Chynna T. Laird's Blog, page 20

Writing Prompt Saturday: A Walk in the Forest

I have a connection with the water and the animals who live beneath the waves. As a child, I remember swimming out a fair distance away from our dock, then laying on my back floating on the surface.

What an amazing sensation to have every part of my body surrounded by water, including my ears and tuning out the world around me...even if just for a little while. Then I would flip over and completely submerge myself under the water, fluttering as deep as I could until my lungs reminded me of the...

Food For Thought: Beans, Peas and Lentils ~ 'Pulses' of Good Health

Since we shared a whole bunch of wonderful recipes last week in celebration of the Crock Pot, this week we are going to just have a discussion about an ingredient: Pulses.

Now, I'd never heard of this group of food called 'pulses' before but, essentially a pulse is any edible seed that grows within a pod. In this category, we have beans, peas and lentils.

These wonder foods are high in protein, fiber and essential vitamins and minerals. Not only that but they are versatile enough to be used as...

Writing Sample Wednesday: A Y/A Supernatural WIA

For today's writing sample, I'm going to share a snippet from the first book in a series I started a few years ago. I shelved it as I had a few other projects on the go that become priorities, so this one has stayed on the backburner for a bit.

Since it's starting to build a good layer of dust on it, I thought I'd pull it back out and work on it a bit at a time in between the other three books I'm writing (...sleep? WHAT'S sleep?)

This is half of the Prologue. I'll share the other half next wee...

Talk About It: When Food Becomes A Problem

What's the first thing you think of when you see someone, male or female it doesn't matter, who is painfully thin? Or another person who is tremendously overweight? The first thing that usually pops into someone's head is often, "Oh, that person totally has an eating disorder." Many times, this can be the case, however, there are many other times where an issue with eating and/or food is not the underlying cause of the outward result. And that's what we're talking about today.

There are many p...

Music Mantra Monday: Celebrating Family Day with Adele (Sweetest Devotion)

I adore Adele. Many people would probably argue with me on that but she is a true talent. There are not many female singers out there that I have a lot of respect for these days but Adele has never disappointed.

Not only does she have a voice that can knock you on your butt, her attitude (as 'in-your-face' it can be at times) is what drew me to her. She writes her own songs, sings them how she chooses, offers a message in each one and isn't afraid to express her thoughts, views and opinions. O...

The Power of Youth: Random Acts of Kindness

As many of you know, I do a lot of 'Pro Bono' writing. Most of it has been doing guest blog posts for various charities, schools and organizations who are doing work and standing up for those who don't always have a voice to stand up on their own. Such places deserve to be in the spotlight and given kudos for what they are doing in and for their communities.

When I looked at my writing chart this morning, I realized that today is the last day of 'Random Acts of Kindness Week', which instantane...

Writing Prompt Saturday: What's Your Biggest Fear?

A dark alley.

Shadows in the night that are invisible during the day.

The unknown.

Being alone.

Enclosed spaces.

Snakes, spiders or other creepy crawlies.

Drowning.

Clowns.

Every person has one: a fear. We as writers tend to face a lot of those fears in our articles, stories or books. It doesn't make the fear go away, however, it does help put someone else in the position to face it for us, then give them a way to deal with it (not that we follow that...BUT...it's fun to watch a character go through...

Food For Thought: All Hail the Mighty Crock Pot (recipes included)

When I got my first apartment, I received a Crock Pot as a housewarming gift. I started my vegetarian journey at the time (which was very different back then) and wasn't really sure how to use this mighty mini appliance.

I didn't use it very often but once I had my kids, it was like a God-send, especially since I had to do a lot of the kids' at-home therapy during the times I would normally be preparing and cooking supper. I mean, really? I put all the ingredients in the Pot, closed the lid, t...

Writing Sample Wednesday: Solving A Murder/Mystery In Out Of Sync

Well, as we mentioned yesterday, we just kicked off a blog tour for my first, and only, adult novel OUT OF SYNC.

This was one of my books that came to me in a dream and had finished within a couple of weeks. Sometimes ideas just hit me like that.

The following scenes is one of my favorites because it shows the depth of Cheyenne's character and the trauma she's had to endure, as well as introduces my favorite character, Chief Longfellow.

I hope you've all had a chance to check out the tour and ca...

Talk About It: Book Blog Tour For Out Of Sync

As you all know, On Tuesdays, we usually tackle an issue or subject that isn't discussed as much as we think it should be. Today is a special day because we are doing a month-long book tour for my first (and only) adult novella, Out Of Sync .

I guess, in a way, we do handle a couple of issues in this book. One is SPD, which our heroine, Cheyenne, deals with as best as she can. We also address mental illness and how severe trauma that hasn't been dealt with can lead to it as well as to tragedy.

O...