About the author

My name is Davis Aujourd'hui and I am the author of "The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude." I have always loved to write, but I didn't get beyond freshman English in college. I resented the criticism of the teaching assistant who had said that my writing was too complex. Perhaps I should have listened to him. I only punished myself by not taking other writing courses.

I was an avid actor in high school and I was trained as a classical pianist by a former concert pianist whose professional name was Heddy Maehle. When it came time for me to pursue a course of studies in college, I did not possess the self-esteem to assert myself. Even though I had wanted to become a theater major, my parents suggested that I be practical. I ended up capitulating to them and I studied marketing management.

I had two very short-lived careers in the business field. My first career was in academic publishing where I served as a field representative. I then pursued another dream career in real estate. Unfortunately that was short-lived due to a then unfavorable economy. Eventually I became a social worker with New York State Adult Protective Services. A seemingly unfortunate health situation resulted in a blessing. I became able to retire at a very young age.

I had loved my work in serving others, but it had been a very stressful job. My clients were composed of the mentally-ill and mentally-demented, the physically frail, and those vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. In many ways, they were society's rejects and the service that I was able to provide barely helped them meet their needs. Economic and social priorities in this country do not provide adequately for those who are most in need.

After nearly twenty years on the job, I developed a life-threatening illness. It was the consequence of my primary addiction which was sex. I learned that I was HIV positive just as I was nose-diving into AIDS. I immediately embraced this diagnosis as a blessing. It was a wake-up call in more ways than one. I began to take my 12-step program of recovery seriously and I became totally sexually sober.

I also truly began to appreciate how short life can be. I began to make many changes within my life so that I could make every moment that would be left to me meaningful. After reading Rick Warren's "The Purpose-Driven Life," I decided that my primary purpose was to begin my autobiography. I entitled it "King David." The subtitle is “A gay man's spiritual journey through the land of judgment toward freedom from the dis-ease within himself: sexual addiction, mental illness, and HIV disease."

My journey into recovery had begun over twenty years ago. While I then knew that I had a problem with sexual addiction, I first had to deal with another problem of which I had been in denial. I had been drinking alcoholically for many years. I can now see where I was medicating something else. A few years later, I was diagnosed with manic-depression. After years of suicidal depressions, I had my first mania after my last drinking binge.

Isn't it ironic that I endured some of the same problems that my clients had! In a sense, they taught me what healing I needed for myself. It's just that I needed help. That came from God who provided me with 12-step programs, therapy, and a good psychiatrist.

That is all part of the incredible story of “King David.” I am a man who has conservatively had sex with over ten thousand men. I did so with little precautions throughout the age of AIDS, a time during which many of my friends succumbed to a disease for which there had been little hope at the time. I, in turn, deluded myself into the belief that I was invulnerable. That eventually bit me in the ass!

When I finished my autobiography, I started to get cold feet. It was an extremely intimate picture of my dysfunctional past! I had also started to relapse within my 12-step program for sexual addiction. I had wanted "King David" to be a testimony to God's grace. That was my shame speaking. It was still a powerful story.

I wondered to myself, “What can I do next?” That's when I came up with an idea. I remembered the character of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude which I had developed in order to entertain a colleague of mine while I had been working as a social worker.

Despite my history of depression, I had usually possessed an incredible sense of humor. I sure needed that in order to get by in my life as we all do. I especially needed that during the twenty years that I was a social worker. That's when I developed the character of Sister Mary Olga.

I soon began to develop the other zany characters until I had created an entire cast. I would call up my friend and I would leave her voice-mails during which I would create spontaneous outlandish and hilarious scenarios. She loved it and that gave me a lot of joy!

At the point when I had finished my memoirs, I thought to myself, I bet I could write a book about these crazy characters! So I sat down and I wrote a book in a little over a month. The thing was, I still had more ideas! I did the only logical thing. I wrote another book. Guess what? I hadn't run out of ideas yet! Over the course of the next two years I wrote nine novels in the series and I still haven't run out of ideas!

Around the time that I was getting ready to have the first book published, I asked my mother-in-law if she would pose in a nun's habit as Sister Mary Olga on the cover of my book. You see, to me, she embodied my mental concept of what Sister Mary Olga should look like. She said, “Sure, Davis! I'll do it for you!”

Unfortunately she passed away before that could happen. As she lay on her deathbed, I said to her, “Jan, I'm going to get you on that cover one way or another!” Thanks to the marvelous illustrator for my cover, that person was able to create a nun's habit over her picture. Once that was done, I dedicated my first book to her.

Only in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would become an author! Yet suddenly I began to write as if it was my full-time job. If you wonder what I'm doing now, I'll tell you. I'm polishing the other books in the series so that they will be fine and outrageously funny gems like the jewel of this first book that I've created. You can look forward to reading that first sequel. It's called "Babes in Bucksnort."

After the second sequel, I travel back in time to trace Mary Olga's journey from the time she was dunked into the baptismal tank at the Bucksnort Baptist church up until she became a Catholic and later became a nun. I continue to move forward in time which has given me the opportunity to create many more delightfully zany characters as well as to trace the history of the endearing characters you'll be enjoying in this first book.

I must admit that I'm going to be leaving you hanging after the second sequel, but don't worry, I'll pick up the current story line later. I don't think I'm about to run out of ideas for a very long time! Sister Mary Olga and her friends have taken on lives of their own. That's given me a joyful sense of purpose in my own life.

Who knows? Maybe someday, you'll get a chance to read my memoirs. Just like Sister Mary Olga, I've lived a rather crazy life myself. Having given myself the time to heal and to regain sexual sobriety, I am now reconsidering my decision concerning "King David." That may well be my next project after I make a success out of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude. When "King David" comes out, you can well expect to see me on Oprah. I'll just have to consider how I can protect my anonymity in order to spare my loved ones any additional pain.

If you want to check out my web page for my first published novel, go to: http://www.outskirtspress.com/misadventuresofsistermaryolgafortitude