcome to the Living the Dreamwith Curveball Podcast, a show
where I interview guests thatteach, motivate and inspire.
(00:23):
Today, I am joined by authorand storyteller Ron Kinsher.
Ron took a creative way ofplaying with his grandkids and
made it a business, and herealized the stories that he was
telling were similar to hischildhood.
So we're going to be talking tohim about this creative way.
Maybe we can take tips from himand use it to play with our
(00:45):
kids and grandkids.
So, Ron, thank you so much forjoining me today.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Hey, thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Why don't you start off by telling everybody a
little bit about yourself?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Oh boy, I live in a little town on the Mississippi
River in Illinois, quincy,illinois.
It's right where Illinois, iowaand Missouri meet, meet.
I kind of say it's whereillinois is pregnant on the west
side, about as fat as illinoiscan get um.
So I had like a 30 year career,um in it, consulting, uh,
(01:16):
selling it products andsolutions, and um, at the end of
it I was just burned out,really really burned out, so I
just quit.
I didn't have really a gameplan going forward.
In the meantime I was havingsome grandkids I had about two
at that point and it wassuggested one time at a Sunday
(01:37):
dinner that I start writing thestories I was creating for the
kids and like anything else, Ikind of just pushed that aside
with all the other ideas I wasgetting for the kids and you
know, like anything else, I kindof just pushed that aside with
all the other ideas I wasgetting at that time.
But then I was outside one timewith my oldest grandson and he
was stomping on all the anthillson our back patio and I was
just sitting and watching, youknow, destroying all these
(01:58):
beautiful homes and I decided towrite a story from the aunt's
point of view about that, and soI wrote that down and I kept
getting ideas of the variouschallenges and circumstances
these ants that live in this antcolony would get into.
So I kept writing, and writingand writing and eventually
someone talked me intopublishing.
One and one all of a suddenbecame 11.
(02:20):
And my last book I picked up bya publisher based out of New
York city.
So it's been quite a three-yearjourney, to say the least, but
it all started with making upstories.
Put my grandkids to bed.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Absolutely, and congratulations on that.
So kind of explain to thelisteners you know the, the
creative way, you know how itworks and how they could
probably use it to play, buttheir kids are grandkids.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Yeah.
So what I did was the generalprocess was putting this one
down for a nap was he would getto pick two stories and then you
read them, the stories, and youleave them and hopefully it
falls asleep.
He was about three, three and ahalf at the time.
So one afternoon he said Papa,tell me, tell me a book.
I was like I would like.
Okay, what do you mean by that?
And he goes tell me a book,make, make, make me a story.
(03:11):
So I go what do you want me tomake a story about?
So we looked around the room wewere in and he picked a
medicine bottle.
So I had to make a story upabout a medicine bottle, kind of
on the spot, and the one thingyou can't do as a grandparent is
you can't say no way you can.
But you know, in that type ofsituation, you know you don't
want to disappoint the kids.
(03:32):
So I made up a story.
Um, that led to more of thosetypes of situations going on and
it got to the point where hewas asking his mom and dad to do
that type of thing and I kindof got in a little bit of
trouble because I put them onthe spot where they had to start
making up stories.
So the you know, the basic gistof it is just using your
imagination to create theseenvironments for, for your kids
(03:55):
or grandkids, um, where they canuse their imagination, because
the way I look at it is a kid'smind, you know, three to five
years old, is yet to be moldedby anything.
It's just wide open to any typeof possibility.
And you know, when I go visitschools, a lot of times we'll
make up stories about animals.
You know, I ask them what theirfavorite animal in the zoo is
(04:16):
and they'll tell me whatever.
And I ask them what color thatanimal is and they'll always say
the tiger is yellow with blackstripes.
And I say why is?
And they'll always say thetiger is yellow with black
stripes.
And I say why?
It doesn't have to be, it couldbe whatever color you want that
animal to be.
And then we go off and continueto make stories and, you know,
just twist facts around a littlebit.
It's all make-believe and um,that's kind of how this all got
(04:38):
started.
And, uh, it's just a creativeway.
