Appalachian Journey Series | Brown Mountain Lights Series - by CC Tillery
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We need your help again!
Warning: This is not anything as fun as choosing the right cover or what you'd like to see more of in our books but ... we've gotten a couple of reviews from readers who don't like the fact that the ending of Through the Brown Mountain Lights left them hanging. So we're going to put the ball in your court:
Do you, oh trusty and beloved reader, like the hook at the ending or would you like us to end the next book without the hook? I should tell you that the ending has already been written but it can be changed. We aim to please our loyal readers! I will mention: this is a series and we liken it to the short serials that used to play on Saturdays in the movie theaters of old. I know, I know, I'm dating myself but we're hoping that enough of our readers are of a "certain age" and remember what I'm talking about.
Anyway, we'd really like to know what y'all think so leave us a comment here on the blog or on our Facebook page.
Before I go, I'll answer the question you haven't asked yet: yes, we're getting very close to finishing the second book in the Brown Mountain Lights series! And I think it's safe to say both Christy and I are going to do some serious celebrating when this one's finished!
Do you, oh trusty and beloved reader, like the hook at the ending or would you like us to end the next book without the hook? I should tell you that the ending has already been written but it can be changed. We aim to please our loyal readers! I will mention: this is a series and we liken it to the short serials that used to play on Saturdays in the movie theaters of old. I know, I know, I'm dating myself but we're hoping that enough of our readers are of a "certain age" and remember what I'm talking about.
Anyway, we'd really like to know what y'all think so leave us a comment here on the blog or on our Facebook page.
Before I go, I'll answer the question you haven't asked yet: yes, we're getting very close to finishing the second book in the Brown Mountain Lights series! And I think it's safe to say both Christy and I are going to do some serious celebrating when this one's finished!
Another record-breaking festival
This past Saturday, September 30th, we participated in the Art on the Island Arts Festival on Blannahassett Island in beautiful Marshall, NC. This is the only town I am aware of that has an island in the middle of its downtown area, and it is just gorgeous. The weather couldn't have been better with sunny skies and mild temperatures. And talk about ambience! Fantastic live music (was that Santana I heard?), great food from the Sweet Monkey Cafe, artisans selling their wares, and even a blacksmith in the midst demonstrating his art. And dogs, my favorite animal, galore. I tried to get a picture of Cyndi at our booth but she ducked just before I clicked. If you look closely, you can see her trying to hide behind the mum. Gotcha, Gik!
Although this is the smallest festival we've attended yet, we were thrilled to break another record while meeting new and past readers. Georgeann at Penland Department Store in Marshall told us she had sold out of all books but one in the Appalachian Journey series so placed an order for more books as well as book 1 of the Brown Mountain Lights series. We were
asked to do an interview on a live radio show around Halloween and are really looking forward to that. And met a couple who lived on Brown Mountain and were more than willing to share their fascinating recollections of seeing the Brown Mountain lights on "many" occasions. Both admitted to now being firm believers that there is something mysterious and unexplained about these lights.
asked to do an interview on a live radio show around Halloween and are really looking forward to that. And met a couple who lived on Brown Mountain and were more than willing to share their fascinating recollections of seeing the Brown Mountain lights on "many" occasions. Both admitted to now being firm believers that there is something mysterious and unexplained about these lights.
Next up: the Mars Hill Heritage Festival in Mars Hill, North Carolina. They've placed us close to the bookstore, which is exactly where we wanted to be. This is a really fun festival in this
small college town, with close to a hundred booths including diverse and talented artisans and vendors, live music, activities for children, and food and drink. If you're in the area, we hope you'll drop by and say hello. So far, it looks like the weather will be perfect and what better way to spend your day than participating in a fall festival in the mountains of North Carolina?
small college town, with close to a hundred booths including diverse and talented artisans and vendors, live music, activities for children, and food and drink. If you're in the area, we hope you'll drop by and say hello. So far, it looks like the weather will be perfect and what better way to spend your day than participating in a fall festival in the mountains of North Carolina?
