Having Written

You Should DO ANYTHING To See This Movie + My 6 (😳) September Reads

As usual, life continues to get in the way of my cool and interesting hobbies, like writing this newsletter and reading, but I'm wrapping up September before November comes, technically, so not too bad, right? 😅. My husband I took our two boys to Laika Studio's Wildwood

August Readings: UNHINGED "Protagonists" Doing Unhinged Things

August was a wild month for me--traveling, writing, working (a lot), vacationing (sort of), the school year starting back up and with it all of the activities. I know I sound like every other mom ever, but the truth is this is a near-universal experience. Well it is

How I protect my work from AI Witch Hunt allegations: “Pick Somebody Else"

Book World is all a’tizzy about AI Witch Hunting. And for good reason—a number of authors have seen their reputations attacked (best case) and book deals die (worst case) in response to allegations that their work is infected with GenerativeAI. I’m not exactly shy about my thoughts

SUMMER Book Review Mega Issue: Bangers from May through July

HELLO! Well it’s been a minute, I know. My body decided to break during an in-person, week-long writers’ workshop, and then trying to address all that + the insanity of summer put HAVING WRITTEN on the back burner. But here we are! Together again, In light of my

So there’s some good news and some bad news...

In response to a last month’s issue about NOT giving your milk away for free (i.e., not giving BigTech & their Overlords unfettered rights to reproduce your IP, likeness, etc. without paying you or asking your permission), I also posted a few Reels and did a breakdown on

Why Buy the Cow When You Can Get the Milk for Free? + The 10 books I read in April

Most people don't read the fine print when their tech devices push "updates to terms and conditions." Including me. Who has the time? Not me. ACCEPT. ⏭️ Buuuut: I will read them if need calls. This is one of those times. UGH but why? When you post

A Hack To Make Modern Life Less Terrible + 11 books I read in February & March

At my core, I am incredulous. Always have been, my parents can confirm. Generally, if an authority figure tells me I have to do something to fit in, get along with the crowd, accept some foregone conclusion, I'm not apt to listen. Yet I didn't get

ChatGPT will literally try to kill you. So walk away from Omelas with me.

Full disclosure: I'm mad. Real mad. So I'm going to talk about something really terrible, head's up. It regards a teenager and suicide, self-harm, and serious mental health issues. The whole thing is very upsetting. If you are NOT in the headspace to

Starting the Year with a BANG! - 10 books I read in January (one will surprise you)

Before we start with January's book reviews: I won't write this newsletter without acknowledging just how horrific the state of play in the United States is right now, and even since my last circular. This is no protracted rant, but I can't say nothing.

The 16 Books That Rocked My World in 2025 + A really cool thing that happened to me

In 2025, I hit triple digits. I've never read more than I did last year. Here is a tidy summary for your consideration. Well. How aesthetically pleasing, dear. But, um, what does this mean? Taking all of the facts I gathered and noted above, I've drawn

This Book Traumatized Me For Life + My 8 Other December reads (so far)

Let's establish a few items up front: 1. This is not a rant, it's a rave–The School for Good Mothers is a 5-star read. 2. This book is, however, a horror novel, I don't care what anybody says. 3. This is another

The Art of Getting Rejected + 2 emerging writers to watch + my 12 November reads

When the stack of rejection letters tacked to my bulletin board fell, I knew I had a topic for this first December edition of HAVING WRITTEN. The two tacks I'd pushed into the top left and right corners could no longer bear the stack's weight. Stephen

Get Your Money! (GenAI Copyright Lawsuits Edition) + My 7 October Reads

A few months ago, one of the biggest criminal enterprises responsible for intellectual property theft—Anthropic, owner of the Generative AI program Claude—agreed to settle to the tune of billions of dollars for said theft. The victory is owed in significant part to the Authors Guild; the craft'

New Levels of GenAI Hell Unlocked + My 7 September Reads

I'm taking an asynchronous writing course on honing the art of writing description. In weekly assignments, we occasionally use our own work to implement the instructor's prompt. Each week, we submit said assignment for teacher and student feedback. In early October, I submitted the first 400

My Six-Week Convalescence From Social Media + Why you must read 'Katabasis' NOW

If you follow me on Instagram, you also know I'm in an abusive relationship with it. I just can't quit that darn app. I intend to use it in a very limited way, and that's to stay in touch with the writer and bookish

Have you found your weirdos yet? 🫶🏻 + My 9 August reads

About a year ago, I joined a two-hour writing class. It was a cold, grey Saturday afternoon, and I was praying that the class's 12-2 PM time block would result in a full nap for the youngest member of my household so I didn’t have

Tell Me I'm A Freak (Reddit Bookish Edition) + 3 Witchy Books I'm Loving

I'm an internet 'normie' as the kids say (whose tho? who are these kids?). I'm told the internet gets really, really weird when you start scratching beyond the thumbnail-deep varnish level, so I try to avoid digging into it much. My internet use

This Book Had Me Sobbing In The Shower + Free (and ChEaP) Writing Resources + 9 July Reads

Anybody who's been in a workshop or writing group with me knows I'm obsessive about registering for writing classes and online writing hours/sprints. Why, you ask? I would love to tell you, but I'm afraid I don't know. Maybe I'

This Will Either Mentally Prepare You or Warn You Off + 4 June Reads

Hello again! I'm a week late, and I know you've been sitting there, salivating, dying for this next edition of Having Written; and so I apologize with great sincerity. But, you see, I traveled for 10 nights straight to my second cool writing adventure of the

My Time at the Iowa Writers' Workshop + 3 book reviews

Since the internet is terrifying, I withheld the location of my previously mentioned writing adventure, and I'm so excited now to share that I was accepted to (and attended) the first summer session at the Iowa Writers' Workshop in Iowa City. First, let me say that I&

CAUTION: This book DESTROYED me + 13 additional reads from April and May

I've read some absolute bangers in the last two months, so today I present to you a book list without much ranting. You're disappointed, I know, I'll make it up to you next time. The absolute 10/5 banger I read though? Woof. You&

Are you a book pervert too? + 3 AI cautionary tales that should scare you

The elder millennial in me is embarrassed that twice in a row now I've used rage bait from Threads as a topic for this newsletter. But it really is very egregious. You see, looks like I'm a book pervert. But what is a book pervert? OK,

You're Just Going to STEAL IT?! + 3 books I loved in April

It takes a lot for me to clutch my pearls. I'm almost 40, and the world is insane. But clutch my pearls I did when, this weekend on Threads, a user I follow (@mommacusses, who is hilarious, by the way) posted info about a woman who only recently

To Each His Own: Ratings In A Subjective World + 6 book reviews ranging from no rating to 5 stars

A very dear friend of mine apologized for not having read all Having Written's posts yet. She'd left a few of them flagged, and planned to work through, but hadn't caught up. So I realized: if this person—who is super close to me

March reads that left me shook (and the ones that didn't)

Bereft of inspiration for a witty topic, I figured since we're starting a new month, I'll share my March reading list with a quick review of each (9 total). They span a pretty wide range, so there's really something for everyone below! True, last