Elaine Ambrose, a bestselling author and humorist from Meridian, Idaho, is a winner in the prestigious Erma Bombeck Writing Competition. Her essay titled “A Pain in the Foot” won Honorable Mention in the 2020 Global Humor category. Entries were submitted from 559 writers from 11 different countries and 49 states as they attempted to capture the essence of Erma’s writings.
Erma Bombeck was an American humorist, newspaper columnist, and bestselling author who gained popularity through her newspaper column that described home life from the mid-1960s until the late 1990s. Bombeck died in 1996, but her humor endures through a bi-annual writers’ workshop in Dayton, Ohio.
Ambrose will read her winning essay at the Workshop in April at a reception hosted by Betsy Bombeck, Erma’s daughter. Ambrose has participated in the conferences since 2014 when she performed Stand-Up Comedy at the event. In 2016, she taught two writing workshops, and in 2018, she was one of the authors chosen for the bestselling book Laugh Out Loud. The award-winning book debuted at the 2018 conference.
Ambrose adds this honor to numerous other awards for writing humor.
“Don’t Fart During an MRI” – This essay on The Huffington Post went viral in 2014 with more than 800,000 likes and was translated into six languages around the world.
“My Mothers Body Got Lost” – This essay was a winner in the “Voice of the Year” writing competition sponsored by BlogHer. Ambrose accepted the award at a conference in New York City.
For three consecutive years, her humorous essays have won writing awards for humor from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and Bloggers.
Her book Midlife Happy Hour was a finalist for “Book of the Year for Humor” from Foreword Reviews received a rare 5-Star National Clarion Review. The collection of humorous essays also received two writing awards from the Independent Press Awards program.
Her book Midlife Cabernet won the Silver Medal for Humor from the Independent Publisher Books Awards program. Publishers Weekly reviewed the book as “Laugh-out-Loud Funny!” Foreword Reviews wrote that the writing resembled Erma Bombeck.
Ambrose co-authored Menopause Sucks, a national bestselling book.
Ambrose is an internationally recognized syndicated blogger. She was voted one of the top three authors in the “Best of Treasure Valley” contest sponsored by The Idaho Statesman in 2016 and 2019. She owns Mill Park Publishing and was named a “Business Woman of the Year for 2014” by the Idaho Business Review.
A founding member of the Idaho Writers Guild, Ambrose also organizes and hosts writing workshops and speaks at events across the country. She’ll be teaching writing workshops in Ireland for two weeks in April through a tour group knows as Wayfinding Women.
Ambrose has authored or coauthored 15 books, several eBooks, and three audiobooks. She writes in three genres: humor, memoir, and children’s books. She’s currently working on the third book in the Midlife Trilogy with a book titled Midlife Reboot – How to Unplug and Start Over. Her new children’s book titled Melody’s Magical Flying Machine should be released before the end of the year. Find details on her website: ElaineAmbrose.com. She lives in Meridian with her patient husband.
