Eau Claire author Rick Schemm (pictured above) is a retired Human Resources Director, who now writes stories on relationships within families and circles of friends. Familiar places and spaces at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire have become a central through line in his latest novel, The Mysteries of Love, Long Since Past.

The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (UW-Eau Claire), which will celebrate its 100^th Blugold Homecoming this weekend, plays a major supporting role amidst a cast of characters in local author Rick Schemm’s latest and third novel, The Mysteries of Love, Long Since Past.

Little Niagara, The Davies Center, Katherine Thomas and Putnam Hall dormitories are just a few of the places reminisced by 70-year-old Henry and 65-year-old Cecilia, two of the main characters.

Henry, who recently lost his wife Ruth from cancer — and finds himself in the midst of his own cancer diagnosis — is bound and determined to reconnect with a woman he met only briefly while at UW-Eau Claire.

She continues to appear in a recurring dream, and he finds himself wondering if it’s just his creative imagination in a deep slumber, or instead, is grounded in real memories from his time in school.

The dream — and the mystery surrounding it — causes Henry to spearhead a road trip west to Eau Claire from New Haven, Connecticut — where he has had a successful career and a wonderful marriage. Going along for the ride is Cecelia, a teacher who graduated from UW-Eau Claire and befriended Ruth and Henry shortly after moving to Connecticut.

What begins as a simple road trip to find someone from the past evolves into a quest to find the answers to the curious predictions from over forty years earlier.

Cecelia was engaged to Henry’s best friend, Jimmy who grew up in Fall Creek, Wisconsin. They had met at UW-Eau Claire, and after moving to Connecticut for Jimmy’s career early on, agreed to disengage after being called to care for their parents, hers in Connecticut and his back in Wisconsin.

Long-time friend and 70-year-old Arthur also joins the group, hoping to reconnect with James — his first love — who he met at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where they both started their college teaching careers. Along the way, they also pick up Summer, Arthur’s 50-year-old niece, a wealthy divorcee who lives in New Jersey and doesn’t like flying. She wants to see her son Brian, who lives in Middleton, Wisconsin.

The Mysteries of Love, Long Since Past, by Rick Schemm.

Last — and certainly not least — is Cecelia’s fur baby Max, a friendly young Labradoodle, full of puppy energy.

Woven into the storyline are Jimmy’s odd quirky traits for which he was known for all his life. Jimmy called them “signs,” which reinforced his belief “that almost everything that happened in life was destined to happen, a simple but elegant part of some master plan the universe had for everyone…and if you looked closely enough, you could see things happen around you that gave clues about what the universe had in store for the future of people.”

As the group travel across the country, Jimmy’s predictions from forty years earlier suddenly come to have some hidden meaning.

Schemm got into writing by chance in 2021 after a conversation with his son Isaac, a software engineer who serves as Schemm’s editor (and also writes short stories for his own enjoyment).

On a drive to Schemm, his wife Donna, and Isaac's family cabin, that's where the idea for his first book titled Out of Left Field; Life’s Unexpected Journey in a Season of Tigers Baseball popped into his head.

Schemm said he has been on a mission to visit every Major League Baseball stadium (five left to go!), and many of those trips have been with his sons Jake and Isaac.

His second book, titled The Grandma Effect, came to him after reading news stories of family members who had never met but then later found each other. The book is about a grandmother and grandson who attend the University of Wyoming together, but had never known each other until she sold all of her belongings, moved away from San Francisco, enrolled at his college, and moved into his dorm.

After getting over the shock and surprise when they meet on move-in day, they quickly discover that they have completely opposite personalities, leading to some moments of both tension and humor. UW-Eau Claire also makes brief appearances as a sideline in this novel.

A central theme in all three books is an adventure that involves family and friends, according to Schemm. He believes all three could be considered in the genre of adventure fiction and romance fiction.

“I’m writing books that are, I hope, simply fun to read with feel-good stories…light and entertaining.”

Rick Schemm

author, The Mysteries of Love, Long Since Past

Schemm chose the self-publishing route via Amazon after trying the querying route — every two to four weeks — for six months and not getting a hit. He shared that since the COVID-19 pandemic, he learned there are a lot more people writing manuscripts. Schemm said he's pleased with the results of self-publishing and has no regrets.

He admitted in an email, he is very much a cold-weather writer, and credits his wife of 42 years, Donna, for supporting him in his new passion of writing fiction. In the author section of each book, he notes writing is how he survives the cold and snowy winters in northwestern Wisconsin.

“In the winter months, I can sometimes spend up to 10 hours in a week writing. I need a block of at least two hours of available time to make the writing session worth my while,” Schemm said. “Once spring arrives, though, my writing usually stops. Yet I keep an active, running, physical list of story ideas that pop into my head throughout the warmer seasons.”

Schemm retired from the field of human resources in 2017. He had a successful 23-year-career at Royal Credit Union when he left there as Director of Human Resources in the fall of 2012. He then did HR consulting for small businesses and additional work in the HR field until his retirement.

“I don’t have a goal to become a great writer,” Schemm shared. “I’m writing books that are, I hope, simply fun to read with feel-good stories…light and entertaining.”

Rick Schemm’s three novels, The Mysteries of Love, Long Since Past(2025), The Grandma Effect (2025) and Out of Left Field; Life’s Unexpected Journey in a Season of Tigers Baseball (2022) are available in paperback — online and in person — at The Local Store (205 N. Dewey Street, Eau Claire).