And imagine, it's a way to toplay, um, and we were doing it
also with their Legos and, youknow, creating various scenes
and things like that and mixingup their Legos with other toys
they may have, and just you know, just kind of breaking outside
your barrier, your comfort zonewhen you're playing with your
(04:59):
kids.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Okay, well, tell the listeners about the process,
about what you learned aboutyourself doing this process well
what I learned about myself.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
I learned to trust my talent more than anything else
because, like I said, it was notin a, I didn't have any jobs or
anything going on, and I'vealways been creative.
My degrees in radio and tv.
So I did some of that before Idecided I need to make money and
um, but I was creating parodycommercials and all that type of
stuff.
So, um, I went on this journeywithout knowing anything about
(05:35):
it.
You know, trusting myself andtrusting the decisions I would
make.
Um, I get again, I had no ideawhat I was doing.
No idea, I mean, I wrote thewords.
I wrote the words, I had tofind an illustrator, I had to
find out a way to get it public,all that type of stuff.
You know the legalramifications, the business side
of everything.
But I trusted that I wouldfigure it out in some fashion.
(05:58):
And I was talking to somebodyone time and it says I, I, I
like remove the handcuffs frommyself and just went on this
journey and kind of took achance that this, this would all
work out and things would befine, and it and it kind of did
so.
I don't know if I answered yourquestion correctly, necessarily
(06:19):
, but a lot of it to me was justeverything kind of fell into
place and it felt like God waspushing me in this direction
because all the people thatstarted entering my life during
the course of this process likethe gal who does my proofreading
just came out of the blue.
She was an old friend from highschool, popped in out of the
blue right when I needed anillustrator.
Just things like that continuedto happen throughout the year
(06:43):
year and a half process.
I started doing this.
I call it kismet, justserendipity, it just happened.
But I guess the point I'm tryingto get across is life is too
short not to have fun.
I've talked to a lot of peopleyou know, friends and that have
jobs they don't like.
(07:04):
But you got to be able to findsomething that you do enjoy.
Or you're just going to gothrough the same routine day
after day, and it doesn'tnecessarily have to be a job.
But there's got to be somethingin your world, whether it's
gardening or something along youknow, something along those
lines that you have to giveyourself time to do.
I'll buy that feeling thatyou're just in a rut, that
you're doing the same thing overand over and over again.
(07:25):
You go to work, come home, havedinner, sit in your chair,
watch TV, maybe read a book.
You know the same thing overand, over and over again.
There's got to be somethingoutside that, and that's what
I've found, and I'm so muchhappier since I found this.
It's just opened up a lot ofdoors for myself.
It's opened up the creativeside of myself, opened a lot of
(07:46):
doors for myself.
It's opened up the creativeside of myself and it's and what
I found out is that a lot ofthe stories I'm creating are
actually things that I havelived through.
You know, an example is I wentthrough four or five books and I
had a friend that was readingthem and this is before I even
published anything and shebrought up the fact that, uh,
she thought it was really coolthat I had a female matriarch
that was leading this colony ofants.
(08:07):
I had a queen and I did nothave a king.
I thought about it and said youknow, my dad passed away when I
was five, so I never quoteunquote had a king in my world
as I was growing up.
So a lot of things that werehappening were somewhat
paralleling to not the way I wasraised and the things that I
(08:27):
went through as a child.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Well, this is also, you know, kind of taught you
about the state of literacy inkids.
So you know kind of explainedthat.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Yes, so the so when the first time to visit a
classroom and this is actuallythe first classroom I went to
you know, I read to kids and Ihad books to give to the kids
and the teachers are telling methat that will be the only book
that kid has at home, and I wasjust blown away by that.
And you know, another teachertold me that their parents will
(09:04):
throw this, throw that book awaybecause they won't want them to
have it.
And I was just, it's just mindboggling.
So I will not visit a classroomnow without having a sponsor or
a philanthropic group oranything like that Give me books
.
You know, buy books that I cangive to the kids.
I just will not visit aclassroom now without having a
sponsor or a philanthropic groupor anything like that.
Give me books, buy books that Ican give to the kids.
I just will not do it.
