I’ve finished writing my book, Paradise of Presence: Conversations in the Mindscape of Eternity. I woke up two days ago, looked at my morning schedule and realised that I no longer had to ask, “What should I do today to finish the book?” That question has dominated my life for a good five years. I can’t imagine how life will be from now on. I’ve forgotten how to live a “normal” life. Perhaps I’ll have time to do the things I’ve neglected. I think I’ve simply developed a new “normal.”
I’ve sent the Paradise of Presence file to my husband, Steve. He is now laying it up in preparation for publication. The first goal is to release the book as an e-book. The e-book will be available on Amazon for download to Kindle, and from all other outlets that offer e-books. I don’t know how long it’ll take to prepare the e-book files, but I’m assuming we’ll upload them to the relevant platforms sometime in January.
After that, we’ll work on preparing a file for the paperback version. Again, it will be available on Amazon and all other outlets globally. Getting paperbacks ready for sale takes more time than e-books. Paperbacks are physical objects, not just a digital file, and so producing them is more involved. In addition to the paperback edition, I will also be producing an audiobook version. You will be able to listen to it on any platform that you usually listen to audiobooks.
About Paradise of Presence
I do believe I’ve done something new with this book, which is why it’s taken a decade to write it. When I started, I had a vague idea about writing a book about Baha’u’llah and his teachings, but I had no plan for how to do it. I had been a business writer for ten years and figured, surely, with that experience, I could write something about the Faith. I played around for ages but didn’t like anything I produced. Eventually, after experimenting with various styles and approaches, I wrote the first paragraph of chapter 1, and I knew I had found what I was looking for.
Because Paradise of Presence is unusual, I’m on the back foot when it comes to marketing it. How do you describe to people a book of a type that they have not really seen before? Many people know nothing about Baha’u’llah, let alone what he said. Baha’is in general, although they know about Baha’u’llah, also have a particular way of looking at the Faith, which is different to the way I approach it in the book. On the other hand, the fact that the book is unusual is also its strength. So far, I have found that people who have no particular interest in religion say they found the book very interesting. In fact, I’ve been surprised at the enthusiastic way some people have reacted.
Excerpt from Paradise of Presence
Perhaps the most important thing I’ve tried to do with the book is not just tell people about Baha’u’llah and what he said, but also tell them why it matters for them. Throughout, I’ve tried to walk readers through Baha’u’llah’s worldview and show them how each individual, no matter how seemingly insignificant that person might imagine themself to be, is actually super important to Baha’u’llah. To give a sense of this, here is the opening paragraph of the introduction.
“This book is an introduction to the mystical teachings of Baha’u’llah, the Iranian visionary who founded the religion known as the Baha’i Faith. It is not a textbook or other prosaic explanation of what Baha’u’llah said, nor is its approach didactic or dogmatic. I use a “speaking” text, by which I mean that I guide the reader through a journey of ideas. Throughout, my approach is to try to answer the question: Why should this matter to the reader? I like to think that the book reads a bit like a nonfiction drama. I have given the narrative a good pace and intensity by using punchy, down-to-earth wording (with little jargon) and by forgoing a detailed analysis of the subjects I cover. (Readers can follow up on subjects of interest using the references in the notes.) I have kept the chapters reasonably short. I hope the reader will buy into the story and want to know the ending, for even if they do not believe the story, it is by any measure a fascinating one.”
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