Category Archives: Commentary

MonsterMash Blog Hop

Posted on October 24, 2018 by mtdecker

What happens when a bunch of writers decide there isn’t enough FlashFiction in their lives?  Why, they issue a challenge – Write a story inspired by Annie Lennox ‘s “No More I Love Yous – 500-700 words – post it … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Story, writing | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

A(nother) Year in Seattle

Posted on June 29, 2018 by mtdecker

About this time 18 years ago, I had just finished “A Year in Seattle” where I told a story in journal format – posting one entry a day for a year.  When I started I doubted I’d make it, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Editing, general, Life, Story, writing | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Anatomy of an edit: Less might not be more, but sometimes it’s better

Posted on November 17, 2015 by mtdecker

This week’s Flash Friday prompt inspiration was “Pilgrim’s Progress” and the Elements that were given almost wrote the story in my head… only with 100 words +/- 1.. I had my work cut out for me. The first draft started out nicely: Good … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Editing, Flash Fiction, Poetry, Story, writing | Leave a comment

Welcome to the insanity that is: NaNoWriMo

Posted on November 12, 2015 by mtdecker

It’s that time of year again: friends vanish for long stretches of time and start obsessing about word counts and write-ins, all in the name of NaNoWriMo.  For those of you who haven’t heard about it, November is National Novel … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Tips | Tagged | Leave a comment

Windows 10 – One feature that makes it worthwhile

Posted on November 5, 2015 by mtdecker

When I’m not writing, or writing about writing… I’m a software developer with enough slashes after it to cover all things software, and more than a few hardware oriented geekly tasks.  It means wearing a lot of different hats, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Software | Leave a comment

Trying not to lose the reader

Posted on August 13, 2015 by mtdecker

One of the hardest lessons I’ve learned when it comes to Miro/Flash Fiction is keeping it short without losing the story– or the audience. With flash fiction, I’ve learned that you have to limit the scope of the story and … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, general, Judging, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

55 Word Fiction

Posted on May 21, 2014 by mtdecker

Believe it or not, I’m beginning to think that its easier to write a 55 word story than a 150 word story since there is no room for embellishments that will lead to overwriting… With the return of the 55 word challenge I’m … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Flash Fiction, writing | Tagged | 2 Comments

A Serious Word on Backups…

Posted on May 19, 2014 by mtdecker

Making a backup isn’t always enough – take it from me: go the extra step and make sure a) you’ve backed up what you think you have and b) it actually worked. I’ve just come back from a ‘catastrophic’ failure … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, general, Hardware, Tips, Uncategorized, writing | Tagged | 1 Comment

Confessions of a Flash Fiction Addict

Posted on May 7, 2014 by mtdecker

Flash fiction contests can do a lot for writers, but it should come with an addiction warning. We’re coming up on the anniversary of my first submission to FlashFriday, and my first honorable mention.   I went from writing sagas … Continue reading →

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Editing – a few of my favorite mistakes

Posted on May 5, 2014 by mtdecker

We all have those typos that live in infamy, those occasions where we edit but leave something behind… The following are a few of my favorites. As you may, or may not know, I’m working on editing the novel I … Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary, Editing, Humor, writing | Tagged , | Leave a comment