This year we've given away overa thousand books to kids in our
community, but in doingadditional research in the state
(09:28):
of Illinois, where I'm from,about one third of the kids are
reading at the level thatthey're supposed to be reading
at.
You know it got really badduring COVID and it's gotten a
little bit better.
But illiteracy leads to druguse, unemployment, criminal
activity.
It's just a long list of thingsthat illiteracy leads to and
(09:52):
none of it's really good.
So I don't want to say it's thecross I'm bearing for everybody
to try.
You know a big mission of minebut it just blew me away and I'm
trying to get in front of asmany kids.
You know, one thing I found out,too, curtis, that I found that
is interesting is when I govisit these kids and I visit
kids of all age, all age levelsis I always ask them what they
(10:17):
like to read.
And the younger kids first, youknow kindergartners or second
graders all say they like toread.
Then you ask the older kids,when they get to junior high
level they like to read and theydon't.
And I always ask them why.
And I personally think a lot ofit has to do with the things
they're being given to read.
Um, and if I, when you went toschool, the stuff you had to
read in school, I don't know ifyou enjoyed it or not, but it
(10:37):
was things that you were given,you were made to read something,
and I think anything thatyou're made to do you're going
to have a negative.
It's going to have a negativeimpact on you, and so I think
that's a big reason for it.
I think that schools would havea list of books that kids could
choose from or use graphicnovels or something else.
That would still get the basicpoint across that they're trying
(10:59):
to teach these kids they mayenjoy reading, and the point I
try to make to these kids iseven in this age you know we're
doing a Zoom call here.
It's recording this we didn'thave this you know, a number of
years ago, but you still have tobe able to read.
You still have to be able tocomprehend, no matter what
profession you go into.
I mean, I was in sales.
(11:20):
I had, I had to be able to read, you know, and I had to be able
to put together an email thatmade sense, because I could have
the best product in the world.
But if I can't communicate tothe person on the other end of
that email, they're not going tobuy anything from me, it's just
.
Or if I want to be a mechanic,all that stuff's going to be
downloaded and you have to beable to comprehend anything you
do in this world.
Even if you're an athlete, youhave to be able to read a
playbook.
(11:40):
You have to be able to look atcontracts to understand what
they're saying.
So that's the type of stuff Itry to stress to these kids, and
that English isn't this classof English isn't the devil.
It's something that should beenjoyed, and sometimes that can
be a hard message to get acrossto these guys.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Well, explain to the listeners what you know the
world of creating books is likeand you know what advice would
you give somebody that's lookingto break into writing kids.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
It's fun, it occurs.
It's funny because Cause Ivisited some high school kids
and I told them the process Iwent through, and one kid raised
his hand is like Mr Ron, itdoesn't sound like you would
recommend this as a career path.
It was like I'm not saying that, it's just.
You gotta be ready to besmacked in the face a few times.
Um, because to me the industryis upside down.
(12:33):
Because, you know, I thought so.
This was my mindset when Istarted doing this.
I write the manuscript.
I find an illustrator.
She draws the pictures that arein my brain.
I put it all together and printit out.
Right, Curtis, make sense.
So that's how I self-published.
Then I found out, you know, ayear and a half later, you know,
(12:54):
okay, I might be good at this.
Maybe I should find a publisher.
Publishers don't want that.
Agents don't want that.
They just want the words youcreated.
So you send an email to thisemail address or whoever, just
with the words.
So you tell me how, in twopages, they know how that book
(13:16):
is going to affect those kidswithout the pictures that I have
in my brain.
To me that's idiocy, but that'sthe way the majority of
publishers want to operate, Um,so, so I I couldn't believe
something.
You know, I'd be on calls withagents and stuff like that.
Okay, I've got three or fourself-published books.
I think they're really good.
(13:38):
Would you like to look at them?
No, it's like why?
Well, you've gone too far.
It's like what do you mean?
I've gone too far.
I've taken all the hard workout of this for you.
I've got it illustrated, I'vegot the ISP script.
So the basic gist is I thinkthe publishing world wants to
control everything.
