Personally, I've never had it as a goal in life to be happy. Seems impossible to achieve. Even the Declaration of Independence seems to acknowledge this. They talk about the pursuit of happiness, not happiness itself.

I promote my own self-hatred.

I don't laugh that much, but I do like humorous books, and I like to entertain readers that way.

The work changes the way your face changes and ages - it just does. Also, I have very little connection to anything I've written. I move on. We all move on

Then again, the name, the associations with a writer's name, can add to the reader's entertainment and pleasure.

The real self and the public self are intertwined, like a tumor around an organ, and you can't cut the tumor or you'll kill the organ, so they live together, until the tumor chokes the organ off - but which self is the tumor?. Or it's like something out of Star Trek. The Borg.

Oh, God, I don't know what's more difficult, life or the English language.