How I wrote my first Book
If you want to write, you need to read. I read a lot. My real serious reading began sometime in the late 1980s when business books began to be published as non- fiction rather than as just plain academic books. The first best seller which I can remember was “Marketing Warfare” — Al Ries and Jack Trout. I liked it. I began to devour books on management. But I was mainly focussed on enhancing my functional competence. I tried to relate what I was reading to what I was practising. Gradually I became disillusioned with business books and the way business was being conducted. There was a need for a new paradigm. A new way of looking at business. I began my search for the soul of life inasmuch as the soul of business.
I became interested in the different philosophies of life. My journey of deep reflection had begun. I began reading about the different discoveries in science and how they had impacted the world. What really made a deep impression on me was the discovery of Quantum Physics. And how it changed the way we see the world and life itself. I began trying to make connections between the various fields of knowledge; trying to see the unity of all knowledge which E.O. Wilson called ‘Consilience’. I began studying Nature and the environment. And how life could learn from nature. How we needed to work with nature and not against her. I began to familiarise myself with different cultures. My interest in the whole of life began to grow. I was curious and willing to search. Search for my own unique way of ‘seeing’.
In this journey the method which I followed was to read a book, if I thought it was important, as many times as possible to really understand it. While reading a book I would literally grind myself into it by scribbling different types of indicators for distinguishing the very important from the not so important passages. I would then type out the very important passages. I would also write with a pencil or pen my own understanding of what I had read and then type it out as a manuscript. When one writes, I realised, a connection is made between mind and hand. One remembers. One reflects. One connects. One realises insights.
Besides reading books, I participated in different workshops, seminars, and programs addressing different aspects of life and business. I tried to combine these learnings with what I had read and experienced. To make some meaning out of it all. I had become a seeker.
I made many attempts to succeed as a writer but failed. I thought I had something to offer the world much earlier on, but soon realised I was too raw. I did not have anything robust to offer. After years of reading, reflecting, living and writing copious notes in the way I have described above, I was left with all these writings gathering dust in my library. I decided to take a look at them with a pair of fresh new eyes. It was during one of those days that I was overwhelmed with a eureka moment where all my reflections came together in a flash of inspiration. I immediately wrote an article in one sitting titled “We are Fakes. A call to authenticity.” I just wanted to get this content out of my system. I learnt that I could publish this article on “Medium” an online blogging platform. I published it and sent it to my friends through Whatsapp. It was very favourably received. This is the encouragement that propelled me forward.
I began to now look more closely at all my previous notes and writings and came up with different topics for brief articles of 2 minute to 5-minute reads. What I wrote mattered to me. It came out of my being. And with no objective in mind I began sending them to all my friends. I averaged around 2 articles per month. My friends began to appreciate what I was doing. In fact, they would wait for my blogs to arrive.
When I was in College, I had tried my hand at poetry. But there again I did not go very far. I was too green and hadn’t yet found my own style and rhythm. I lacked depth. Now after so many years I once again decided to write poetry. This time around my friends began appreciating it. But poetry is inspirational. It cannot be forced. And therefore, my poems are much fewer than my articles.
In the beginning of 2020, Joanne, who is an illustrator volunteered to illustrate my articles. Things now began to happen serendipitously. I seriously started to think of publishing a book of all my blogs. Simultaneously I realised that I could get this book ready for our 40th wedding anniversary. I could dedicate this book to my wife. What better gift! I needed a publisher who supported self-publishing. A colleague of mine helped in finding such a publisher. I needed a sufficient number of articles to create a wholesome book. This was going to be a book of reflections and therefore needed to be read and meditated upon. So, in consultation with the publisher we decided that the book will be around 200 pages and contain approximately 50 articles. I now began writing with zeal and commitment to complete the remaining number of articles. I had a deadline to meet. It was also an opportunity to read all the remaining books which I had bought during my lifetime but had not read. I chose topics and did the required reading, reflecting and research.
I would write an article and dwell on it for a few days. Allowing the whole article to course through my whole being. Through this exercise I would realise the errors and/or what I needed to do to enhance the article. It is very demanding to be a critic of one’s own writing. While writing the article one needs to be totally absorbed in the writing of it. But once it is finished one now needs to become its critic. Detached and evaluative. In this I was helped by Nolita who was my sounding board. No article was published without going through her quality control check. These articles continued to be posted on Medium and sent to all my friends.
Having written the required number of articles, I now needed to sequence the articles theme wise in a meaningful order. I needed a title for the book. I needed to get the illustrations done for the front and back cover, for the different themes, and for the poems. I needed to review which typeface was going to be used. I needed to give the book for reviewing to people who knew me and who had appreciated my articles. Also, the foreword needed to be written. And a preface. All this and more needed to be done to bring the book into being but the most important and painful exercise was the copy editing of the book. In this I needed to be a perfectionist. I couldn’t allow anything to just pass muster perfunctorily. With an eye for detail I needed to scrutinise every word, sentence and para. And then appraise the hard copies for the total look and feel, before giving the final go ahead.
The greatest satisfaction I got was to see the final version; and to launch it on our 40th wedding anniversary where I gifted it to my wife, Bulu, and dedicated it to her. It was worth the wait for so many years. I was now an author at the age of 70 years.
The print and eBook edition are now available on Amazon (India, Australia, Canada, Japan, US, UK) and Flipkart. It is titled “Seeking to Live” and is a collation of all my blog posts put in a meaningful sequence. If you want to get in touch with me my email id is conrad.saldanha@gmail.com.
