Guest Post: So you Want to Wrte a Book, By Author Davis Aujourd'hui

Jill Elizabeth posted this on September 14th, 2011



Today’s Guest Post is the first of two posts on writing and publishing, provided by Davis Aujourd’hui.  Check back tomorrow for the second of this series – and keep your eyes open for more from Davis in the next few weeks, including excerpts and more insights into writing.  Enjoy!

So, You Want to Write a Book

Each of you has a book in yourself. After all, you all have your life stories. That is a starting point; at least it was for me. I wrote my memoirs about recovery from multiple addictions and mental illness. It helped me to heal and to learn how to put my thoughts down on paper. You can do that too.

Each of you is creative energy. You may not realize it. Just let yourself sit with that thought for awhile. Then try putting a pen to paper when the inspiration comes. You will be amazed at what can come out for you. It is your creative energy expressing itself.


Maybe you will express yourself through writing a poem. Perhaps it will be an anecdote from your life. Perhaps you will find the creative impulse to write a short story. Okay, that’s a beginning. Try to keep going. You do have a book in you.

Use your imagination. Let it flow as you put your pen to paper or run your fingers over your keyboard. Believe in yourself and you will create. If it’s meant to be, it will be. Whatever you can dream, you can also realize. Don’t allow any negative thoughts or excuses stand in your way. Affirm to yourself, I am writing a book.

Practice every day or so. You don’t have to write much. Just keep at it and you will find yourself moving in a forward direction. Before you know it, you will be on your way to writing that book.

Okay, now the book is written. The question is, how can you publish it? That’s easy these days. While the traditional publishing industry is very hard to break into, there are many self-publishers. Just google that and you will come up with many. Check them out. Many of them will charge you very little to publish your book. You may not have a best-seller, but you can publish your book if you truly want to do it.

That’s what I did. While I didn’t publish my memoirs, I have written several books about a wayward nun named Sister Mary Olga Fortitude. She loves her bourbon and her Marlboros. That always gets her into trouble with her Reverend Mother who is a reformed prostitute. The zany characters don’t stop there. I just let my imagination continue to create my zany characters and hilarious situations.

Once my first book, "The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude", was published, I just kept on going. My next book, "Babes in Bucksnort", was soon out. I’d never had more fun in my life and I was off on an adventure! That’s when my challenges began. After all, I was embarking on a new career and I wanted to make a success of it. Now, it was time to promote my book and I realized I needed help.


I hired a wonderful publicist by the name of Mindy Schwartz of Full Circle Administrative Services. She created a marvelous blog for me and I began to write articles such as this one. She began to post them all over the internet.


Then I began to get radio interviews. It was an exciting time to revel in my experience as I shared it with my listening audience. After all, it’s no good unless you give it away. While I wanted to make a success of my book, I also want to inspire my listeners to be all that they could be too.


If you have ever dreamed of becoming an author, I encourage you to take these simple steps. You can do it. Dream a little while. Then take some action. Dreams do come true.


***


Davis Aujourd’hui is the author of the Sister Mary Olga Fortitude series of hilarious satires. The first book is entitled "The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude". It was followed by "Babes in Bucksnort". Davis possesses a rich life experience that has enabled him to draw from it in order to create a colorful canvas upon which to paint very human lives.

He is a retired social worker, having worked for Adult Protective Services in New York State for nearly twenty years. He developed the characters within his series of books in order to entertain a colleague by using the gift of humor. As will be the case with Sister Mary Olga in his third book, he is a recovering alcoholic. He also happens to be gay as are several of the endearing and humorous characters within his novels. He can speak from his own experience. He has possessed all of the foibles of his cast of characters who are naughty, nasty, and nice.

Davis lives in Upstate New York where he is currently sharing his life with his partner of seven years. He is socially-minded and spirituality is the most important ingredient in order for him to maintain a happy and successful life.

Author Interview of Author Davis Aujourd'hui By leah Ryman at Journey Reader

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Author Interview: Davis Aujourd'hui
By Leah Ryman at Journey Reader

Author Bio:

"Davis Aujourd'hui is the pen name of the author of the Sister Mary Olga Fortitude series. The first book, entitled “The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude,” was just published in October 2008 by Outskirts Press. “Babes in Bucksnort” is the first sequel, soon to be followed by “Have A Heart.”

Davis is a new author, yet he possesses a rich life experience that has enabled him to draw from it in order to create a colorful canvas upon which to paint very human lives. He is a retired social worker, having worked for Adult Protective Services in New York State for nearly twenty years. He developed the characters within his series of books in order to entertain a colleague of his using the gift of humor.

