Hi lovelies! It gives me
great pleasure today to host Chynna Laird and her new book, “Just Shut Up and
Drive”!
Be sure to make it to the
end of this post to enter to win some exciting prizes like a swag pack with
over $40 of writing materials and other goodies and a $25 Amazon Gift
Card!! See below for more details. Also, come back daily to interact with Chynna
and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping
by! Wishing you lots of luck in this
fabulous giveaway!
Just Shut Up and Drive
by Chynna Laird
Genre: Coming of Age, Contemporary
One teen, one cranky old man and the open road. What could go
wrong?
Eighteen-year
old Wil Carter can think of more than a fistful of things he’d rather do than
go on a road trip with his ninety-five year old grandfather. But when Gramps
Wilf barks an order, you listen or get an earful of grief.
Wil
lost his parents in a horrible car accident when he was five. Gramps has been
the only parent he has ever known. Now that he’s ready to go off to college,
the old man says he has things Wil needs to learn to be the man he’s supposed
to be. But the trip turns out to be more than he bargains for.
Along
their week-long road trip across the Canadian Prairies, Wil not only learns
tidbits about his own life, but realizes the grandfather he thought he knew has
mysteries of his own. With each stop they make, a new layer of emotional truth
is revealed…for each of them.
What is something unique/quirky about you?
I am
a complete stickler for routine. Almost to the point of being OCD about it. OH!
And I like working by the light of my Walking Dead desk lamp. My husband
teasingly calls me a vampire because I actually prefer to work in dim light.
Don’t get me wrong, I am a sun worshipper. But there’s something about working
in the near dark that gets my creative juices flowing.
I’m
sure my optometrist appreciates my preference to work in the near dark. I’m
sure my eyes are getting worse with each book I write. Lol
Tell us something really interesting that's happened to you!
I
have a few wonderful things that I think are pretty cool. One thing about me is
that I am a HUGE Beatles fan. Like, HUGE! So much so that I have made my
children mini-Beatles fans. In fact, they have been listening to the band since
utero.
I was
always torn between John and Ringo – John for his creativity and talent, Ringo
for his sense of humor and love for humanity. A few years ago, Ringo was
performing in Alberta but not here in Edmonton. If I’d wanted to see him, I had
to travel down to Calgary to watch the show. There were about 50 tickets for
VIP packages where buyers not only got to see the show, but got to meet the Fab
drummer face-to-face. After much waffling, mostly due to the fact I had to
leave my children with their dad (and two of them have special needs who
totally depended on me for everything at that time), I bought myself a ticket.
I
wrote a story about the whole adventure, but the short version is that I got to
the show, met Ringo in person and even got a hug! I’d say that was one of the
most exciting things that’s ever happened to me.
I mean,
I’ve had opportunities interviewing awesome people like Gary Wright, several
celebrity chefs, soap opera stars, fellow authors, musicians and movie people
but to actually meet, touch and converse with a Beatle…? Well, that just
shortened my bucket list.
What are some of your pet peeves?
There
are a lot of things that just rub me the wrong way but things that are ‘pet
peeves’ to me are things you just can’t ignore and would throttle someone for.
Arrogance,
tunnel-vision, lying, manipulation, guilting, gum snapping, cracking knuckles,
high-pitched noises, overly-perky people (especially in the morning), being
poked, close-talkers and touchy-feely people. I think there may be a few more
but those are the main things that set me off.
Who is your hero and why?
It’s
funny because we all have people we consider to be strong inspirations for
various reasons. We should all surround ourselves with people who are doing
amazing things and who we aspire to be. But a ‘hero’ is someone who touches us
in a deeply emotional way and who we can credit for shaping us into the person
we are. That person for me is my grandfather.
Now
there are those in my life who would tell you I have put my grandfather on a
pedestal. I’m not sure that is true. People put on pedestals are worshipped,
most times undeservedly, by those who have put blinders on to the
not-so-wonderful things that person has done (or neglected to do). I wasn’t
like that with my grandfather. There were things in his past before I was born,
and even during the times I was in his life, that he wasn’t proud of. However,
he never harped on those things, felt sorry for himself or blamed anyone for
any of his short-comings or bad decisions. He owned them and learned from them.
Without
getting into too much detail here, I had a very rough childhood. My brother and
I were exposed to a tremendous amount of abuse, neglect and exposure to
substance abuse from my mother (Grandpa’s daughter). Perhaps because of that,
he felt a sense of responsibility to ensure that neither of us ended up on the
same path.
My
grandfather was tough on me, but I needed it. He instilled self-worth,
self-esteem and self-confidence in me that I hadn’t had before. He never got
angry with me for making mistakes (and I made some loo-loos, trust me), but guided
me to learn from them and move on. He gave me the loving support I needed to
become who I am today. He was that silent cheering squad in everything I did.
His constant reminder to me whenever I’d face adversity or failure was, “I am
proud of whatever you choose to become. You can be a garbage girl, as long as
you are the best damn garbage girl out there.”
I am
not a garbage girl, although some of the jobs I’ve had may fall into that
category, but I think he’d be proud of who I am today, and how hard I’ve worked
to get here.
CHYNNA LAIRD – is
a psychology/criminology major, freelance writer and author living in Edmonton,
Alberta with her husband, Ryan, three daughters [Jaimie (fourteen), Jordhan
(twelve), and Sophie (eight)] and baby boy, Xander (ten). Her passion is
helping children and families living with Sensory Processing Disorder, mental
and emotional disorders and other special needs.
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Chynna ~ It is great to have you here! Congrats on your new book and good luck on the book tour! :)
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