Record-breaking Festival
Friday and Saturday, September 8th and 9th, we participated in the Historic Morganton Festival in beautiful Morganton, North Carolina. We couldn't have asked for a better day, with gorgeous cerulean skies dotted with puffy white clouds and highs in the 70s. Or for a better site, being placed on the lawn of the historic Old Courthouse, which is where William Waightstill Avery shot his nemesis Samuel Fleming, and which we write about in our book Through the Brown Mountain Lights.
We were pleased when several of those who bought books commented they had read about us in the paper and wanted to come meet us. And even more thrilled when Ed Phillips, Director of Tourism at the Burke County Tourism Development Authority, stopped by to chat and ask if he could add our book to an exhibit he's putting together about the Brown Mountain lights. Ed is known for the symposiums he holds on this subject and we're looking forward to visiting Morganton when he unveils the exhibit around Halloween. We had fun chatting with readers, always asking if they had seen the Brown Mountain lights. More than a few actually had and it was fascinating listening to their stories and descriptions about the lights, which only made them more mysterious to us the more stories we heard.
We were pleased when several of those who bought books commented they had read about us in the paper and wanted to come meet us. And even more thrilled when Ed Phillips, Director of Tourism at the Burke County Tourism Development Authority, stopped by to chat and ask if he could add our book to an exhibit he's putting together about the Brown Mountain lights. Ed is known for the symposiums he holds on this subject and we're looking forward to visiting Morganton when he unveils the exhibit around Halloween. We had fun chatting with readers, always asking if they had seen the Brown Mountain lights. More than a few actually had and it was fascinating listening to their stories and descriptions about the lights, which only made them more mysterious to us the more stories we heard.
Our cousins Mary Paris Merriken and Melinda Paris stopped by. We're related to them through Lucinda Henderson, Bessie's mother. I knew we were descendants of Clan Henderson through Lucinda, but Melinda and Mary told us we are descended from several other clans in Scotland, one of which is the Balfour clan. Didn't Diana Gabaldon write about a Balfour in her Outlander series? Whether she did or not, it's great knowing we can definitely claim Scottish heritage. Mary has done extensive research on Bessie's cousin Frank Henderson, the first man to die in the electric chair in North Carolina (skeletons in closets, right?), and is planning a book which we look forward to reading.
All in all, we had a fantastic day with the added bonus of breaking our sales record. We've been so blessed with these festivals and library and book club presentations and signings this year, and appreciate more than we can ever express our fabulous readers, who are always so inspiring and encouraging. Y'all are absolutely the best!
Up next: Art on the Island in Marshall, NC on September 30th, and the Mars Hill Heritage Festival on October 7th.
Up next: Art on the Island in Marshall, NC on September 30th, and the Mars Hill Heritage Festival on October 7th.
Readers, Records and Reunions ... oh, my!
We had the best time at the Bluff Mountain Festival in Hot Springs this past weekend! Nice weather--look at that beautiful sky!--live bluegrass music, lots of readers, some known and some new. This is a special festival for us because it's the first one we ever attended, instilling in us a love for these events. This past Saturday was the fourth time we've participated and although you might think attending the same festival in a town as small as Hot Springs year after year would get old, all we can say is it doesn't. Every time we go, we come away surprised, inspired and happy.
We started off the day selling our first books before the festival even started then moved on to have a record number of sales before lunch. This was a complete surprise for us as usually this festival is slow in the mornings and we make the majority of our sales during the afternoon. But this time, we broke our top sales record before noon.
We started off the day selling our first books before the festival even started then moved on to have a record number of sales before lunch. This was a complete surprise for us as usually this festival is slow in the mornings and we make the majority of our sales during the afternoon. But this time, we broke our top sales record before noon.