As will be the case of the title character in his third book, Davis is a recovering alcoholic. He also happens to be gay as is the case with several of the endearing and humorous characters within his novels. He can speak from his own experience. He has possessed all of the foibles of his cast of characters, including those naughty, nasty, and nice."

What inspires your stories?

Years ago, when I was a social worker, I developed my characters in order to entertain a colleague of mine. I would leave her voice mails in which I impersonated characters within scenarios that I spontaneously created. She loved it and that inspired me to develop more.

When I retired, I thought to myself that I could write a book about my chain-smoking, bourbon-swilling nun along with the cast of other zany characters. I sat down and wrote "The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude" in a little over a month.

Since I hadn't run out of ideas, I immediately continued by writing "Babes in Bucksnort". From there, I wrote a total of eleven books in the series. I hope to have "Have A Heart" published within a year.

What genre do you gravitate toward and why?

I write in the humor genre with a slant toward satire that contains a spiritual message. I do this because I love to make people laugh. I also want my readers to come away with inspiration and food for thought. I dedicate all of my books to adult children who deserve a chance to not take life so seriously.

What are your work habits like?

I generally write every day. I write from two to ten hours per day. I let inspiration be my guide and let it flow from there.

What do you consider your best work?

My best works are yet to come, but both Misadventures and Babes have been well-received. I have received an average of 4.5 out of 5 star reviews on Amazon.com

Do you plot out your novels in advance or do you write on the fly?

I let inspiration be my guide. I do not plot out my novels in advance, though I sometimes have certain themes and scenarios I want to develop as I continue to write. I generally allow my intuition develop the tale as I continue to go with the flow. The end results have always been very gratifying.

What experience do you want for your readers?

I want my readers to laugh out loud from beginning to end. I also want them to take a look at themselves as they relate to the characters. In so doing, my readers may discover qualities they wish to develop as they let go of those which do not serve their continued growth.

Are any of your character traits or settings based on real life?

All fiction tends to be based upon the writer's life experience. Such has been the case with me. I have incorporated qualities I have witnessed in others as I have developed my characters. What has been the most fun for me has to create nasty characters based on ornery people I have known in real life.

What are your most significant challenges when you write?

The most significant challenge has been writer's block. When I encounter that, I simply let go of all thoughts. As I do so, inspiration returns to me and I continue to go with the flow.

It is also a challenge to keep track of my many characters and to give them equal attention within my books. As they develop over time, I need to remember what has transpired in previous books. This often means that I need to return to my previous books as a touchstone for further development.

What are you currently working on?

I have just finished a reincarnational romance about a couple who travels through three lifetimes together. I am currently seeking an agent to represent the book to a traditional publisher.

Do you have any writing advice you would like to share with aspiring authors?

Keep writing and perfecting your craft. Keep the faith and never give up.



"Babes in Bucksnort" is the sequel to the highly praised "The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude." Once again the unconventional bourbon-swilling, chain-smoking nun will spin outrageously funny new tales about the residents of Bucksnort, Wisconsin while she tests the will of a reformed prostitute who just happens to be her Reverend Mother.

Unfortunately there is trouble brewing in the Snortlands. The nasty and notorious town busybody, Priscilla Bunhead, goes on a crusade to stamp out what she calls the gay menace. That's when she convinces her millionaire friend, Mildred Mayflower, to give away her fortune in order to bring the Reverend Billy-Bob Blunthead and his Born Again or Burn Forever Disciples for Jesus to town to do the job. It will be an uphill climb for them as the closet doors of many gay people in the Snortlands burst open.

Billy-Bob and his wife, Pinky Poo, will have another battle on their hands when Dimples Dufus, the heiress to the Mayflower fortune, arrives on the scene. They'll also have to reckon with a mysterious woman who channels an entity who challenges the hateful and hypocritical agenda of this spokesman for Jesus.

In between the laughs, Sister Mary Olga continues to dispense nuggets of spiritual wisdom during her classes in Beginner's and Advanced Holiness. Just don't take seats near the flatulent child named Fartley Dinkledorf or his lecherous one-hundred five year-old grandfather, Poopsy. The bottom line is that everyone is welcome in Sister Mary Olga's classes. Join the diverse cast of characters for a joy-ride that will tickle your funny bone until it aches.

Links to purchase books:

The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude -  Kindle Format for $3.99
The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude  - Paperback Edition for $13.95


Babes in Bucksnort - Paperback Edition for $13.95
Babes in Bucksnort - Kindle Edition for $3.99

The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga is also available at Barnes and Noble (Paperback)
Babes in Bucknort is also available at Barnes and Noble (Paperback)


Thank you for visiting, Davis! - LR

MEET THE SNATCHASNITCHES

One of my latest and greatest challenges comes in the form of a nasty, er...darling, little girl named Senorita Snatchasnitch. Now! I can’t entirely lay the blame at her barely-opened door. Senorita is only eight years old, but she has parents who should have known better than to sow their seeds of selfishness inorder to have their own little Snatchasnitch.

