Hi there!

Well, I’m happy to say that I got many wonderful pictures while visiting Germany this season. I was able to get landscapes, and old castles, and hundreds of pictures of Laura! That should make it easier to illustrate the next book. Right now I’m completing the next story (book 2) and storyboarding at the same time—it’s how I prefer to work. I think I definitely have enough new material for my next two books which was my goal, so I’m glad for that. I also plan to do a little experimenting with the illustrations this time using a Wacom tablet as well as doing my pencil drawings. I’ve never used a Wacom tablet before so I’ll see how steep the learning curve is. I am very excited though. I thought I’d include a recent picture of Laura on my blog page at www.chrysalispress.com so you can see how much she’s grown! She just turned eight and still loves fairytales. I hope you enjoy! Take care and I’ll be in touch soon.

Sincerely,

Amber

Hello Everyone!

I just received the most exciting news while I was in Bavaria. “Laura and the Leprechauns” has been named a finalist in the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Awards in the category of Interior Design, Children’s/Young Adult! The Benjamin Franklin Awards recognizes small and independent publishers like me, which is truly nice. Just to be a finalist is such an honor and a surprise that I just had to share the news with you. The awards ceremony is on May 29th—just around the corner, really—so I’ll be sure to keep you posted on the outcome. I never thought my first book would be nominated for an award, but I am thrilled to even be considered. Well, that’s all for now. I’ll be in touch soon.

Sincerely,

Amber

www.chrysalispress.com

Since my arrival in Bavaria, the action has been non-stop. It usually is with all the sightseeing we like to get in. On my first day there, all of my cousins and friends came to greet me and my family. Upon seeing me my cousin Matthias (whom I appropriately made a leprechaun named “Maddy” in “Laura and the Leprechauns”), he hugged me and said, “On Tuesday you will come with me to school and talk to my class about America, English and writing.” Since he hadn’t posed this as a question, I was a little nervous to say the least. I hadn’t been prepared to be in front of a classroom giving a speech about anything, and I had never done it before. Not to mention my German is elementary at best. He assured me that I would be able to speak in English since it was for his English class and that they would have questions prepared for me. That put me more at ease. But Laura, upon hearing this, decided that she would get permission from her teacher for me to visit her classroom as well. The teacher not only agreed, she decided to combine two classes of 6-7 year olds to form a single group of 60+ kids that I would somehow entertain. That made me even more nervous because they spoke very little English. So at 11am Laura’s mom picked me up and drove me to Grund–und Hauptschule (their school) in Gaimersheim, Germany where I would meet Matthias and await my instructions. The day actually turned out to be fabulous and a lot of fun! It went more smoothly than I could have imagined with Matthias playing interpreter. The kids had great questions for me and were genuinely interested to learn about life in the United States. For the younger kids, I read aloud from “Laura and the Leprechauns” and their teacher then translated what I was reading from the German version of the book. I left a few copies of the German version for them, and they are taking turns taking it home to read. It’s a great feeling to know that I could contribute to their school studies. All in all the day was a success. I never thought my first public appearance would be in Germany but life is always full of surprises.

All my best,

Amber

www.chrysalispress.com

Hello everyone!

I apologize for being out of touch but I’ve been extremely busy these past few weeks. Not to mention I took a mini get-away to one of my favorite places—Solvang, California—to celebrate my birthday. While I was there I left a couple more “Laura and the Leprechauns” books for the Bookcrossing site because I thought it would be a neat place for a book to begin its journey. The books were literally gone within minutes! It was great! I also picked up a princess dress at one of the children’s stores for my little cousin Laura for when I go and visit her in Bavaria in two weeks. I’m not exactly sure what particular scenes I’ll have her posing for, but I thought it a good idea to have a nice fairytale dress—and what little girl doesn’t like to dress up like up like a princess?!

I also registered a few copies of the German version of “Laura und die Leprechauns” on bookcrossing.com, but there aren’t as many copies of those, as I primarily made them for Laura and her friends and they are a paperback version of the English version, and I have to apply all the glitter by hand—quite time consuming but worth it. I will have to wait until I am in Bavaria to release those books. I am getting very excited for my trip to Germany and can hardly wait to take tons of pictures of the beautiful countryside.

As for my other book in progress, right now I am getting periodic updates from my editor on my young adult novel that I started so long ago. Things seem to be moving along well which is encouraging and nerve-wracking all at once. I spent five years working on that first novel so it is something very close to me. We’ll see how it turns out edited down from 1100 pages to some 300-400 pages. Should prove interesting. Well, that’s all the news that is currently going on in my life at the moment. Thank you for your continued support. I couldn’t do it without you! Take care and all my best!