They want to own your IP orintellectual property so that
(13:58):
they can use it as you, as youfeel fit.
So that's that's in my world,the publishing world.
I got lucky finding MorganJames because they're letting me
keep my IP.
Um, so that's kind of what,where I'm, where I'm at right
now.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
So that's kind of where I'm at right now Well,
kind of talk about how yourmother played such a big was
such a big influence on you andyour writing.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
My mother.
Yes, well, it's kind of a Uh.
So, like I mentioned, my motherpassed away when I was young
and I was.
She had to get.
This was back in the sixties.
So she had six kids.
She we had no real family aroundthe area because she moved
prior to me being born from theEast coast.
(14:45):
My mom was born in Manhattan,my dad was born in Brooklyn, so
they moved, you know, a couplethousand miles away to Illinois.
So she had no real family.
So she had to go back to school, get a job and provide for the
six kids.
So a couple of the kids were inhigh school, one was in college
and we I was left alone, a lot.
So I was had to create a playwith my GI Joes or my Lincoln
(15:10):
Long.
Whatever I had to do, I had tobe, you know, be self-sufficient
.
So from that aspect, thatmethod of survival, so to speak,
that you know that helped mefor my creative you know the
creativity that I have today.
But she, we also didn't back inthose days there wasn't cable TV
(15:31):
, there wasn't video games.
We got three channels and weweren't allowed to watch.
There was nothing on afterschool, you know, and during the
day, other than stuff that kidsshouldn't be watching.
So I, if I wanted to beentertained, I had to basically
entertain myself during thosedays.
Um, outside of that, my mother,um, is probably the strongest
(15:52):
person I know, because veryindependent person, fought for
everything.
Because she, if you think aboutthis, she had to raise six kids
in the late sixties.
And if you knew what was goingon in the world in the late
sixties, it was not.
It was a pretty tumultuous timeand she was, and many women did
(16:14):
not have jobs at that time.
They're the stay-at-home momtype thing and so she had to go
get out in the workforce.
And you know, just looking backon it, what she was able to do
was remarkable to provide for uskids and somewhat keep sanity
going on in our house with, youknow, the teenagers, you know
the boys being torn on alldifferent ways during what's
(16:36):
going on with Vietnam and allthat other type of stuff.
So, yeah, she, she, uh, yeah,she was something else,
something else.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Absolutely so.
Tell us about any upcomingprojects that you're working on
that need to be aware of.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Well, the uh, um, like I said, you know the uh.
I don't know if I said this,but the last book I wrote and
published self-publishers hasbeen picked up by a publisher.
So Morgan James has picked itup and that should be out.
So I'm kind of I'm writing, um,but I'm not publishing anything
because I'm kind of waiting tosee how that works out and if
they're going to be interestedin doing anything more with me.
(17:14):
So I'm not at a standstill ofcreativity, creative wise, but
I'm kind of at a standstillpublishing wise, because you
know, this isn't.
You know you're asking about,you know, recommendations.
You know being an author andwhat I would suggest to other
people, this is not amoney-making venture.
To say, you know, being anauthor and what I would suggest
to other people, um, this is nota money-making venture to say,
(17:38):
you know, I have to payillustrators.
I can't draw the picturesmyself, and when you're selling
books, you know, for $10 each,there's not a whole lot of
profit margin, you know.
So if I'm paying an illustratorX amount, I have to sell X
amount of books in order tobreak even, and I've got 11
books out right now that I paidan illustrator for.
So, um, I, you know, to behonest, I'm in the hole, and
(18:03):
people are sometimes shockedlike that, cause they'll ask me
how many books I've sold, andI've sold thousands of books,
but I'm in the hole, um, so I,I'm kind of in a situation where
, if this works out good withthe publisher, works out well
with the publisher.
I'm hoping, though, you know,we'll do additional projects
together and maybe, you know,reprint.
You know we'll redo the.
(18:24):
You know what I've already gotin the can, or they'll help me
with some progress going forward.
So you know that that decisionhopefully be made in a couple of
months.
But the thing I'm still doing iswriting.
I mean, I keep getting ideasfor this.
