The ship has officially sailed! The manuscript was sent to the book designer yesterday. Ophelia will be wrapping up one last illustration and then I’ll be sending those off in a zip file for placement in the book’s interior.
Here’s another preview of the book just for my Hive subscribers, the Prologue:
Prologue
Most of us, at some time in our lives, have experienced a moment of almost perfect peace. In these moments we lose ourselves, it’s as though we’re wrapped in a cocoon of pure joy and contentment. These feelings can be triggered while experiencing a golden sunset, the warm glow of a campfire on a crisp night, or our children happily at play. I call these mindful moments and they’re so profound that it’s difficult to describe in words how good, content, and whole they make us feel. However, these mindful moments are usually fragile, short-lived, and evaporate in a few seconds.
What if there was a way to train your mind to experience more of these moments? What if, with practice, you could begin to string these mindful moments together until you begin to exist in this place of joy, peace, and contentment more often than not? The key to experiencing this next-level quality of life is by mastering the art of living mindfully.
Learning to live in a state of mindfulness is easier to learn than you think, it requires nothing more than a subtle shift in mindset. This book will teach you simple techniques that will allow you to live your best life and be the best version of yourself despite the challenges and negative circumstances unfolding around you.
At the end of most chapters in this book is a section dedicated to meditation as well as blank journaling pages for you to jot down thoughts and ideas. The meditation exercises are very simple, by design. This 5,5,7 meditation technique has been honed over twenty years of practice and designed to be easy to remember and effortless to apply.
You’ll be able to test out the concepts presented in each chapter and use the book to chronicle your personal journey to living a more mindful life. If you’re reading the eBook version on a mobile phone or tablet simply place your finger on the Notes page and “long press” your screen to activate the Notes feature in the Kindle app. Use this notes feature to document your observations and results.
Note: For best results I suggest reading only one chapter per week and practicing that chapter’s meditation section at least once a day over the course of that week and focus on the journaling section of that chapter. After you’re through with all ten chapters, if you feel the need to reread the book, please feel free. I also recommend keeping the book and revisiting your journaling sections when you’re feeling emotionally depleted or challenged in any way. I’m a firm believer that the best way to change the world is to work on ourselves. I hope you find this book to be a useful tool in the journey to becoming the best version of yourself.
At this point in a book project I invariably start to ask myself, What’s The Next Project?. This is a common mistake that most self-published authors make, the creative mind wants to just keep creating, but the truth is this project is far from over. Now that the manuscript is in the hands of the designer it’s time to start mapping out a marketing strategy and trying to choose a launch date.
Communication with the book designer is crucial at this stage. Arrive at a date when you think it will be done and then add two weeks to that. It’s best to have a week or two of cushion to allow time for last-minute revisions or technical difficulties. The worst thing you can do is announce a date to your readers and have to revise it down the road. This creates a logistical nightmare and can result in lost sales.
Thanks to Covid-19, in-person events will be tough so it’ll take some creativity to think of ways to create a buzz about the book without personal appearances and book-signings. Virtual events will be the only option this time.
It’ll be very important to get at least 25 Amazon reviews posted prior to the official launch so I’ll be reaching out to my readers on Hive to help make that happen when the time is right.
Before I delve into any of that, tomorrow is our wedding anniversary so I'll be venturing out today in search of a card and gift worthy of the woman who's put up with me for twelve whole years! Lol.
Thank you for your continued support!
(Gifs compliments of Giphy.com)
Alarm Clock Dawn, one of the first full length novels published on the blockchain, and the book that started it all for me can be found HERE. Or Click Here to read it for free on the Steemit blockchain
My book on meditation, The Perfect Pause, is priced at $12.99 (paperback) and $4.99 (eBook). Buy the paperback and receive the eBook for free!