Sincerely,

Amber
www.chrysalispress.com

Hi Everyone,

Just a small update to let you know that as of now I have made it possible to accept credit cards through Paypal online through my website, Chrysalis Press. You can reach my website at www.ChrysalisPress.com. From there you can press the link beneath the book cover that says ¡§Buy this Book.¡¨ It will then redirect you to a page where you have an option of purchasing through Chrysalis Press (my company) or Amazon. Please choose whichever you are more comfortable with. I hope this adds a measure of convenience to your shopping needs.

Is everyone ready for Easter? It¡¦s just around the corner¡Xit came so fast this year! I love rabbits-they were always my favorite stuffed animal. Now I just have to figure out which children¡¦s Easter book to treat myself to this year. There are some great ones out there. Last year I chose ¡§The Golden Egg¡¨ written by A.J. Wood, and illustrated by Maggie Kneen. I really fell in love with the illustrations¡Xvery detailed and meticulous¡Xand the hologram effects they had on all the Easter eggs. It was during the time when I was trying to decide what type of special effects I would have for ¡§Laura and the Leprechauns.¡¨ If you have any Easter book favorites or suggestions, feel free to share them with me. I¡¦m always on the lookout for a good book!

Until next time, take care!

Sincerely,

Amber ļ

Hello Everyone!


And Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I hope you, your family and friends are enjoying a wonderful day of celebration and laughter together! I know my family and I will be enjoying the day with games, music and candy for the little ones . . . and there’s always plenty of festive dancing. This really is my favorite day of the year.


Yesterday I spent the day watching Irish claddagh dance exhibitions. It was exhilarating! Girls from ages 4-18 were having the time of their lives, dressed in their finest, full of smiles and dancing their hearts out. It was great!


I would also like to offer my sincere apologies to those of you who had difficulty purchasing my book through online stores over the St. Patrick’s Day season. I’m not quite sure what happened, but so that it doesn’t happen again, I have decided to start accepting credit cards through PayPal on my website at www.chrysalispress.com. So if you ever have difficulty purchasing from other online stores again, soon you will be able to order from me directly and securely. I hope this helps matters, since I will never be ‘temporarily out of stock.’


I have also made slight design updates to the Chrysalis Press website so if you haven’t been by recently, I hope you will go by and check it out. I hope it is more appealing and will make navigating around the site easier and more convenient. If you have any questions or comments I’d love to hear from you. You can always email me directly at amber@chrysalispress.com.


Until then, sending joy and cheer, to you and yours this St. Patrick’s Day!


xoxoxo.


Amber

Hi Everyone!

Well, for all of you keeping an eye out for my Bookcrossing releases I have officially released all 8 copies of Laura and the Leprechauns out into the wild. I hope they will be caught by interested readers even if people don’t have an opportunity to journal their adventures online. They have been released throughout Orange and Los Angeles County and I am sure that I will have more releases in the future. So be sure to check out bookcrossing.com and lookup “Laura and the Leprechauns” to find the book running wild nearest you! And if your lucky, it you’ll be the first to catch it!

I am also happy to say that the response to my video book trailer has been very positive. So, thank you to all of you who took the time to view it. And if you haven’t had a chance to see it yet, there’s always still time. Just check Google.com or Youtube.com for Laura and the Leprechauns and you’ll be able to see the video. I posted one on Youtube.com under amberkingston so you can learn a little more about me on my channel page. Well, that’s all for now. Take care!

Sincerely,

Amber

With St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner, you can be sure I’m excited and already getting ready for my favorite day of the year! This year St. Paddy’s day will be celebrated on March 15th, rather than the usual date of March 17th. This is to avoid it falling on the Holy Week of the Catholic Church. The last time this happened was in 1940 to avoid it falling on Palm Sunday. So the year 2008 is a special year, indeed! And even if you’re not Irish, it’s a wonderful excuse to let go and have some fun! So put on your green and dance your own Irish jig, if you like. There’s no better time than St. Patrick’s Day to infuse your day with some good old fashion fun! Soon I’ll be out and about creating my own mischief, leaving copies of Laura and the Leprechauns hidden throughout Orange and Los Angeles County—so be on the lookout! Just check at www.bookcrossing.com for where I’ve left my clues.
All my best,

Amber

www.chrysalispress.com

The day has finally arrived—my book trailer is finished and ready to be viewed! I have posted it on my website at www.chrysalispress.com in the Media Room under “Book Trailer.” It is also posted on Reader Views Kids website at http://readerviewskids.com/reviews_previews.html.I will also post it on youtube.com (you will have to search for it under “Laura and the Leprechauns”) and on my myspace page which is myspace.com/ambertkingston. The part I played in its creative process was lots of fun but it was so difficult to wait for the more difficult and exciting parts like animation and sound to be completed. Now I see that my patience paid off. I am very happy with it and I hope that you will be too. Happy viewing!


Sincerely,

Amber

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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