I went for a nice long walk the other day. It was one of those glitteringly bright afernoons, with the sun casting a golden glow over the grass and trees. I saw my first blossoms of the spring - so beautiful. And there were a pair of tiny blue tits dancing round the bird feeder yesterday, which was gorgeous. But the most amazing thing I have seen of late is the incredible sunset that painted the world a soft peachy hue the other evening! It was so radiant that the tree-trunks turned a rich red and the sky was a venerable pallet of pinks, apricots, golden and pale yellow. I would have loved to photograph it but unfortunately that day, I didn't have my camera. It really was splendid and it touched my inner soul! Honestly, it had to be seen to be believed!


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Having spent the last week and more battling with a rather vicious cold, a five-day long headache and wildly fluctuating temperature – hot sweats giving way to shivery chills, only to return again a short while later – I have had much cause to bless the creators of such modern marvels as the ‘Kleenex Ultra Balm Tissue’, ‘Solpadeine Headache’ tablets, eucalyptus and menthol inhalations and the soothing ‘Strepsils Extra’ lozenge. After dipping into one of my latest literary purchases (this week’s vital statistics: Books bought from a shop - 12; Books on order - 3; Books expelled to make room for newcomers - O), Nigel Cawthorne’s fascinating The Curious Cures of Old England, I have also spent quite some time being actively grateful that I was lucky enough to be born in shiny, new England, rather than the old, slightly mad version he describes.

Had I been suffering from similar ailments a few centuries ago, I would have found the local quack recommending the application of cabbage or lettuce leaves to alleviate my headache; admittedly not quite as bad as the Tudor solution of gargling mustard, or the rather disturbing 18th Century tendency to tie a piece of used hangman’s rope around your skull, but surely not nearly as effective as paracetamol. (In the 19th Century hangman’s rope dropped out of favour, only to be replaced by snakeskin - honestly, I’m not sure which would be worse.)


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Feel very spiky today and hugely on edge – no doubt due to the all-consuming worries about tomorrow’s launch of Thorn in the Flesh. I’m now worried I might have too many people coming and am severely up to my limit of 35 in the venue. Let’s hope that none of them decide to bring an unaccounted friend, as if they do no doubt Godalming Museum will beat me with twigs and throw me out. I hope to God it goes all right and people don’t notice the joins. Of which there will be many, I’m convinced. I also really don’t know how I’m going to get everything set up and sorted out in the hour before it starts. That is, without lying down, chewing the carpet and weeping. And that’s only if I think it’s going well …

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Yesterday's visit to St John's was terrific. Really enjoyable, and great to see some familiar faces (including Miss Wallace and Mrs Moyes!).

We wrote short stories inspired by picture prompts and some seriously good work was produced. Seriously!

I've included a couple of the prompts below - if you end up writing anything inspired by one, do let me know; I'd be delighted to read it...



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I’ve just discovered the neatest idea in a website, so I just had to share my findings with you. The website is called www.bookcrossing.com and it’s all about sharing books on a worldwide scale in the form of a treasure hunt! Maybe its concept is what had me hooked from the beginning—appealing to the little kid in me who used to send messages wrapped in taped-up envelopes and wrapped in plastic sandwich bags to be released into the ocean in hope that one day someone would find my message. Never happened—that I’m aware of ;). Anyway, Bookcrossing works much in the same way but on a far more successful scale. People around the world register their books, release them into “the wild,” and wait for them to be “caught” and read (and registered online) by someone new. They, in turn, will make a journal entry about where the book was found, and then release the book into “the wild” once again after they’ve finished reading it. Books have made incredible journeys throughout the world through this program and it’s just getting started. So far I have registered 8 copies of Laura and the Leprechauns to be released—and hopefully each will be “caught” by an interested reader. It will be exciting to check back periodically and see where my books have ended up. If you have any books that you think you’d like to share with others on a global-scale book hunt, just take a moment to register at www.bookcrossing.com. It’s totally free, and completely safe. Even if you don’t have the opportunity to travel the world right now, maybe your favorite book does! In any case, it’s one way to bring about a little excitement and happiness into someone else’s life and a wonderful opportunity to share. So as I eagerly await my book release kit—a totally voluntary purchase I made to support a fun cause I believe in—go check and see if there are any books running free around your neighborhood. And within a few weeks—I’ll let you know—be sure to check back to find the clues to where I released my 8 copies of Laura and the Leprechauns. Who knows—maybe you’ll be the person to catch one! I hope you’ll check it out!

Happy hunting!

Amber
www.chrysalispress.com



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12:06 PM PST, February 14, 2008
Happy Valentines Day, Everyone!

I hope you are celebrating today with some wonderful fun, sweets, and hugs from friends! This Valentines Day I received a surprise of my own. The Reading Tub decided to post my interview and biography early, in time for St. Patrick’s Day! I couldn’t be happier. If you would like to check it out, it is now posted on their website at http://www.thereadingtub.com/displayAuthor.asp?id=49. That takes you directly to the Bio page. From there you can scroll down and click the link to the interview, or to go directly to the interview, just click, http://www.thereadingtub.com/displayInterview.asp?id=49. I will also be posting the interview on my website inside my new Media Room. If you haven’t been there recently, be sure to check it out! The Media Room offers an updated Bio and some new questions for those in the media. Right now I’m hard at work conceptualizing my new book trailer. It’s coming along really well—and I have no prior experience in movie making! But I will need to have a company help me with the music and special effects . . . but I’m so excited! It’ll be great to see the final product. Well, that’s all that comes to mind for now. I hope everyone has a special Valentines Day, and I’ll be in touch soon!

