Mark Schoedl

Mark Schoedl has returned to his home in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin from La Mirada, California. As a second-grade student, he had written a short story about a Leprechaun walking through some rural streets of a small hamlet. Mrs. Weber, his second-grade instructor, had decided to show the story to his kindergarten teacher. The child has done something cherished by adults. What a concept! The writing bug took shape throughout his collegiate years. The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater provided the written word to flow in a more even-handed, poetic art stylist, and journalistic prose format. Thus, the short-story began to flow in a more even-handed, consistent, and artless form. One could call it “Matter-of-fact” reportorial text. Also, character development and researched story setting locations enabled its peoples to converse and interact with humane candor with hidden pasts. In other words, he was able to establish a sense of realism and believability to set up the story’s theme. Of course, a chasm of despair would shape the conflicts and imperfections each character shelters from the public eye. The attempt at authorship did not flourish until he reached the tender age of sixty. The workplace was not kind to his efforts no matter how hard he may have tried. Finally, with his release of New to the Game in May of 2020, Mark began to see change. New to the Game unveils its characters as they appear in everyday life. The book of sixteen short-stories simply askes its readers, “is there anything we can do to change our course? Or is this all that life offers? Can we change without sticking our nose in another’s affairs?” New to the Game is Mark Schoedl’s second adult book to focus on our joys and sorrows: will we learn to feel and understand our own arrested development? How? Why? And, moreover, how can we individually address this so we can move on to live and live in the present?