I've got, you know, I've goteight books about the Zan colony
published, and I probably gotanother nine written that I
haven't done anything withno-transcript.
(18:56):
So, as things happen to me, Igo.
You know that'd be perfect forthe.
You know, for the queen to livethrough, or that's a lesson my
grandkids just learned, you know, that's something I can
incorporate into a book.
So the ideas are still there.
It's just the I.
I mean, I'm still going to goto schools.
I'm still going to do all thattype of stuff.
You know, I'm still going totry to get as many books as I
(19:20):
can in kids' hands and I've gotorganizations reaching out to me
in this area that want me to,you know, do things for them.
One organization here in townI'm ghostwriting books for them
to help use as a curriculum tohelp behavioral challenge kids.
So I'm involved in that project.
So you know, I got a lot ofirons in the fire right now.
(19:43):
I just I'm kind of like that.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Is it?
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Atlas that was pushing the rock up the hill.
Was that the guy?
I can't remember who?
Speaker 1 (19:50):
the guy was yeah, so.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
I'm, I'm pushing that rock up and I may be two thirds
of the way, but I, I'm reallywanting to get to that top of
the hill.
We're going to just push itover the end and things start,
you know, snowballing for me andI got started really unleashing
this creative junk.
I've got going on on my headand entertain a lot of kids.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Well, so people can keep up with everything that
you're up to throw out yourcontact info.
Speaker 2 (20:22):
Yeah, Papa, tell me a book is my website and it's
just spell out Papa, P-A-P-A.
Uh, tell me a bookcom.
You can also get there.
Um, Ron Kinsherfcom.
Kinsherf started to spell.
Some people think it'sK-I-N-S-C-H-E-R-F.
Uh, everything's out there onmy website all S-C-H-E-R-F.
Everything's out there on mywebsite all my books, all my
titles.
There's a little video aboutmyself out there.
There's samples of my work andthe illustrations out there too.
Reviews are tagged in there too, so you can read some of the
(20:44):
reviews and you can also followme on Facebook.
Just, you know, just search forme and I'm out there, and
that's kind of where I postupdates on my projects and stuff
like that.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
What closes out with some final thoughts.
Maybe if there was something Iforgot to talk about that you
would like to touch on, or anyfinal thoughts you have for the
listeners.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
Oh boy, that's a tough one.
I think you've got abouteverything.
I mean I don't want to dissuadeanybody out there to sing it or
, you know, writing aboutchildren's books.
I just want, and you thinkabout all the writers out there,
curtis, that have done this.
Most of them had other gigsbefore they did this.
You know, the baldachis, thechristians and all these type of
people.
They they were lawyers orpolice officers or private
(21:23):
investigators and they startedwriting while they still had
other jobs.
They just got lucky andsomebody found them and, you
know, were able to publish theirstuff.
But there's 95% of us out therethat are doing this as a side
hustle.
Um, don't be afraid to make ita side hustle.
Don't make, don't be afraid tomake anything a side hustle,
(21:44):
whether it's gardening, fixingcars, whatever you happen to
enjoy.
Don't be afraid of the sidehustle, trusting yourself.
Because that's what I did andit's worked out pretty well.
You know, like I said, I'm I'mabout as happy as I've ever been
.
Um, you know, money's, I meanmoney.
It's great you got to be ableto put food on your table and
all that type of stuff, but it'snot the end all.
Um, I guess that would be myfinal message of any of that
(22:09):
made sense.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Absolutely.
Ladies and gentlemen,ronkinsheriffcom or
papatellmeabookcom, please besure to keep up with everything
that Ron's up to Follow ratereview.
Share this episode to as manypeople as possible.
Follow us on your favoritepodcast app.
Visit wwwcurveball337.com formore information on the Living
(22:33):
the Dream with Curveballpodcast7.com for more
information on the Living theDream with Curveball podcast.
Thank you for listening andsupporting the show.
This does not happen withoutyou and Ron.
Thank you for all that you doand thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Oh, no, thanks for having me, it was fun.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
For more information on the Living the Dream with
Curveball podcast, visitwwwcurveball337.com.
Until next time, keep livingthe dream.
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