Things slowed down a bit after lunch but the readers kept coming and by the end of the day we'd sold completely out of Whistling Woman and Through the Brown Mountain Lights! I won't say it's getting old in the case of Whistling Woman, since we've sold out of it at other festivals we've attended, but when we realized we'd sold out of Through the Brown Mountain Lights ... well, I'll just say there were multiple happy dances going on, in our heads, of course. And by the end of the day, despite the fact we couldn't get our Square to connect so we could accept credit cards, we'd not only broken our all-time sales record, we shattered it. More happy dances!
But as always, the best part of the day was seeing our readers, both the ones we'd already met and the new ones, talking to them about the Appalachian Journey series and introducing them to the new series. We can't even begin to tell you how much the favorable response inspires us to continue writing. We'll definitely be keeping that feeling close as we finish the next book in the Brown Mountain Lights series.
This year, while there were fewer vendors at the festival, there was a much larger crowd. We saw some family members we'd met before and also met some new ones (a huge thank you to our ever supportive reader and cousin many times removed, Mary Paris Merriken) which we always enjoy. We had people who came specifically to the festival to see us and get books signed and people who came to buy print books even though they had already purchased the series on Kindle.
This year, while there were fewer vendors at the festival, there was a much larger crowd. We saw some family members we'd met before and also met some new ones (a huge thank you to our ever supportive reader and cousin many times removed, Mary Paris Merriken) which we always enjoy. We had people who came specifically to the festival to see us and get books signed and people who came to buy print books even though they had already purchased the series on Kindle.
All in all, it was a wonderful day and though we enjoyed the new sales record and the sellouts, we have to say, the best part was the reunions with known readers and family members and meeting new ones. And once again, we have to say it, we are so blessed to have all of you in our corner!
Oops, I almost forgot, be sure to watch our CC Tillery Facebook page this week. We'll be announcing a give-away!
Oops, I almost forgot, be sure to watch our CC Tillery Facebook page this week. We'll be announcing a give-away!
Carolina Donut Festival
We had a great time at the 2nd Annual Carolina Donut Festival this past Saturday, May 20th, in Marion, NC, hosted by Mr. Bob's Donuts. (If you haven't tried their donuts, you really should - absolutely the best we've ever tasted.) Marion's beautiful downtown Main Street was lined with vendor booths and thousands of attendees throughout the day. Although the temperature got hot as the day went on (upper 80s), we were blessed with a cool mountain breeze and a portable air conditioner built by Christy's husband Steve out of a cooler and batteries. As always, we had fun meeting and visiting with readers but an added bonus was receiving invitations from three different organizations to do future presentations.
So far, we've met quite a few people who have seen the Brown Mountain lights, two of whom said the ones they saw were amber in color, and one man, a historian, telling us they were different colors. We really love the mystery surrounding these lights and are fascinated hearing these stories, and hope to hear more as we go along, especially when we get to the Morganton Historical Festival this fall.
A bit of history about Marion: It was founded in 1844 and named in honor of Brigadier General Francis Marion, an American Revolutionary War hero whose flare for guerrilla warfare earned him the nickname "Swamp Fox". It's motto is "Where Main Street meets the mountains" and that couldn't be more apt. It's a gorgeous town, surrounded by green mountains and blue sky.
Next up: The Gold Festival in Old Fort, NC, on Saturday, June 3rd. Come join us for what promises to be a fun event. They're even going to be panning for gold in the mountain stream behind the Gateway Museum!
Donut Festival
We'll be participating in the 2nd Annual Carolina Donut Festival in beautiful Marion, NC on Saturday, May 20th, from 10:00 - 4:00. The festival will also feature a 5K Dash, Carolina Donut Festival Car Raffle, Donut Pageant and a donut eating contest. There will be booths filled with artisans and specialty donut makers, so if you're in the area, we hope you'll stop by for what promises to be a fun event and some amazing donuts!
Old Fort Library
Christy and I were invited to give a presentation at the beautiful Old Fort Library yesterday and we had such a good time. It's getting so we enjoy these short events more than the festivals. They don't take up a whole day and we get to know our readers more since it is a smaller crowd and we can spend one on one--or should I say two on one? -- time with them.
