December’s Local Author Blog - a Q & A with Carl Augustine
Q: Please share some basic background information :
A: I was raised in New Miami, Ohio, graduated in 1968, married in 1972 and moved to the Seven Mile area. I just recently retired and now live in Hamilton, Ohio. I have always loved camping, fishing, hiking, and the great outdoors.
Q: You’ve written “Hidden Treasure...Quest of the North Woods” which is currently on order at MidPointe Library. It’s about the adventures of a teenage boy exploring the “North Woods” for hidden treasure and the dangers that propel him into survival mode. What prompted you to write it?
A: I wrote “Hidden Treasure” for an inspiration for all who read it. Many people enjoy the outdoors so I wrote this book in a way that they could live the experience, incorporating large print and simple English for a more enjoyable reading experience, peaking the reader’s interest. “Hidden Treasure” has been read by ten-year-old students all the way up to elder adults with great reviews.
Q: Please describe the setting for “Hidden Treasure.”
A:As a traveling sales representative my region covered Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, western part of Pennsylvanian, western part of West Virginia, and Kentucky. I chose western Pennsylvanian for my story because of the beauty of the forests, outstanding trout fishing and the mystery of hidden treasures.
Q: How/where did you acquire your knowledge of "mountainous terrain" and survival tactics to the point you felt comfortable writing about them in a novel?
A: I have lived most of the experiences that I wrote about. I grew up with three brothers. Our Dad taught us how to hunt for all types of game and how to survive in the wilderness. I wanted to pass this knowledge along to others.
As a young boy I dreamed of becoming a forest ranger. At the age of ten I joined the Boy Scout troop in Hamilton, Ohio. I started the journey to become an Eagle Scout. I had almost completed the Eagle Scout requirements when my troop planned a trip to Cimarron, New Mexico, the largest Boy Scout camp in America. The next weeks were filled with adventure. I panned for gold, fished ice-cold mountain streams, survived a grizzly bear attack, climbed one hundred and one thousand feet to the summit of a mountain.
Q: How did you survive a “grizzly bear attack”?
A: I was just a month away from becoming sixteen years old and an Eagle scout. My scout master asked the Dan Beard council to allow me to join the rest of our Eagle scouts on their trip to Philmont Boy Scout Camp in Cimarron, New Mexico. When our troop arrived at Camp Philmont we found two hundred-and-fifty tents set up, which was called Tent City, where we were all summoned to a safety orientation.
The camp supervisor warned us about the grizzly bears, mountain lions, and snakes we could encounter while on the ranch. He told us about packing up our food and candy each night and tying it high in a tree. He also told us that the week before we arrived one boy didn’t listen, and a bear took one swipe through his chest while he was sleeping, killing him.
The next morning, we packed up our gear and headed out. Our troop decided to climb Baldy Mountain which stands 12,441 feet high. We would climb approximately two thousand feet a day, setting up camp at night, bucketing water from a cold mountain stream for cooking dinner. We would pan for gold, fish, and enjoyed each day. One night our camp site had a shelter built with a roof about eight feet off the ground. We packed our food in a wooden box and placed it on the roof and turned in. During the night I woke up to growling. The moon was bright as I looked out my tent. About fifty feet away I saw three bears. One stood up on his hind legs, took one paw and with one swipe knocked the box off the roof, busted it open and all three bears devoured our food. I was praying for God’s protection. That was as close as I came to the attack.
The trails had many obstacles to overcome as we hiked up the mountain. At about 8,000 feet we camped. The next morning a thick white cloud engulfed us. We could talk to each other but could not see each other. We couldn’t move because the trail was close to a sharp drop. Time passed and the cloud moved out.
We had seven days to reach the top of Baldy Mountain and seven days to return to “Tent City.” We went as far to the top as we could until the scout leader told us we had to head back down.
Q: How long did it take to compose "Hidden Treasure..."?
A: I researched for many weeks to compose the story six months in my spare time. Once it was finished, I refined the story nine times to make it the best I could.
Q: About your writing routine...Do you compose your work on a computer, dictate it or write in longhand? Do you follow a certain routine while writing, for example in a special place or at a special time?
A: I composed all my work on a computer after work or at night when grandkids were asleep.
Q: What inspired you to write “Let’s Talk Awesome — One Man’s Journey With God,” which is available for checkout at MidPointe Library? How long did it take to compose?
A: “Let’s Talk Awesome” is a special book about what God has led me through. After a life-changing experience in 2014 I was talking to a close friend about what I had experienced first- hand that God had done for me. After listening for a short while she said, “Carl, you should write a book telling your experiences.”
At that time, I was driving for a school transportation company. When I had down time I would pull out my paper tablet and write down my experiences. After many obstacles and a large amount of time I finished “Let’s Talk Awesome.”
CARL AUGUSTINE’S BOOK, “HIDDEN TREASURE...QUEST OF THE NORTH WOODS,” IS CURRENTLY ON ORDER AT MIDPOINTE LIBRARY. LIBRARY CARDHOLDERS CAN STILL REQUEST THE BOOK VIA THE ORDER RECORD THAT APPEARS IN THE MIDPOINTE CATALOG.
HIS OTHER BOOK, “LET’S TALK AWESOME…ONE MAN’S JOURNEY WITH GOD,” IS AVAILABLE FOR CHECKOUT IN MIDPOINTE’S CATALOG.
TO RESERVE THE BOOKS WITH A FREE MIDPOINTE LIBRARY CARD GO TO:
www.midpointelibrary.org > Catalog Search > Carl Augustine
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