After all, her father, Abner Snatchasnitch, was in his fifties when she was born. Her mother, Lilliliver Lipstick, wasn’t far behind. They were basically two big children who thought that they owed it to themselves, as well as to the world, to birth themselves a baby.

Lilliliver Lipstick had married Abner, a three-time loser in matrimony, when she had been forty-four. Perhaps she had settled in her marriage to a Snatchasnitch. After all, time had been running out and she had wanted her own little Senorita. She had immediately put Abner on the alert that he would be at her
beck and call whenever the basal thermometer suggested the temperature was just right to bake a baby. Abner hadn’t had any problem with that. His pendulum was always ready to swing to kingdom come whenever his lassie was home.

Now! It’s not that I’m calling Lilliliver a dog. She is attractive in her own sort of way. It’s just that she’s badly in need of makeup tips. You see, Lilliliver basically resembles a little boy who has rouged himself up before smearing on bright red “I love Lucy” lipstick. To disguise the passage of the years, Lilliliver had opted to color her stringy and pale, wheat-colored hair. It’s just that the result of her dye job resembles the convent’s dishwater after dinner. Let’s just say that her grooming efforts aren’t exactly electrifying!

Abner isn’t exactly the material for Gentleman’s Quarterly. His Sherlock Holmes look is a bit dated. It makes him appear as if he’s a contemporary of Diddles Dinkledorf who is nearly twenty years his
senior. It’s lucky for Senorita that she has inherited features which resemble those of their handsome milkman, but you didn’t hear that from me!

Anyhow! Senorita is a little Miss Know-it-all who doesn’t care whose face she rubs it in, including mine. She’s a sassy lassie who has intimidated almost all of the other girls, not to mention some of the boys. Something tells me that our little eight year-old is worldly beyond her years. On her second day in class, I caught her showing Fartley Dinkledorf how to swing his own little pendulum to dinkledorf-dom in the class lavatory during recess. Let’s just say that I ended that play period prematurely!

Author Davis Auhourd'Hui

Book Series:
"The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude"   Book #1

"Babes in Bucksnort"  Book #2

Confession is Good for the Soul & Funny Bone

In my new novel, The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude, Sister Mary Olga talks about the importance of confession as well as acceptance and forgiveness. These are strong emotions and shouldn’t be entered into lightly.

With that being said, nobody is perfect. Sister Mary Olga would be the first to tell you this because she has a just few vices of her own with a snort of Bourbon and a full puff from a Marlboro every once in a while. She lovingly teaches morals to live by not only her class in Advanced Holiness, but educates readers to learn and apply the valuable lessons of life, along with plenty of humor in between of course.

Everyone should bring more humor and laughter into life. You can release your soul with confession, but never forget to smile in the process.

Want to start having more fun?

1. Smile. Smile at strangers. Smile as you drive to work. Smile when you’re doing household chores. Smile when you’re talking on the phone. Smile more in conversation with others.

2. As Sister Mary Olga would tell you, “Count your blessings”. Consider all the wonderful things in your life and bring more laughter to your family and friends. It will come back to you ten-fold guaranteed.
3. Spend time with other fun, playful people. What a great way to share the feelings of humor?
4. Bring more humor to conversations. Talk about a funny book you’ve just read, like The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude. You can then tell some of the zany antidotes straight from Bucksnort.
5. When you hear laughter, move toward it. It is absolutely contagious. Catch it, release it, and share it. Don’t forget to catch it again when it comes back around.
Create more opportunities to laugh. Develop your sense of humor more and be sure to take yourself less seriously. Laugh. Smile. Laugh and smile right now as you read this. It will transform your life in so many positive ways. I promise you.

What’s the funniest story you’ve heard today?

I hope that you take the opportunity to check out The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude and get an extra dose of laughter today

WHY I LOVE WRITING HUMOR

I have always loved to read and to laugh. After all, it's been said that laughter is the best medicine. Some of my favorite humor authors have served to inspire my own writing. I love the zany humor of Carl Hiaasen and Armistead Maupin. Armistead especially inspired me since he, too, wrote a series of humorous books such as I have.

Humor is such a wonderful escape from the cares of life. My life has been filled with many dark moments and I have used humor to chase the darkness away. Hopefully, my readers will also be able to do the same thing with my series of books. The first book is entitled "The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude". The first sequel is called "Babes in Bucksnort" and that will soon be followed by "Have A Heart".

