Laura Pfalz

11:36 pm: Something I Have To Get Off My Chest...
Prepare yourselves. I feel a rant coming on. I frequent various messageboards (as a lurker) of topics I'm interested in, and lately I have been deeply disturbed by the way people talk and act. I consider myself a relatively mature, open-minded, tolerant, tactful, and overall kind individual. And from what I have observed, a large percentage of people do not strive to be any of these things. I am no saint, believe me, but when I witness how cruel people are, I have to wonder why so many have lowered their standards as human beings. We are all free to share our opinions, it is part of what makes us different from each other, but the opinions I see hold no weight as they are based on prejudices and hate and stereotypes. Whether it be about race or religion or even just about a person's looks, the hateful attitudes I have been seeing is quite disturbing. I realize people are "braver" on the internet because of the anonymity and speak much more freely than they do in "real life", but in some ways that is even more frightening. You could be standing by someone who is thinking nothing but cruel, hateful things about you and you'll have no idea. Not that I think everyone should just go around spewing out the first things that jump into their minds, but I have to wonder, why are those thoughts there to begin with?

I realize it's unrealistic that everyone loves and respects everyone else, despite their differences. But what isn't unrealistic is a little thing called "tolerance". We don't have a lot of control over our thoughts, I understand that. Two-thirds of my thoughts come randomly and make little sense in the grand scheme of things. However, I have learned along the way, in my 22 years of living, that it is important to not judge someone by what's on the outside, but rather the inside. As cliche as it sounds, it's still a hell of a lot better than hating each other at first glance. We as human beings have the ability to improve ourselves, and from what I've seen, people are more interested in digging their heels into the dirt and using the excuse that they're "set in their ways". In my opinion, we are not truly "set in our ways" until we are six feet under. And who knows, maybe not even then.

If this comes off as preachy, you've missed the point (and probably not for the first time). We live in an imperfect world, filled with imperfect creatures. Why so many people need to point out every imperfection in each other to make themselves seem a bit closer to perfection, is a mystery to me. To me, these kinds of people are the MOST imperfect of all. We can only grow as human beings by opening our eyes to the world around us and seeing the beauty, rather than the flaws. And if your idea of beauty is what you see on TV, then your eyes might as well be closed.

Unfortunatley, I know all this is probably wasted on the close-minded people anyway. What a vicious cycle.

01:08 am: It's A New Year
I can't believe it's another new year. Are they going faster or is it just me? My holidays were decent, lost some traditions for one reason or another, but overall not bad. This is the first time I didn't cry on New Year's Eve. I'm not sure if I was relieved the year was over or just indifferent. I would wager the latter.

The new year has started out well. I finished writing (not publishing) my 21st novel! Yea! I wrote it longhand, which seems to get the job done faster than typing. Just too many distractions on the computer, I guess. I have about 5 more that I'm in the middle of writing, and a whole notebook of ideas, so I never have a shortage of work to do. Unfortunately I used to get a lot more done in a year. I'm not sure what's changed exactly. I should have more time, and it feels like I have so much less. Or maybe I just have trouble focusing. It feels like time just flies by and I'm left wondering what I filled it with. Maybe that's just how it is, the older you get.

On that depressing note, I think I'll end this entry. Not much to say tonight.

03:01 am: Where have I been?
I can't believe how long it's been since I posted here. The summer seemed to drag by, but I guess it actually went pretty fast. I was just looking at my cousin's journal, and she had this survey thing filled out, so I thought I'd take it and fill it out too. I haven't done one of these in years.

( Survey )

10:02 pm: I've been joining several communities at Live Journal lately, as suggested by a friend of mine. I'm not overly social I must admit, but it is fun to discuss things I'm interested in. I'm not really a part of any groups online (or offline for that matter :P), and this sounded like a good way to meet people and share interests. You can click on my user profile (on the left of this page) and see what groups I've joined. I'll probably join some more soon, but I'm already having trouble keeping track so I may take a little break for now ;P

Let's see what can I talk about? I watched the season finale of American Idol, and Carrie won, yea! Nothing against Bo, but me and my sister are Carrie fans :)

I'm a huge fan of the new show Lost, and I'm so sad that I have to wait months before seeing it again. I can't wait to see what the deal is with that hatch, and what happens to Walt! Poor Walt :( And if you haven't seen the show, I probably sound nuts, but if you have, then you know what I'm talking about. Did I just state the obvious or what? Anywaaaay...

