EDITOR’S NOTE IN 500 WORDS
T
he Mash Stories writing competition is truly
underway. In the last three months we’ve seen
another flurry of great submissions: the keywords
this time around – Andromeda, democracy, dentist
– certainly didn’t put people off!
What is Bitcoin?
By Brian Crain, Founder of Epicenter Bitcoin
Bitcoin is a decentralized, global digital currency. If you
don’t know what that means, no problem. It takes a
while to wrap your head around it. But once you have
done, you might just join those who believe that Bitcoin
is the most important innovation since the internet.
It’s also a global thing and sending money to some
remote corner of Africa is just as easy, cheap and fast as
sending it to the person sitting right next to you (as long
as there is internet). With Bitcoin, you can be your own
bank and you take control of your own money.
Bitcoin is money, so you can use it in the same way. You
can buy a pizza, furniture, your coffee or even a space
flight with Virgin Galactic using Bitcoin. The number of
businesses that accept it, ranging from small local stores
to major e-commerce sites, is growing rapidly. But what
makes people really excited about Bitcoin is something
else.
It’s a revolution that’s breaking up the outdated, rusty
and corrupt world of banking and replacing it with
something that is open, decentralized, efficient, impartial
and that knows no borders. And you can become part of
it too.
Bitcoin is not issued or controlled by a government.
There is no central company, committee or authority
that sets up arbitrary rules or abuses the system for
their own profit. No banks or credit card companies take
a cut from your transactions. Instead, control is with the
individual. When you send bitcoin, it’s always person-toperson, so no one can tell you what to do and what not
to do.
so, you’ll have seen the Breaking Bad-inspired
article. Well, cooking up a short story is just as
complicated, just as fine an art. To continue with
the cooking analogy, I find it’s like making a fine
stock: you start with certain ingredients, you chop
them up and bring them together, then let them
simmer for a while – and your final result should
be a delicious, concentrated reduction.
One thing I’m finding fascinating about the Mash
concept is how it forces you to question your
every sentence. You really get to understand not
just what is important to your story, but also what
is important to you. The way you are forced to
remove so many phrases that you were proud
of, so that you can round off the story adequately
in 500 words. The way you have to shift things
around, deleting one thing here so that you can
add something more crucial in another place. Most
of all, the word limit makes you realize just how
sparing you can be with language and still get your
point across – you realise how little you actually
need.
And that’s what this competition is like. In
attempting to write for Mash, I’ve found that the
genius of the competition is this: the exercises
you go through as an author to respond to the
challenge make you a better writer. First of all,
you write, and you maybe leave it a while before
going back to your story. Then you edit, because
you’ve had a little time to think about it. So you
improve your editing skills, and then you churn
out a better story. This version, because it’s such
an improvement on your last, is more difficult for
you to edit. So you have to become an even better
writer to make sure that the second, third or fourth
edit is finally satisfactory. Put simply, with Mash
Stories, you teach yourself something new at every
step, in every competition.
This doesn’t mean that a 500-word short story has
to be linguistically boring, though. The satisfaction
of finding the perfect word to replace a whole
sentence is huge. That vital adverb can speak
volumes; the rule of “show, don’t tell” has never
been more applicable, or necessary.
This quarter, another of our judges presented
their inspiration piece. Jennifer Harvey’s The
Technician Has Eyes of Deepest Blue is dreamy,
introspective and beautifully written. You can read
the winning and shortlisted stories from 2014’s
second competition in this Mash Magazine (as well
as Jennifer’s story) and online.
Hopefully you’ve been reading the Mash blog. If
Why not buy some bitcoins (if you’re in the US visit
As ever, to find out more about Mash Stories, to
vote for the shortlisted stories, to enter the current
competition, or to find out how you can help us
out, please visit our website – MashStories.com.
Coinbase.com, if not, Localbitcoins.com), see what you
can buy with bitcoins on BitPremier, find a local Bitcoin
meetup group, and of course, don’t forget to donate a
bit to Mash Stories.
Visit EpicenterBitcoin.com for more information
Cheryl Whittaker
Chief Editor and Judge at Mash Stories
3