Writing humorous books is also a wonderful escape for me. Wrapped in the spell of inspiration, I spontaneously spin outrageously funny tales that will make my readers laugh from the beginning to the end of the books. That's my own satisfaction too since I laugh out loud as I write the books. It's a wonderful escape for me and I have never had more fun in my life.

I have been inspired by many humorous anecdotes from my own life. I used to work with mentally-ill clients who had some of the funniest delusions. While my own characters are not delusional, I have drawn from my past experiences with humor in my life to create funny characters.

They have zany names like Fartley Dinkledorf, Lula Mae Bunsaplenty, Muchmore Mayhem, and Jules Jesslike Pappas to name a few. In the case of Jules, he was so named when the nurse held up the little baby for his mother to pick a name. She took one look at the little baby with the large endowment and immediately thought of his father. That's when she exclaimed “Jewels just like Papa's!”

In the case of Fartley Dinkledorf, he is a little boy who takes perverse pleasure in passing gas. Poor Sister Mary Olga! She decides to take a chance and to cast him as the baby Jesus in the annual Christmas pageant. True to form, Fartley lets one rip while in the manger. That's when Sister Mary Olga exclaims, “Fart!” That's also when the Reverend Mother abruptly ends the show.

Priscilla Bunhead is a prudish spinster who wears her hair in a tight little bun. I maintain that it's so tight that her mind is closed shut like a steel trap. She's a busybody who is always digging in the dirt and she finds plenty of that in the fictional town of Bucksnort, Wisconsin. When she learns that she's surrounded by gay people, she goes on a crusade to get them evicted from the Snortlands. It makes for wonderful conflict and great humor because she gets hers in the end.

Yes, I love humor and thank God I've got an active imagination! From that place, I am able to conjure up all kinds of hilarious scenarios. As I go along my merry way, I continue to find new inspiration which has led me to write a total of eleven books in the series. My readers won't have to thirst long between books since I have an arsenal of side-splitting laughs available for them. The beautiful thing is that I haven't run out of ideas yet.

I love to entertain and that is what I promise you. I have created books that you won't want to put down and for which you will be craving the next one. From beginning to end, you will find yourself in stitches of laughter. This is my calling and my gift to you.

Enjoy your journey!

Author Davis Aujourd'hui

"The Sister Mary Olga Book Series"

"The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude" is available at Amazon.com in Paperback for $13.95 PURCHASE HERE Kindle Format is available at Amazon.com for $3.99 PURCHASE HERE

"Babes in Bucksnort" is available at Amazon.com in Paperback for $13.95 in Paperback for $13.95 PURCHASE HERE Kindle Format is available at Amazon.com for $3.99 PURCHASE HERE

Mirror Mirror on the Wall… Who is the Funniest One of All?

Stop and look at yourself in the mirror for one entire minute. What do you see?

Does how you look depend on how you feel on any particular day? Some days do you feel better than others? Do you look different when you’ve had a great laugh? Are your cheeks rosy, eyes watering, and there seems to be more of a twinkle in your eye?

Get ready because you’re guaranteed to laugh, chuckle, giggle, and even snort once or twice when you read Babes in Bucksnort, the second installment of the humorous satire Sister Mary Olga Series. It’s hard to believe, but there are just as many laughs and maybe a few more chuckles in the town of Bucksnort with all of the unforgettable, zany characters.

Well… Sister Mary Olga definitely has her hands full with the newest adventure in Bucksnort. She’s back with the Almighty on her side and taking names in the process. It seems that some of Bucksnorts more nasty and nosey types, namely the Bunhead Clan, have decided that there are undesirables in town. There has been some hurtful name calling, like perverts and gay menace. The lines are drawn and residents have been forced to choose their side and their battle for that matter.

If you’ve stopped and really looked at yourself in the mirror, you’ll realize that we are ALL different and unique in so many wonderful ways. Sister Mary Olga reminds all of us that before we start pointing fingers, we must take a good look at ourselves first. That’s what makes the world a very interesting place, even in Bucksnort.

Take a break this summer and pick up a copy of Babes in Bucksnort and get some of that twinkle back in your eye. Better yet, pick up "The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude" and see where it all begins.

After you finish "The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitute", keep on laughing with the second book of the Sister Mary Olga Series "Babes in Bucksnort".

Both are available in Paperback for $13.95 at amazon.com and also available in Kindle Format for $3.99

Blogtalkradio interview Of Author Davis Aujourd'hui By middaycoversations

You can listen to the interview if you missed it.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/middayconversations/2011/08/02/author-davis-aujourdhui-and-recording-artist-justin-cash

Author Davis Aujourd'hui

Blogs:
http://bestsatireseriesofthedecade.blogspot.com/
http://authordavisaujourdhui.blogspot.com/