Sometimes, the internet is terrible. Other times, it invites you along on an exciting adventure.

“Is this you? I suppose it is, but not the same me from this time last year. I feel more like a tree that’s dropped all its leaves, branches mostly unchanged, new growth just beginning to flush.” @jadjosey.bsky.social | @havehashad.com www.havehashad.com/hadposts/rep...

It’s fine that I am in a write-for-five-minutes-at-a-time phase of life. I just want to finish my Flash Monster piece, figure out this ska kid flash, put together a tiny apocalypse chap, complete the second draft of my eco-horror novel and and and

September sub window: OPEN 🪟

Today’s writing assignment:

People really should be careful about the music they listen to as a kid because now nasally vocals and horn sections make me intensely nostalgic.

maybe the real novel is all the short stories we wrote along the way

ICYMI: I wrote a story about nostalgia and parties and the gorgeous wild unseriousness of this life and how sad and good it all is, and it has (almost) nothing to do with politics at all and I do really hope you read it because I wrote it for you ashortstorylong.substack.com/p/your-life-...

It’s true. Join us.

I can already tell this is one of those stories that worked its way into my heart and brain. It’s so good.

Remember when you were little and you looked at someone and you were like, “you’re cool, let’s be friends?” It’s literally that. Sincerity and genuine interest are where it’s at. Don’t play it cool, and don’t devalue yourself. Just be a person.

It’s that time* again. *time to have a headache, which reminds me of the short story Harrison Bergeron, which I think of every time I get a particularly distracting headache, which means I’ve reflected on that particular short story approximately 72,000 times since the 9th or 10th grade. Maybe 8th.

Sharing for anyone who needs this reminder to embrace your passions. “Joy is believing that it all adds up, that it all matters, that your dumb, small, deluded thing is the reason you’re alive.” — @heatherhav.bsky.social

If you’ve ever wondered how Midwestern I am, I occasionally think to myself ‘oh, I should send a thank you note!’ for particularly nice thank you notes I receive.

i hope this email never finds you. i hope you are free

“I tell a love that elbow should be longer than five letters because I picture a whole arm, but an arm is only three letters, and foot is longer than leg. He understands, and our brains will dance across the pink and grey of each other forever I think.”

Yeah, I’m a sucker for nostalgia and stories about friendship and stories that are somehow more than stories, so I loved this one.

In case you missed this tiny haunting over the summer. crowcrosskeys.com/2025/07/19/a...

I love writing horror, because I have a valid reason to leave myself notes like “make something terrible happen here.”

genre fiction is so powerful. and if I can add, I think the entire romance genre boils down to the idea that it's never a mistake to love someone.

I think nearly the entire Horror genre boils down to the idea that it is worthwhile to fight until your very last breath. Even, and maybe especially, when there is no hope.

And it was an amazing performance that I wish was only memorable because it was great.

After consulting with @ramccafferty.bsky.social, we think our shared answer is that we were at what turned out to be the last Beastie Boys concert at Bonnaroo in 2009.

psst: if you’d like email notice about our next submission period (very soon), please join our NEW mailing list! sign-up link is under the “Future” tab on our website!

Just finished Hungerstone for my book club and now I need ~all~ the dark, atmospheric, gothic reads.

“Every Midwest city is a battle cry in need of a battle. Every dead kid is a lighthouse without a harbor or water…” New from Eric Morris! https://www.havehashad.com/2o4sx

clouds and trees and water

Got my story (and, more importantly, a sappy HAD’s the best cover letter) in!

I repeat:

(I don’t want to look at it straight on and scare it away, but I’m excited to write my novel-in-progress again?)

I’ve never read James Lee Burke (though I now want to!) but adored this essay. The last line is perfect.

“We don’t always have time to do things when the children get older, when the baby is more settled, when the bloodwork improves, or when the toddler is more regulated. In our messy, non-linear, unpredictable humanity, we only have now for sure.”

*moth*

The most succinct anti-AI argument.

This is so encouraging.

Wait, should we do this? Starting tomorrow? 600 words X 150 days. A draft by end of year?

I have a stack of physical books I want to read next (all horror fiction) but I also like to have ebooks for my phone when I’m surprise nap-trapped by my newborn. I can only flip between books if they’re totally different genres, though. So, anyone have nonfiction/craft/essay collection suggestions?

This, 100%.

Also, this, related to my last post.

Oh man. I knew I wanted to be a journalist when I went to college, but I had no clue how much I’d love sociology until that first 101-style class. It eventually became my minor, largely just for the fun of learning, at the time. But I see all the time how studying sociology shaped the way I think.

Occasionally, Dexter Holland or Dave Matthews go viral for being, well, good people, and I feel like 15-year-old Rachel is just waiting in the wings, ready to pop out and spring trivia and songs on unsuspecting posters, feeling justified.

So … is it time to start keeping track of Halloween-related calls? Anyone got any?

So … is it time to start keeping track of Halloween-related calls? Anyone got any?

"a cliff carved by need, and her muscles no longer remembered the before."

“There once was a flame, bold and bright and tough to look at straight on. The flame had a soul and the soul was a girl and the girl turned all she touched to ash.” My latest, in @crowkeys.bsky.social. crowcrosskeys.com/2025/07/19/a...

Among the greatest promotional photos of all time are these for the 1990 television movie of IT, where it looks like a prestige legal drama about a firm of hot young lawyers and one associate who likes to dress up like a clown.

Watching the picks roll in for this and realizing anew how much sad ‘90s as a genre is my vibe.

“There once was a flame, bold and bright and tough to look at straight on. The flame had a soul and the soul was a girl and the girl turned all she touched to ash.” My latest, in @crowkeys.bsky.social. crowcrosskeys.com/2025/07/19/a...

The two greatest evils known to mankind, A.I. and the person directly in front of you in line at the post office, have finally teamed up. We’re done.

I don’t know yet if I can make it this year, but the line-up of events and speakers/educators looks amazing!