Elaine Ambrose

Bestselling Author, Ventriloquist, & Humorist

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Children’s Book Stars Delightful Girl with Down Syndrome

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I’m excited to announce my latest children’s book, Melody’s Magical Flying Machine, will be released in September. The chapter book for children ages 7-12 introduces 10-year-old Melody, a spirited girl with Down syndrome. Written in first person, the story describes how Melody meets an enchanted bird named JuJu who helps her create a magical flying machine pulled by two green dragons. Melody blossoms with confidence and a sense of adventure as she soars over the playground to amaze her friends, frighten the teachers, and terrorize a group of bullies.

Melody’s creative ability in storytelling empowers her to entertain other children while sharing her tall tales. She also proves why she is the most marvelous hugger in all the Universe. The character is entertaining, energetic, and funny.

Few books feature a main character with the perspective of a child with Down syndrome. A comparative book would be Wonder, the New York Times Bestseller by R.J. Palacio, published in 2012.

The cover illustration by award-winning British illustrator Wayne Anderson, is courtesy of Bridgeman Art Gallery of New York. The captivating interior artwork is being created by Caroline Zina. The 100-page book will be released by Brown Books Publishing. The publisher intends to market and distribute the book to hundreds of bookstores, schools, and libraries.

Writer’s Workshop Explains How to Go from Loser to Leader

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The Writing Workshop for Losers on October 4-5 will be the 16th writing retreat I’ve organized and hosted. The first writing retreat occurred at my cabin in Garden Valley, Idaho in 2008 and was called “Write by the River.” My guest speaker was Jennifer Basye Sander, a New York Times bestselling author and book packager.

Jennifer Basye Sander returns from Sacramento, California to speak at the October workshop. She’ll lead participants through various exercises to address their biggest fears, share their painful failures, and list their bravest actions throughout their writing careers. Using her personal motto of “Fail Fast, Fail Often,” Jennifer will show writers how to learn from and destroy their rejections and become part of a Rejection Club. She believes that the only real way to fail at writing is to stop writing.

Jennifer teaches three writing courses a year for the Arts and Humanities department at University of California Davis. The books she has developed have achieved in excess of forty million dollars in retail sales. As the senior editor for Prima Books (a now defunct division of Random House) she developed more than seventy new titles. A recognized expert on Ernest Hemingway, one of Jennifer’s most popular speeches is titled, “Could Hemingway Get a Book Deal Today?”

Donna Beckman Tagliaferri and Elaine Ambrose

After Jennifer’s session, Donna Beckman Tagliaferri will share her workshop about overcoming self-doubt and explore how to survive personal catastrophe. She writes a popular blog titled My Life from the Bleachers and is the voice of compassion and reason in a vitriolic world of social media. She writes about having great expectations and what to do when hopes and dreams don’t occur or turn out differently. She’ll discuss how we use our challenges, trails, and tests to help and encourage each other and do our most creative work. Her workshop will focus on finding the sunflowers because they face the sun but on cloudy days, they turn toward each other to share energy. Donna is the ghost writer for a famous personality, and she’ll discuss how to respond with others are recognized for her talent.

The workshop will end with my “Music as Muse” exercise designed to prompt positive creative energy.

The Saloon at Spurwing. Photo by David Day.

This will be the first writing workshop at the Saloon at Spurwing. Previous workshops in Garden Valley, Eagle, Meridian, and Sun Valley have featured dynamic speakers, including Pulitzer Prize Winner Anthony Doerr, Alan Heathcock, Amanda AK Turner, Liza Long, Gretchen Anderson, Ken Rodgers, Doug Copsey, Christy Hovey, Emily Nielsen, Drew Allen Brown, Lance Olsen, Stacy Dymalski, and Stephanie Worrell.

Anthony Doerr and Alan Heathcock speak at the Write by the River retreat.
Speakers Christy Hovey, Amanda AK Turner, and Elaine Ambrose
Writer’s Wellness Retreat


Writers at the 2017 workshop at Spurwing.

Participants for the October writing workshop are coming from Arkansas, California, Nevada, and Idaho. We have two places open, and tickets can be purchased here.

Why Audiobook Narrators Can’t Cry

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During this excerpt from my memoir, my voice cracked while I was reading about my mother. I told the sound engineer I would imagine a clown falling out of a clown car so I could regain my composure and finish the chapter.

The audiobook will be released September 10 by Tantor Media..

