Chisel Chips

What is revealed by what is removed

  • What this site is about
  • Reach me
  • Blog
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  • Going Places
  • Driving and Drinking with Dracula
  • What this site is about
  • Reach me
  • Blog
  • Publications
  • Going Places
  • Driving and Drinking with Dracula

Tags

art beyond centro big one budget buses collectivos daily life discomfort disruption doing nothing e-mail earthquakes essay exploring by foot export economy fiction friends FSBO garbage gringos go walking inflated importance language barriers literature Mexico travel mountains out of molehills neighbors Oaxaca off the tourist path outside the guidebooks oversize loads real estate sales really big one rental cars serendipity shrine of the holy torilla something sorting it out speculative fiction transportation travel unfamiliar virgin visions walking wasting time whimsy
Uncategorized

Pedro, you’re my kind of guy

Too many people approach travel like a to-do list. Read the guidebooks and brochures. Then go, go, go. Tick them off to say you did, and … what of it?…

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April 22, 2019
Life, Uncategorized

My wife’s nearly brilliant future career in futzing

My wife loves food. Cooking it, and eating it. She hates futzing, even though she’s pretty good at doing it. Expert cooks build temples to their talent — restaurants. What…

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November 10, 2018
Life, Uncategorized

The finest line

When is it abuse, and when is it guided introduction to the mysteries of life? When is it “criminal,” and when is it a rite of passage? There’s a fine…

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June 23, 2020

Tags

art beyond centro big one budget buses collectivos daily life discomfort disruption doing nothing e-mail earthquakes essay exploring by foot export economy fiction friends FSBO garbage gringos go walking inflated importance language barriers literature Mexico travel mountains out of molehills neighbors Oaxaca off the tourist path outside the guidebooks oversize loads real estate sales really big one rental cars serendipity shrine of the holy torilla something sorting it out speculative fiction transportation travel unfamiliar virgin visions walking wasting time whimsy
  • fiction,  Flash Fiction,  literary magazines,  writing

    Why short stories? Why not?

    chiselch / September 17, 2025

    It would be presumptuous to think my little site could influence you — and you, too — in your reading habits. So let me presume. I love short stories, perhaps the main reason…

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  • fiction,  Life,  literary magazines

    2nd place winner in Cambridge Short Story Prize 2025

    chiselch / September 15, 2025

    I rarely enter writing contests, not because I don’t believe in my work, but more because I’ve been to Vegas. The odds. So it was with a bit of what-the-heck that I tossed…

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  • fiction,  Life,  relationships,  Uncategorized,  writing

    Something Quirky and Gothic, Just for You

    chiselch / July 7, 2025

    Happy over here to celebrate the appearance of my story “Wisdom & Co.” among a host of other fine fictions at The Short Story site. It’s a lean, clean temple to short fiction…

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  • fiction,  Life,  Life as we know it,  literary magazines,  Lowestoft Chronicle,  relationships,  techno tattle,  Travel

    Technology justifies itself after the criminal fact

    chiselch / December 2, 2024

    Ahh, the poor, hapless tigress, blinded by the pursuit of her prey. Confident, yes, that she has executed the perfect crime. Done in, as it happens, by the ubiquitous technology of our modern…

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  • fiction,  Life,  relationships,  Uncategorized,  writing

    Tale inspired by a past that felt like quicksand: “Unfurnished,” in Does It Have Pockets?

    chiselch / November 2, 2024

    Check out a fresh story of mine — it’s titled “Unfurnished” — just up today on hip new lit site, Does It Have Pockets? As with all things fiction, this tale has its…

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  • Uncategorized

    Rejection, I Spit in Your Face

    chiselch / July 15, 2024

    In the amateur business of pursuing fame through publication in (mostly) online publications, one dances with two partners — acceptance, and rejection. Not every partner wants to dance, at least not with me.…

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Recent Posts

  • Why short stories? Why not?
  • 2nd place winner in Cambridge Short Story Prize 2025
  • Something Quirky and Gothic, Just for You
  • Technology justifies itself after the criminal fact
  • Tale inspired by a past that felt like quicksand: “Unfurnished,” in Does It Have Pockets?

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Tags

art beyond centro big one budget buses collectivos daily life discomfort disruption doing nothing e-mail earthquakes essay exploring by foot export economy fiction friends FSBO garbage gringos go walking inflated importance language barriers literature Mexico travel mountains out of molehills neighbors Oaxaca off the tourist path outside the guidebooks oversize loads real estate sales really big one rental cars serendipity shrine of the holy torilla something sorting it out speculative fiction transportation travel unfamiliar virgin visions walking wasting time whimsy

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