I just sent back my page proofs to my publisher for my upcoming book "Castle of Death". That means I just gotta wait for cover design and my release date...yea! I'm hoping for the best with it. I've already written the rough drafts for two sequels to it, and am currently working on a prequel. I think horror fans are really going to like it . I'm also still working on the book trailer for it (see http://home.earthlink.net/~laurapfalz/trailers.html ), been hunting for images to use to get it put together. Once I get my final page proofs, I'm also going to be adding a sample chapter (maybe two!), so keep a look out for that!

Well that's it for now.

Current Mood: busy

Current Music: All Mixed Up by Tom Petty

Leave a comment

03:28 am: Long Overdue for an Update
Ok ok, I'm the worst person to keep a journal. Frankly, here's where I stand on the subject: if I'm going to sit down and write about something, I'd rather it not be my life. Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with my life. I'm content to live it, however, writing about it just makes it seem, well, either too dull or overdramatic :P If it's dull, it's a waste to write it down. If it's overdramatic, that energy belongs in fiction (in my humble opinion).

So, do you think that's the end of this journal? Uh-uh, no way. It's just time to look at it in a different way.

My website (located at www.laurapfalz.com - sorry shameless plug, I know) already has a page for news about things going on in my "writing career" as well as updates to the site itself. I'm not gonna talk about stuff like that here (unless I really wanna, in which case, you can't stop me, unless you hack into my account and change my words - but really, wouldn't that just be a waste of time, when you could just x out of the browser window? Yeah, I thought so.) I'm getting off track. Oh yes, I remember now. From now on, I'll talk more about stuff I'm interested in, my opinions on various topics (I'm not overly political, don't worry), and possibly some writing stuff that is waaaay too early to talk about on my updates page (ie current projects).

Now bow before me!!!

Ahem, excuse me, I went a little mad with power. I'm back now.

Okay, now onto some non-dramatic, "normal" conversation...who is YOUR next American Idol: Bo or Carrie? Yep, I watch the show, and no matter how angry I get at it, I always tune in. It's sort of like that scab you know you shouldn't pick, but you do anyway, and then it ends up bleeding and hurting and leaving a horrible scar that you can never rid yourself of...I don't pick scabs, but I do watch American Idol. If what I just said made sense to you, seek help IMMEDIATELY if not sooner!

Enough of that. This journal entry is like a novel unto itself :P If I don't shut up soon, everyone will think I have gone off the deep end. Just bear in mind, I am a goofy person. A lot of the time I don't make sense. If you're frightened right now, I don't blame you. But I assure you I'm harmless enough.

12:09 am: My Own Domain!
I'm really excited, because I now have my own domain name at http://www.laurapfalz.com! I've been wanting one for awhile, but it wasn't until recently that I found out that I didn't need to buy hosting every month to get a domain. It just directs to my old site address, for $8 a year! Pretty cool, huh? My old links will continue to work as well, but my own domain looks so much more professional on promotional items for my book(s) and it's easier to remember, if visitors can remember how to spell my last name ;)

03:15 am: Welcome!
Well, if you came here from my website, you know that my name is Laura Pfalz and I am a published author. If you haven't been to my website, go on and check it out! I had an idea to share some of my experiences and my ramblings on my website, and a good friend of mine suggested that I have my own journal here at livejournal.com. I think I'll be more apt to updating this than I would a page of a website (which can be sort of a hassle), so here I am. It's pretty late here, but I'm very much a night owl. That's when I can get my writing done, and honestly I can get a lot of stuff done because the house is quiet and I can finally concentrate. After I'm done writing this, I'll be working on my website and hopefully getting it done. I haven't updated it in awhile, and I tend to feel bad about that. Anyway! I'm going to try to stay on top of writing the journal, and hopefully keeping it interesting.