It’s been a busy month for me – finishing the rewrite of After the Rain, adding Mrs Christmas to the index of Advent Stories, launching this year’s campaign for the Advent Stories, three new blog posts, and now this – a new edition of the collection of Christmas Stories for Children, so that it nowContinue reading “Christmas Stories for Children NEW EDITION”
Author Archives: mjschofieldauthor
Advent 2020 – Mrs Christmas
It’s November again, and we all know what that means; the shops are filling up with chocolate and booze, the big brands are launching their Christmas adverts, and I add a new story to the index of Advent Stories and start my campaign to get you all to download a story for your Advent calendars.Continue reading “Advent 2020 – Mrs Christmas”
What’s in a name?
The tricky process of naming a novel
The First Three Chapters
The first three chapters of a novel are very important. Apparently, they are all an agent or publisher need to decide if the novel is any good. It is certainly all they want to see in a submission. Unfortunately, they are also the hardest chapters to write. Any new story needs exposition, introductions of charactersContinue reading “The First Three Chapters”
Author For Sale
Now that lockdown is easing, my period of sojourn is coming to an end. Schools start back soon and so I’ll be back at work full-time. Back to getting up at 6am, making packed lunches before breakfast and tea as soon as I get home. There’ll be homework to supervise and chores to do, followedContinue reading “Author For Sale”
My Lockdown Novel
Remember that new novel I was writing – when I last posted, I had 4 chapters written. Well, 86 days later, 20 chapters on, it is FINISHED! Today, 30th June 2020, I finished the first draft of The Hawthorn Bride. Literally this morning, at about 10.30. Thank you Lockdown. I know it has been aContinue reading “My Lockdown Novel”
Self-isolation – a good time to write a novel
Back in 1996, I had an idea for a pandemic love story. It was set in a house shared by four young twenty-somethings, struggling to survive through an epidemic that was bringing the country to a stand-still. One of the women would be ill, while two of her friends try to keep her alive atContinue reading “Self-isolation – a good time to write a novel”
Powerful Gods
One of my favourite DVD box-sets is the HBO series Rome. Originally broadcast between 2005 and 2007, it was a retelling of the story of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony and the end of the Roman democracy. Many of the characters were the big names well known from history, but alongside it, the scriptwriters had createdContinue reading “Powerful Gods”
New Year, New Look
Happy New Year! Ok, I know it’s already February, but this is my first blog of the year so I still get to say this. I hope your Christmas was a good one. Looking at the figures from my website, I can see that twenty-five of my Advent Stories were downloaded; more than half ofContinue reading “New Year, New Look”
A Shepherd’s Tale
The Oxen, by Thomas Hardy Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock. “Now they are all on their knees,” An elder said as we sat in a flock By the embers in hearthside ease. We pictured the meek mild creatures where They dwelt in their strawy pen, Nor did it occur to one ofContinue reading “A Shepherd’s Tale”
