I think one of the biggest challenges of modern life is how different our life has become from the conditions we evolved in as a species. In my experience, we are wired to be dissatisfied unless we fulfill biological goals (get food, create a safe environment for children, secure a position within the community, etc.) And yet we also cannot be happy unless we fulfill the values we are taught through upbringing.

How to reconcile the vegetarian with the hunter, I wonder?

Some people believe that the reality we experience is a simulation run by some super-advanced machine. Okay, it might be. But I wonder how these people can function while holding this belief?

Because, in my opinion, if you believe that reality is simulated, then there is very little reason to believe that anybody but you is conscious in this simulation. You could conceivably be a creature of some sort playing a single-player game, and everything and everyone else could be an NPC.

Consider this next time you look into a loved one’s eyes: to be rational, some people must believe that when they look at their child, there is nothing there.

Well, Bethesda screwed up. And they are not idiots, so they knew that they were going to screw up, and yet they shipped a raw-ass product, and now people customers are pissed.

Let me preface this by saying that I love Bethesda. I still play Skyrim modded to high heaven, and I've put more hours into games by Bethesda than into games by any other company. I know they can do their jobs well, so it's not like they published this unplayable junk because they couldn't do better–they decided to release an untested mess.

I think there can be two reasons that can motivate someone to publish a product that is obviously not ready for public consumption. The main one is an urgent need for money, as in they were facing lay-offs because of a poorly implemented business model. Bethesda isn't like EA: they don't publish a thousand separately-priced DLCs and packages to create a constant stream of money. So when they publish, say, Skyrim, they need to be confident that the money from it will tide them over until they publish another game. It's risky, and we as players need to give companies that use Bethesda's model some leeway, because sometimes they will be overly optimistic and get starved for cash, and there is very little that can be done about that.

Had no idea how much my Amazon ads were getting served to readers of vampire and shifter fantasy romance. Gods, I should have gotten to throwing out all those marketing keywords much sooner.

Some people must have been very confused when they clicked on my book expecting sizzling romance and erotica from cover to cover.

Let's talk about the argument that life has diversity without a narrative reason, so it's obvious that all fiction should have diversity of race, sex, and gender.

The problem here is the assumption that good fiction reflects reality–all fiction needs in order to be effective is to be more stimulating and fun than everyday life. Ever recorded a conversation at a dining room table? It would be full of repetitions, mumbling, and pointless agreement. Good dialog is confrontational, succinct, and indirect. Ever tried to record your Tuesday and make it into a novel?

The writer's job is to distill something commonplace into an experience for the reader. And to do this, the writer needs to have a reason for every word they put on the page.