XOXOXO,
Amber

www.chrysalispress.com

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8:39 AM PST, January 3, 2008
Happy 2008! I hope everyone had a safe and joyous New Year! I am really excited for everything I have planned during the upcoming year. For starters, I’m continuing to improve upon and add different features to my website. I just recently discovered a site called cafepress.com which allows you to design all sorts of personalized things from T-shirts, to tote bags! I thought this was really neat since I like to design and create, and so I decided to open up my own Laura and the Leprechauns gift shop so you can browse my latest creations at your leisure. I will be updating designs and merchandise offered periodically, so if there is something specific you are looking for—a favorite character or slogan, or illustration from the book—please don’t hesitate to let me know. I would be happy to add it to future designs. Right now I think you’ll find that there is quite a wide variety of things to choose from. You can locate the gift shop directly at: http://www.cafepress.com/chrysalispress or access it through www.chrysalispress.com. Just select the “Gift Shop” button at the bottom of the page and it will redirect you to the store. I hope you will enjoy all the shop has to offer. As always I look forward to hearing your feedback and opinions, so feel free to drop me a line at amber@chrysalispress.com. I’ll be in touch soon!

Sincerely,

Amber
www.chrysalispress.com

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3:25 PM PST, December 10, 2007
Season’s Greetings, everyone! For anyone out there looking for top notch children’s books rated by parents and volunteers, there is a site you should definitely visit. I just recently discovered it; it’s called The Reading Tub and can be found at: www.thereadingtub.com. They are a charitable organization that promotes literacy for children and reviews children’s books for all ages. They also feature author interviews and in-depth reviews of books so readers can make informed decisions about the books they’re considering. I am happy to say that in the spring of 2008 I will be a featured author on their site for Laura and the Leprechauns. I am very excited as this will be one of my very first interviews. I’ll be sure to tell you more as the date approaches. But in the meantime, I hope you will visit their site to see all they have to offer. I hope everyone is staying warm and cozy in this winter weather. Until next time . . .

Sincerely,

Amber
www.chrysalispress.com

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12:47 AM PST, December 3, 2007
It’s hard to believe that December has already arrived! Where does the time go? Between school and getting my book out, I’ve been extremely busy. My latest activities involving Laura and the Leprechauns has been fulfilling orders and entering it in a few contests. I figure it can’t hurt and I’ll also receive constructive criticism from the panel of judges, which will help for future books. It will be a long time before I know the results from most of them—almost a year—so I will be sure to stay busy in the meantime. Is everyone already prepared for the Christmas season? I’m sure not! I have a lot of decorating to do still—tree and all. And then there’s the shopping which I dread because of the crowds. I guess that means I’d better hurry up! I’ve also been trying to decide whether I’ll release the German version of Laura and the Leprechauns in the hardcover version with the glitter accents as well. Right now it is only available as a softcover version, which isn’t my preference, but I figured there wouldn’t be much of a demand for the German version in the US. We’ll see what happens with the English version first. So far I’ve been very happy with the response, which has been great. All I can hope is that it continues. For anyone who has a myspace page, I thought I’d leave the address to my page just incase you’d like to get in touch and check things out in my profile. You can reach me at: myspace.com/ambertkingston. Of course you can also always reach me at my Chrysalis Press address which is amber@chrysalispress.com. Or visit my site at www.Chrysalispress.com. Either way, I look forward to hearing from you. Until next time . . . take care.

Sincerely,

Amber
www.chrysalispress.com

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They finally arrived! That’s right—my book Laura and the Leprechauns is officially available. It was a pretty incredible feeling to see thousands of copies being unloaded off a huge freighter truck—I had no idea what to expect! So now the time to fulfill all of my advance orders begins, as well as notifying the bookstores that it’s finally available. I am so relieved that they arrived here safely and without problems. It’s funny—when I was writing and illustrating the book, my chief conern was getting it completed. I worked on it day and night with very little rest for about 4 months straight. But now that it is available to the public, I cant help but wonder about all the children who may read it. Will they like the story, will they like the illustrations and photographs, will they enjoy the journey as much as I did while creating it? I truly hope so. Laura and the Leprechauns was such a learning experience for me. I know that it will make creating Laura’s future adventure’s easier because I’ll know what to expect work-wise somewhat. But it doesn’t take the challenge out of the creation process. I guess that’s what I love most about writing and illustrating—I will always strive to do my best to create something for a child to enjoy. I am very much looking forward to creating future stories. And if anyone out there happens to have suggestions or ideas about where they might like to see Laura go next, I always welcome your ideas. Just drop me a line on the “contact” section of my website or email me at info@chrysalispress.com. Thank you to everyone who has taken an interest in my work. May you have a happy Thanksgiving!

Cheers!

Amber

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