Oh, hey, here's the link!

forms.gle/AeuD8miYEuZV...

that was amazing, and now i can make my husband better understand this horror. (i tried explaining it, and it was too convoluted for my scattered brain, and this is hilarious as well.)

thank you for the reminder! i got apples & couldn't remember why. 😂

the scam is insurance companies convincing us that teeth & eyes aren't part of health. okay, no, wait, the real scam is for-profit health insurance in the first place.

🤣

the reality is that if i worked ANY minimum-wage job, i would have made a lot more money in far less time than i've spent on my books. so while money IS a factor (if i can't afford to do it, that's the end of it), i obviously do it for love & because i have a day job that pays the bills.

i'm thrilled that my books have paid for themselves (after 2.5 years) in terms of the money i spent on editing, covers, word processing software for long works, stock photography, classes, books, etc but there are also ongoing expenses for graphics, website, and marketing.

people are endlessly creative, but some of them are also just plain wrong. 🤣

right? i prefer green-flag heroes myself, but to each their own

thank you! it was a delightful surprise!

EXACTLY! that's why it's so delicious! pump that sh!t directly into my veins!!!!

;(

also, much of journalism now has been reduced to "must get more clicks today than yesterday," so even if the event had happened previously & had been covered well & we're the ones who did it, now we've got this shiny new take on it that will be controversial because that generates more interactions.

i see the appeal. there's no guilt in telling your inner thoughts, no worries they'll be too busy, no jealousies, etc. but i agree about worsening things. there's already rising entitlement across many areas, and lack of empathy, and i think both will be exacerbated by an on-demand flattery system

but, yes, there is a vast difference between a real person choosing to control or influence their chat partner in a deliberately harmful way, and an unmonitored, unregulated AI program that no one takes any responsibility for BUT MONETIZES that is known to hallucinate and encourage people to do harm

i was thinking more from the perspective of people trying to influence/seduce their chat partner by agreeing with everything, encouraging their worst impulses, harping on the negatives, dismissing any concerns or responsibilities, manipulation to their own ends, and dishonest judgments.

that was where i was going with my initial reply. i remember how isolating it was to have postpartum depression and two 2 under 2. everyone tells you how luck you are to be home with them (and it IS lucky & wonderful in many ways), but it's also unfathomably lonely even though you have no alone time

(and i'm a self-published author, so i'm not mocking that. but i read literally thousands of books in the genre and my sub-genres before dipping my toe in. i didn't watch marketing videos and decide i could reinvent the genre without doing my homework.)