Chisel Chips

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  • What this site is about
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  • 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

Brothers under the … sail

Visiting old Montreal today, and while standing outside the IGA grocery with my dog, Satchel, I caught the eye of a couple sharing the chill breeze for a smoke. He…

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October 4, 2019
fiction, Flash Fiction, literary magazines, writing

Why short stories? Why not?

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…

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September 17, 2025
fiction, Life, literary magazines, writing

“Hobo Heart” publication is a little bit like pregnancy and birth

Not that I would know a bit what it’s like to be pregnant, or give birth. The analogy may make a little more sense if you understand that submitting a…

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January 9, 2022

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
  • Life,  Uncategorized

    My wife’s nearly brilliant future career in futzing

    chiselch / November 10, 2018

    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 if expert futzers…

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  • Life,  Uncategorized

    The looming threat of the DIY real estate sales person (i.e. the owner)

    chiselch / July 15, 2018

    Some of my best friends are Realtors. I just might be less than happy if my daughter were to marry one. Had to share a link with y’all. This came to my attention,…

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  • Uncategorized

    RIP, Mom, this life was not for you

    chiselch / March 20, 2018

    My greatest teacher died the other day, at age 91. For the last 34 years of her life — since retirement — Mom became increasingly angry and bitter. Her disdain for humanity and…

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  • Uncategorized

    The clues all point to Holmes

    chiselch / January 6, 2018

    The young woman checking me in to the Quality Inn & Suites in Twin Falls, Idaho, asks my name. “Watson.” “Hmm, I had a Moriarty earlier today.” “Sherlock Holmes fan?” “Yep.” “Cumberbatch or…

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  • Uncategorized

    For art to rise and shine, it needs neighbors who toe the line

    chiselch / November 18, 2016

    What is the link between travel and art? Is a destination, by virtue of its mass appeal, sentenced to a diminished craft community, of tinkerers and self-selected assemblers of earrings and shapers of…

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  • Uncategorized

    All the really good ideas die in the e-mail ‘Trash’ bucket

    chiselch / May 2, 2016

    (Editor’s note: Despite the proliferation of social media, e-mail is still the killer app. It fosters business, and healthy, creative personal interaction. This is a transcript of an actual exchange, conducted between the…

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  • Why short stories? Why not?
  • 2nd place winner in Cambridge Short Story Prize 2025
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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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