BLOG-tastic!

Date	News - most recent first
August 09	ON SALE NOW! Hurrah! The Birth of Venus, the first book in the Catherine Lock, Art Restorer series is available now. Visit the 'Catherine Lock' pages to find out more.
July 09	Okay, so yeah. Been a while... Been busy you know... doing not very much. My book groups ended in August when I went on maternity leave and I went off to have another baby... New Potato! So I've been going to a lot of toddler groups and the like, but occassionally I get to do something else and I'm still on the committe for... The Bath Festival of Children's Festival Friday 18th - Sunday 27th Semptember 2009 Bath, UK Technically this is its third year but I missed last year because of all the boring baby stuff sigh This year though I am back with a vengence and it's going to be great! Look out for me in my snazzy green t-shirt ;-) In the meantime, I'm catching up with everything online. Oh, and of course I'm still writing. Just discovered Scribd so will be playing about with that shortly...
1st March 08	A new beginning! I just couldn't stay away! I've started another book group - although this is more of a book activity group. It's held on alternate Sundays in the Bath branch of Waterstone's, Milsom's Street. There's two groups, A children's group for roughly 7-11yrs @ 12:15 – 1pm and a teen group for roughly 12-15yrs @ 1:15 – 2pm. Each session is based on a genre/theme and we dicuss books, play games, meet authors and get loads and loads of freebies! Here's a list of the date and themes: 30th March – Classics 13th April – True Lives 27th April – Action Thrillers 11th May – Scary Stuff 25th May – Eco/Green Fiction 8th June – Humour 22nd June – Historical Fiction 6th July – Sci-fi Stories 20th July – Animal Adventures 3rd August – Magic and Fantasy 17th August – Friends Maybe see you there ;-)
2nd November 07	The END You know after nearly four years I've decided to stop running my teenage reading groups. There's a number of reasons why - but mainly because there's just so many excellent places online for teen books nowadays. Such as: Teen Lit forum on MySpace Brilliant TRG wiki from Portmouth libraries but anyone can join in Spine Breakers - interactive website from publisher Puffin Happy surfing
10th October 07	Inspiring the iGeneration I will be talking at 'Inspiring the iGeneration', a one day conference for staff from school, public, college or university libraries who are interested in finding ways to engage teenagers using Web 2.0 in Wolverhampton, UK on 10th Oct. I'll be discussing teenage reading groups and giving tips on how to make them work! See the 'Inspiring the iGeneration' website And my page on the 'Inspiring the iGeneration' Wiki!
21st-30th September 07	Coming 21st-30th September 2007 This is the UK's largest festival devoted to children's literature. I'm on the committee and it's all hands on deck as we prepare for the final countdown. I'm so excited!!! We've got everyone who is anyone coming. BIG names like: Jacqueline Wilson, Lousie Rennison, Darren Shan, Eoin Colfer, Anthony Horowitz... The list is almost endless. Check out the website. If you live in or around the city of Bath I expect there to be a very good reason why you're not coming :-D
19th July 07	Facebook I finally got onto Facebook. It's actually really good fun although very time consuming - which is exactly the reason I hadn't signed up til now! If you're on there, come be my friend - we can play Scrabble together and all sorts :-D
25th May 07	Spud! I decided to grow my own teenager - and here he is, in the making! It'll take a good decade before I can start testing my books on him but in the meantime we get to go through loads of great younger books...
1st February 07	Charlie Higson Event Some of us from the teenage reading group took part in Charlie Higson's Young James Bond Quiz today and came joint 3rd! Which wasn't bad at all. Charlie Higson was suitably impressed by our performance and that we'd read one of his books, BloodFever, for the group. But he was highly suspicious when none of us could remember what score we'd given it! Just for the record, we gave it 8/10. Phew!
1st October 06	The World's Greatest Teenage Reading Group... Probably Wherever you are in the world you can now join my teenage reading group - online! If you love teenage fiction you simply have to join. We read a set book each month and then discuss it on the forum. If we're lucky we get the actual authors to comment on there too!
31 August 06	Yours truly is now on MySpace.com I aim to blog book reviews and generally waffle on about some random nonsense every now and then, oooh and run a GLOBAL teen reading group! And maybe even add some short-stories and novel extracts. Hmmm, can I do that? Oh, it's so much fun playing with my new profile! He He! Come see me!