Yesterday was especially fun for us because almost everyone who was there either knew Aunt Bessie and Uncle Fletch, and in some cases, Daddy, too, or they had relatives that knew them. And the best part, they knew most of characters we wrote about in the books and kindly shared some stories about them with us. I don't think I've laughed so much in a very long time. The hour and a half we spent with them was like going to a family reunion or homecoming.
So, a word of thanks to Ashley Salazar for inviting us to speak. She did a fantastic job with the set up. And thanks to all the ladies that came out to meet us: Becky Bussert, Janice Means, Mary Lee Lytle, Kiesa Kay, and Karen Nilsen, just to name a few. I would love to relay the stories they told us ... but who knows, maybe we'll end up writing them instead. But first, we need to finish the second Brown Mountain Lights book!
Yesterday was especially fun for us because almost everyone who was there either knew Aunt Bessie and Uncle Fletch, and in some cases, Daddy, too, or they had relatives that knew them. And the best part, they knew most of characters we wrote about in the books and kindly shared some stories about them with us. I don't think I've laughed so much in a very long time. The hour and a half we spent with them was like going to a family reunion or homecoming.
So, a word of thanks to Ashley Salazar for inviting us to speak. She did a fantastic job with the set up. And thanks to all the ladies that came out to meet us: Becky Bussert, Janice Means, Mary Lee Lytle, Kiesa Kay, and Karen Nilsen, just to name a few. I would love to relay the stories they told us ... but who knows, maybe we'll end up writing them instead. But first, we need to finish the second Brown Mountain Lights book!
Old Fort Festival and Noon Book Club
We've had a pretty eventful past week. On Saturday, the 29th of April, we participated in the Pioneer Day Festival in Old Fort, North Carolina. Although the temperature reached into the 80s, it was a breezy day which made it seem cooler and was very comfortable. RoAnn Bishop, the museum director and event coordinator, placed us in the same spot we had last year, behind one of the log cabins on the museum property, across from the amphitheater where live bands performed throughout the day, and within eyesight of the beautiful burbling creek. A local radio station came by for an interview which prompted several people who knew Bessie and Fletch, and a couple who knew our dad, to come by and introduce themselves. This is one of our favorite festivals due the Civil War reenactments, music, food, friendly attendees and festival staff, and a gorgeous view. There was even mining for gold in the creek. But best of all, spending time with readers old and new. We were thrilled to receive invitations to several other festivals in North Carolina which we plan to attend. If you haven't visited Old Fort, I'd recommend a trip. Although it's a small town, it's filled with history and beautiful views, and is one of the most charming towns we've visited.
On Tuesday, May 2nd, we were invited to the Noon Book Club at the Morristown-Hamblen Library in Morristown, Tennessee to speak about the first book in our Appalachian Journey series, Whistling Woman. (The picture on the left is the room where we met. All the rest are of Frontier Day in Old Fort,) The ladies couldn't have been nicer or more inspiring to us and we enjoyed spending time with them and eating the delicious home-made dishes they prepared for the covered-dish luncheon. We received great feedback, which means more to us than we can express, along with interest in the remaining books in the series and our new Brown Mountain Lights series. An added bonus: the library wanted the books for their system and invited us to a book signing in August which we're looking forward to.
Next up: a presentation at the Old Fort Branch Library on Thursday, May 11th at 5:30, where we'll talk about our Appalachian Journey series. Ashley Salazar, branch head of the library, stopped by our booth and told us there's been much excitement about our presentation with several asking if they can share stories with us. We're really thrilled about that. Who knows, maybe it will lead to a future book...
And on Saturday, May 20th, we've been invited to the Donut Festival in Marion, NC, sponsored by Mr. Bob's Donuts. If you haven't tried them, you're missing out on something: they're delicious. There will be over 100 vendors, including donut makers, regional artisans and nonprofit organizations. The festival will feature a 5K dash, car raffle, donut pageant and donut eating contest. Best of all, the proceeds go toward supplies for the local schools. This will be our first time at this festival and we expect to have a great time there. If you're in the area, we hope you'll stop by!
