From Ambiguously Shallow to Down This Road

Most writers will tell you that before they ever started writing, they read. I had a love of books from a very young age thanks to my mother and to this day.....reading is one of my favorite pass times. In my lifetime I have read literally thousands of books, from the classics to trashy romance novels. It is from these books that my love of writing came. Putting words into sentences so that I can transfer what is in my head into someone elses emotions is amazing. Anyone who says that words don't have power has obviously never read a book.

When I found blogs it was the best of both worlds for me. I could read other peoples thoughts, ideas, emotions and stories and also tell my own. Blogs connect you to people in so many ways and give you an audience far beyond what you could ever believe. In the blogosphere...there is absolutely every kind of blog out there from "how to" blogs on cooking, crafting, photography to blogs like mine where it just tells the story of "me." I love a variety of blogs but I have to admit that my favorites are reading about real peoples real lives.

In the beginning when I first started out on Blogger....there was only me in my blogger world. I didn't really know any other bloggers and so I was kind of at a loss on how to proceed. Then I found that there was a nifty little button that you could press that would take you randomly to other peoples blogs. I literally spent days reading blogs from all over the world and from every walk of life. It was almost blog overload. From that experience though I found a few favorites that I still read today. Since then....I also have some favorites of people that I know personally....who like me, found blogging and were hooked.

One blog that I found in my search several years ago was one called Ambiguously Shallow. The name got my attention immediately and at the time the blogger Kelli, had just moved into her dream home with her new husband. On the norm....you might think such a blog would be pretty boring stuff, but after jumping into the middle of her life and reading the first blog post that I happened on, I knew I had to read more. This girl was irreverent bordering on hysterical and her post was laced with well placed expletives which while not my usual reading taste, made me laugh until I had tears running down my face. Her blog has since become my go to on a bad day!

Kelli likes to come off as the shallow mean girl at times with an insatiable taste for fashion and shoes. She is often the butt of her own jokes and fully aware of both her shoe addiction and the mental Olympics she goes through to justify her spending habits. Under it all though you see the real Kelli who is thoughtful, generous, loves her husband, is maybe a little insecure....and who pulls it altogether with a tremendous dry wit that can literally leave her readers both laughing until it hurts and wanting more. It is this talent that she possess that bloggers like myself would kill for.

A while back (maybe a year or two ago), Kelli let her blog readers in on a little secret. She was writing a book. The minute I heard this I knew it would be amazing. It seems that others had read her blog and like me, saw what an amazing talent for the written word that she had. I was excited for her because I knew what a once in a lifetime chance she had been presented with and I also was excited for me getting to read more of someone who was fast becoming my favorite modern day writer.

The day that her book Down This Road came out I was so proud of her and I immediately downloaded it. Of course having the book and having time to read it were two different things. Then with all my doctors appointments of late and lots of waiting room time, I decided there was no better time to start reading it than the present. I was not disappointed.

I really had no idea what kind of book this would be. Would it be her humorous off the cuff style or something completely different? It was something completely different with hints of her humor tossed in here and there. Down This Road is both a coming of age story and a love story. Its characters (although not the story) are based on people in Kelli's real life and are very three dimensional and relatable. Much like her blog, her book caught my attention from the beginning and held it until the end. Her story covers three states, a variety of characters from different walks of life and a woman in search of both her own identity and love. In the hands of another writer this might have been overkill and a bit hard to follow, but Kelli made it all mesh seamlessly all the while telling a beautiful story. I was very impressed as Kelli did what all great writers do.....when I was done.....she left me wanting more. I am sure you can imagine my happiness when Kelli blogged that there are two more books in the works.

It has been a wonderful journey to see a young writer go from blogger to published author right before my very eyes. Watching the process has been amazing as I have seen her grow personally and professionally through her blog and I see a very bright and prolific future ahead for this young woman.

So today I like author Kelli Dawn and I encourage you to go to her blog Ambiguously Shallow and just start reading. You won't be disappointed and also if you are a reader like me, be sure and pick up Kelli's book Down This Road. You can purchase either the book or ebook on Amazon. I wish Kelli nothing but amazing success. Oh and.....Happy Reading everyone!!!!!!