22 July 06	I graduated! I got a MA with Distinction in WRITING FOR YOUNG PEOPLE with my novel The Birth of Venus. You can read the first few chapters here! This means I am now Kelley Townley MA BA - hmmm, maba. I like the sound of that, like some hot latin dance ;-)
09 March 06	Lots of things have been happening! You'll notice the website has been revamped ~ very stylish! Sparks is now on sale. Have you got your copy yet? I did my second public performance at the Bath Literature Festival on the 6th. Reading from the first book in the Catherine Lock, Art Restorer series, The Birth of Venus (read an extract in the Books section). It went very well. At the bookshop on World Book Day we all dressed up as pirates ~ for no good reason! And the Bath TRG celebrated its 2nd Anniversary. All in all a very busy and productive month!
01 March 06	Well,I am finally going to see myself in print! Albeit an annual university-produced anthology of last years' MA creative writing students. But it is real, you can buy it on Amazon and everything! It is called SPARKS - new writing from Bath Spa. You can visit the SPARKS website here. Officially it's being released at a launch party on 6th March 2006 at the Guildhall, Bath. You can come to this and hear me read from my latest book The Birth of Venus (the one set in rainy Florence). Tickets are Ł5 (Ł4 concessions) and it starts at 7:30pm. Visit the Bath Literature Festival website for more info. Maybe I will see you there? (Or maybe I'll be too scared about reading my work out to everyone and be hiding under my bed!)
15 January 06	Gosh! 26yrs old! We went to Florence for my birthday to do some final research for my book The Birth of Venus. I originally wrote the Florence bit in glorious sunshine but when we went it rained constantly so I've changed it in my book now, to reflect the only Florence I know - a wet one!
01 November 05	I am back from a lovely honeymoon in Cuba. Wedding was a grand success even if I do say so myself: sunny weather, happy guests, romantic mush, fab fireworks! You can see the dress I made below. More pics in the Author section ~ if you can stomach it! Now I PROMISE to shut up about weddings! Oh, by the way I got a distinction in my MA in Writing for Young People. Wahoo! Now all I have to do if find someone to publish me!
15 August 05	Only a few weeks to the wedding of the year - well, my year anyway. Not exactly expecting Hello! to turn up - although there was that missed call on my mobile? Anyway, everything is nearly there. Now, just have to make the dress!
13 April 05	Did you catch the Bath Chronicle last month? Didn't expect to see me in a wedding dress doing a charity event, did you? Well, it's quite ironic really because, guess what? Yep, I'm getting married! So, you'll forgive me if my mind is full of dresses and shoes and table places and menus, and venues and guest lists... for the next couple months. The date's set for 3rd September 2005. Fingers crossed for a sunny day!
07 March 05	Just added some new stories to the short stories page. The piece I read out at the festival, entitled The Journey, and a brand new story called First day. Oh, and look out for the Bath Chronicle on Tuesday 8th March!
04 March 05	Well, I did it (and without throwing up with nerves too!). You can even see photographic evidence of my first public appearance below. Bit dark, but it was atmospheric lighting! And here's a pic from last week's TRG party. We all look a bit sketchy actually?!?
17 February 05	My first public appearance! In two weeks time I will be reading some of my work during the Bath Literature Festival. The event is called 'You heard it here first' and it's at the Rondo Theatre in Bath on Wednesday 2nd March at 8:30pm. Tickets cost Ł5. Visit the Bath Literature Festival website for more info. Here's hoping I don't get stage-fright :-/
15 January 05	Happy Birthday to me! Spent a glorious weekend ice skating at the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK. The Teenage Reading Group is going to be 1yrs this year and I've already started planning the party. There'll be cake and balloons and a BRAND NEW EXTRA GROUP! The plan is to have the existing Teenage Reading Group for 11-14yrs and start a NEW Young Adult Reading Group for 15yrs+.
05 November 04	Our teenage reading group has been in the papers three times now! Read the articles.
05 August 04	Crikey! The Bath Teenage Reading Group is doing really well. If you live in/near the city of Bath, UK, and you're interested in joining come see us.
28 July 04	Exciting news! I've started writing for an on-line teenage magazine called Pink World.
04 March 04	Launched today ~ The Bath Central Library Teenage Reading Group run by yours truly.
13 November 03	I've added two more tales to the short stories page. You can view them here.
10 October 03	Wow! My very own, hand-built website goes live. Hope you enjoy it. Let me know your thoughts, nice or nasty, via the feedback form - test it to see if it works!