On Tuesday, May 2nd, we were invited to the Noon Book Club at the Morristown-Hamblen Library in Morristown, Tennessee to speak about the first book in our Appalachian Journey series, Whistling Woman. (The picture on the left is the room where we met. All the rest are of Frontier Day in Old Fort,) The ladies couldn't have been nicer or more inspiring to us and we enjoyed spending time with them and eating the delicious home-made dishes they prepared for the covered-dish luncheon. We received great feedback, which means more to us than we can express, along with interest in the remaining books in the series and our new Brown Mountain Lights series. An added bonus: the library wanted the books for their system and invited us to a book signing in August which we're looking forward to.
Next up: a presentation at the Old Fort Branch Library on Thursday, May 11th at 5:30, where we'll talk about our Appalachian Journey series. Ashley Salazar, branch head of the library, stopped by our booth and told us there's been much excitement about our presentation with several asking if they can share stories with us. We're really thrilled about that. Who knows, maybe it will lead to a future book...
And on Saturday, May 20th, we've been invited to the Donut Festival in Marion, NC, sponsored by Mr. Bob's Donuts. If you haven't tried them, you're missing out on something: they're delicious. There will be over 100 vendors, including donut makers, regional artisans and nonprofit organizations. The festival will feature a 5K dash, car raffle, donut pageant and donut eating contest. Best of all, the proceeds go toward supplies for the local schools. This will be our first time at this festival and we expect to have a great time there. If you're in the area, we hope you'll stop by!
1st Festival of the Spring
We had a blast at the Mars Hill Heritage Festival last Saturday. It was a picture-perfect fall day in the mountains with a huge crowd, wonderful music and lots of local artists and craftspeople. Added to that, Christy brought along her granddaughter and my grand-niece, Gabi who is always loads of fun. In between designing a quilt square and playing a few games, she helped us sell books and passed out candy to the buyers. That's her in the picture to the left, working on her quilt square.
Jackie Burgin Painter, our first cousin once removed (I believe that's the right terminology - she's our dad's first cousin) lives in Sylva. Jackie's an outstanding historian whose books we used extensively in our Appalachian Journey series. We hoped to spend time with her but due to illness, Jackie couldn't meet us. But there's always next year because this is an event we do not want to miss and plan to attend in 2018.
I was curious how the town ended up with such a pretty name so did some research and it all goes back to William D. Sylva, a Danish wanderer who ended up in the small town of Webster, NC (named for Daniel Webster as a concession to the Whig element of the county) one blustery January evening in 1879. Frozen and starving, Sylva knocked on the door of Judge Riley D. Cannon’s house, where he was greeted by General E. R. Hampton, son-in-law of the judge. Judge Cannon welcomed Sylva inside for food and lodging for the night and liked him so well he invited the wayfarer to stay and work for him at his sawmill until he decided where he wanted to settle down.
Eventually, General Hampton decided to build a town near Scott’s Creek where he also had a sawmill.
When he asked his daughter, Mae, what they should name the post office, she immediately said, “Sylva”, because Sylva was the nicest person she had ever known. Although Sylva suggested they name the town something else, everyone seemed to be in agreement Mae had found the perfect name for the town. I think it fits.
When he asked his daughter, Mae, what they should name the post office, she immediately said, “Sylva”, because Sylva was the nicest person she had ever known. Although Sylva suggested they name the town something else, everyone seemed to be in agreement Mae had found the perfect name for the town. I think it fits.
Greening Up the Mountains
We're participating in a new festival this year: the 20th annual Greening Up the Mountains in Sylva North Carolina on Saturday, April 22nd from 10:00 until 4:00. We'll be signing and selling all of the Appalachian Journey books, plus this will be the debut of Through the Brown Mountain Lights. It promises to be a fun day, and if the weather cooperates, it should be one of those perfect spring days in the mountains. We'd love to see some of our wonderful readers so if you're in the area, drop by and see us!