Ask the Author: Christy Perry Tuohey
Answered Questions (14)
Christy Perry Tuohey
Thanks so much, Sue! Yes, if you would like to buy from a WV book store, Taylor Books in Charleston carries both or can order them for you. If you're not near Charleston, you can also use Bookshop online to order. So glad you're thinking of our state's booksellers! Here's a link to Taylor Books' Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/taylorbooks
Christy Perry Tuohey
Thanks for your question, Jane! Yes, I am writing a second Panther Mountain story which involves my cousin (4x removed) Lydia, who was Caroline's niece. Lydia's family also aided Union soldiers and they maintained lifelong friendships with those they helped, which is really cool. I am so happy to hear that reading the book took you back to the West Virginia you remember growing up! I was born in Charleston, also lived in Spencer and Huntington. I will update you when Lydia's story is published ;)
Christy Perry Tuohey
I don't know when I will be going but will keep you posted. I will look for the house when I'm there. Thanks so much for your info, Sue!
Christy Perry Tuohey
Wow! So naming it Hardman's wasn't too far off, I guess! Yes, I would absolutely love to see the Grose Cemetery. Please feel free to contact me at christyperrytuohey@panthermt.com with follow up info on that. :)
Christy Perry Tuohey
Sue, you ask some great questions! I found a snippet of information along the way in my research that there had once been a Hardmans store in Summersville but could not find a second source to back that up. In my teen years, I lived in Spencer, WV and the Hardman family and their hardware/home stores are based there, so I chose to use their name. I used a geological survey of Nicholas County to "create" a cave near Caroline's home, so it's not based on an actual cave but is in keeping with the real terrain. However, I do have another book in the works that involves Ohio Union soldiers who hid in a cave on Panther Mountain and I do have proof of that location. So glad you're enjoying the book! :)
Christy Perry Tuohey
Hi, Sue, yes I did see your info. We are obviously distant cousins! I have never been to Panther Mountain but hope to visit maybe this summer. I tried to go a couple of years back but that was right after a major storm and downed trees were blocking the road up.
Christy Perry Tuohey
Sue, we are definitely from the same line. William and Susan are also my great-great-great-grandparents and two of their daughters are my great-great-grandmothers. Covington's sister Caroline Grose, about whom the book is written, married Benjamin Franklin "Frank" Backhouse (name later changed to Backus) and sister Mary Ann Grose married Frank's brother Henry Backhouse. My great-grandfather was Adam Clark Backus, Caroline and Frank's first-born and his daughter Minnie Velma Backus was my grandma, to whom the book is dedicated.
Christy Perry Tuohey
Hi, Sue! Great to hear from another Panther Mountain connection. My great-great-great-grandfather was William Grose, son of Jacob Samuel Grose (or Samuel Jacob, not sure which). He married Susanna Koontz and their daughters Caroline (about whom I wrote the book) and Mary Anne were both my great-great-grandmothers. How about your family's names?
Christy Perry Tuohey
The idea began when I found an old letter in my Grandma's belongings after she passed away. The letter, beautifully written in ink on parchment paper, is dated 1854, and it is a love letter to my great-great-grandmother from a man whom she did not marry. The mystery of why she and her son and granddaughter saved this letter--even though she married someone else, my great-great-grandfather-- compelled me to dig into both my family history and the history of western Virginia, later West Virginia, before and during the Civil War. It is an untold story from a well-known time in history.
Christy Perry Tuohey
Inspiration comes to me in different ways, but almost always arrives while I'm listening to great music or am in the shower. Sound and silence both serve me well. The trick is to make myself quiet and listen; not easy for me.
Christy Perry Tuohey
I have just published my first historical fiction book and am now working on a multimedia piece based on my year as an exchange student in Sweden in 1976-77. I am transcribing a box full of audiotapes and combing through old letters. I hope the finished product will include audio, images and print.
Christy Perry Tuohey
Don't give up, ever. Keep on writing and submitting. Don't let rejections stop you. I almost gave up on realizing my dream of publishing a book and, in fact, wrote a book about 20 years ago that has never been published.
Writing is good for your soul. You will need to work at it, ask for feedback, ask someone else to edit for you, accept criticism and learn from it. No first draft is good enough. Make peace with that and know that editing and revising are a critical part of the writing process.
Writing is good for your soul. You will need to work at it, ask for feedback, ask someone else to edit for you, accept criticism and learn from it. No first draft is good enough. Make peace with that and know that editing and revising are a critical part of the writing process.
Christy Perry Tuohey
The process. I am grateful that God created me to be a writer--that's how I see it--and find a lot of joy in the detail work of writing. To be able to "open up a channel" and just let the words flow is a blessing and often serves as emotional catharsis. I am not, however, saying that it is always easy or that what I create is always high quality. I shudder at some things I re-read, especially some of the poetry of my younger years. But I want to be better, so I keep at it.
Christy Perry Tuohey
Because I was a journalist on daily and even hourly deadlines for almost 20 years, writer's block was never an option for me. I had to produce stories, whether I thought they were perfectly crafted or not. "Make air, not art" was my mantra. However, now that I am honing my skills for non-journalism writing, I take more time, think about a plot ideas and structure in more depth and sometimes that means I don't write every single day. Mostly, though, I sit down and let words spill onto the (Word doc) page. Then I work to clean up, fix up and re-edit whatever isn't good enough.
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