Meet Kathy Townsend

Kathy Townsend is a blue cap with oversized glasses, earring and a black shirt

The path to writing my memoir was an organic and unexpected journey. Writing took me; I didn’t take it.

I'm a long term resident of the Spruce Grove, Stony Plain, Parkland County, Alberta area, and raised four wonderful boys here.

I'd like to share a little more about my journey as an author, marketer and creative entrepreneur.

When my youngest son was four, our lives went sideways when my marriage ended and, as I described in my book "Swimming with an Anchor", our lives exploded with domestic violence.

It was during this time that I became the bread winner of my family of five. I decided I needed to work from home to protect my boys, our home and our belongings.

An idea landed in my lap and I ran with it.

I launched my own publication called "Parkland Classes", a community guide advertising recreational and educational activities, classes or courses.

I conquered the debilitating fear of failure and designed the front cover, created the media kit and started selling advertising.

More than 300 phone calls later, I had my first issue! The magazine was delivered to 24,000 homes in Spruce Grove, Stony Plain and Parkland County and I went on to publish the magazine for five years before selling the business.

On the inside front cover was "Message from the Publisher" where I wrote a few paragraphs about my crazy life as a single mother of four young boys. Soon, I started hearing more about my blurb than the rest of the publication!

That led to me receiving a public request from the Alberta Council of Women's Shelters (ACWS) for stories of Alberta women who had experienced and rose above domestic abuse.

After mulling it over for a few days, I sat down and banged typed out my story and mailed it off the next day.

Months later, I was rewarded when I received the phone call congratulating me for my story being selected. I became a published author on my first try!

At the media launch at the Edmonton Art Gallery, I was one of the authors asked to read my story in the book "Standing Together" , edited by Linda Goyette, (then) editor of the Edmonton Journal. My knees were knocking!

This led to an invitation from the ACWS to speak at their fundraisers. I did so for the next year.

When I sold my publication, I was encouraged to contact the local paper and pitch them a column to continue my "Message from the Publisher" blurb.

The newspaper column "This is Life" was born as I wrote creatively about being a single mother of four young boys.

I had lots of material! "This is Life" book is my collection of these columns.

My book "Swimming with an Anchor" had its own life force. When my now-husband Kelly moved in with me and my four boys in 2009, he sent me to Mexico for two weeks to write my book. Little did I know, it would take fourteen years to complete it. There's lots of blood, sweat and tears in it. Well, not blood, but you know what I mean.

Thank you for your time in reading this.

My sincere wish is for your to enjoy my creations.

Kathy