Upcoming Speeches and Workshops

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Elaine Ambrose

Review my Speaker’s Page for signature speeches, videos, and testimonials.
https://elaineambrose.com/speaker/

Recent and Upcoming Speeches
January 5-6 – Sun Valley – Private Writer’s Workshop
January 7 – Boise – Richelle Silagy White’s Book Club
March 14 – Meridian – Paramount Elementary – Read and Donate Books
March 16 – Boise – Speak to Delta Gamma Alumni Luncheon – Hillcrest Country Club
March 20 – Boise – 4-Author Book Signing – The Local, 5616 State
March 30 – Meridian – Speak at LPGA Luncheon – Spurwing Country Club
April 5-6 – Spurwing Country Club – Facilitate Writer’s Workshop
April 13 – Las Vegas – Facilitate Writer’s Workshop
April 17 – Meridian Library, 1326 W Cherry Lane, Speak about “Music as Muse”
April 18 – Collister Library – Boise – Speak about Publishing Children’s Books
April 26 – Boise – Sponsor Idaho Writer’s Guild Reception
June 28 – Wendell – Speak at High School Reunion

“Frozen Dinners” Described as Poetic, Heartbreaking, and Tense

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Ambrose Trucking, 1952

Foreword Reviews published a recent national review of the memoir Frozen Dinners – a Memoir of a Fractured Family and provided new insight into the book.

“Illustrative prose brings the anecdotes to life, describing the Idaho landscape and muddy potato farms with poetic imagery.”

“…a heartbreaking memoir.”

“Elaine Ambrose’s tense memoir, Frozen Dinners … paints a complex portrait of a twentieth-century western family.”

The memoir is receiving 5-Star Reviews from online sites including Amazon Reviews and Goodreads. Here is one 5-Star Review:

Elaine Ambrose is a skilled humorist, but also a trained journalist, an essayist and experienced poet. I was eager to see how she would bring her voice to the complicated story of her family. The book is full of vivid descriptions of Idaho’s natural beauty, small-town family life, and the way that agriculture defines culture in towns and cities across our great nation.

The book has the precision of Elaine’s journalistic background mixed with the prose of a poet. It’s beautiful, but I think some readers may miss the artistry of this juxtaposition. If you allow yourself to fall into the story, you will be cheering on the Ambrose family, and shaking your head (or fist) as the story unfolds. Never one to back away from the difficult, Elaine lays bare the emotional and physical pain of her childhood as the only daughter of a wildly successful (and very frugal) businessman and his loving wife. The emotional chill of the home is matched by Elaine’s brisk prose, which relaxes into lush descriptions when Elaine-as-a-girl is alone and in nature while her brothers spend time with their father. Little Elaine grows up, and the story of the family’s fracture when the children become adults unfolds from there.

Read this for a glimpse into Idaho’s beautiful landscape, into lives well-lived, one family’s rise through smarts and grit and sweat and determination. Read it because it’s a great American story.”

The book is available in paperback and eBook format. Order from local bookstores or online.

Celebrate “Frozen Dinners” with Warm Food, Cool Jazz, and Sizzling Friends

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Please join the celebration on November 8 at the premiere party for Frozen Dinners – A Memoir of a Fractured Family.

Register Here.

Bestselling author Elaine Ambrose departs from her award-winning humor to describe her childhood in the village of Wendell, Idaho. Her father, an intense entrepreneur, created a trucking company in 1952 to haul frozen food throughout the Northwest. His businesses grew into a multi-million-dollar empire. After his untimely death, his survivors imploded in a maelstrom of brutal courtroom drama, heartbreak, and dementia. The $20 million-dollar estate is all gone, and Elaine’s parents and younger brother have died. In this new memoir, Ambrose chronicles her 50-year-search for warmth beyond the family legacy of frozen dinners.

Guest options include autographed books, glasses of Telaya wine, delicious “Grazing Table” food provided by Wild Plum Catering, custom cedar bookmarks, live music, free prizes, and a short reading. Additional books by the author will be available for purchase for holiday and Christmas gifting.

Popular singer and songwriter Dan Costello will provide a musical feast of sass and sound.

Ambrose Trucking, 1952

Frozen Dinners is published by Brown Books Publishing Group of Dallas, Texas. For information about Elaine’s books, blogs, and events, see ElaineAmbrose.com.

Full of luscious details, clear-eyed compassion, and enduring joy, Ambrose’s memoir gives us an insider’s view of one family’s rocky pursuit of the American Dream. Even when she is relating personal stories of conflict, loss, and grief, Ambrose does so with a survivor’s voice made strong by experience, stubbornness, humor, and love.

— Kim Barnes, Author of the Pulitzer Prize Finalist Memoir: In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in Unknown Country

This tell-all memoir will resonate with anyone who has endured family 
dysfunction and will defrost the hearts of readers everywhere.
—Joely Fisher, actress, singer, and author of Growing Up Fisher

Elaine will read and sign books at Rediscovered Books on Thursday, November 29 in downtown Boise. Elaine is available locally for sales, signings, and holiday cheer.