"At present, I am editing my book." Or maybe, "I am editing my book at present."
I think "presently" can be misused a bit too easily. This might be a question for "Grammar Girl's" Podcast...

 

I'm going to be annoying -- I don't use either term or "currently." I'd simply say, "I'm editing my book."

(Full disclosure: My degree's in journalism, so I tend to remove extra words. I was brainwashed.) 

If that sounds too terse or abrupt, how about: "So what am I up to now? I'm editing my book." Or something along those lines. Not knowing the context your statement's in (conversational blog, quick update or something formal), my suggestions might not be helpful.

 

I believe the archaic (eg Shakespearean etc) use for "presently" would be to mean "immediately". "At present" is normally used to mean currently or right now. However, presently and at present tend to mean the same thing now. I think it should be "I am editing my book at present" but it's pretty clunky especially by American English standards.

 

Mister Snerdly will be with you presently. That is, if he is present.

 

Let me throw you a curveball -- if this is a work of fiction, how would your character put it? Or the voice of the narrator, who should be reasonably authentic to the story? With that in mind, your grammar probably won't be perfect. You don't want to abuse the English language, which will annoy your readers, but you have to keep in mind how real people say things.

 

Just to chuck a spanner in the works, in England (where I grew up) we used presently to mean later. Such as, "I'll do it presently," which means you will do it later. I've been gone from the UK a long time, so maybe word usage has changed and I am hopelessly out-of-date.

 

Let me throw you a curveball -- if this is a work of fiction, how would your character put it? Or the voice of the narrator, who should be reasonably authentic to the story? With that in mind, your grammar probably won't be perfect. You don't want to abuse the English language, which will annoy your readers, but you have to keep in mind how real people say things.

Let's try that. The character, story in past tense:

"I'll be there presently," William said.

Unsatisfactory, unless I had already established that William talks in a formal way. Out of context, it would sound better as: "I'll be there soon," William said.
Or "I'll be there tomorrow,"(or next week, or whenever).

Characters having a telephone conversation, story in past tense:

"Hi, what are you doing?" Janice asked.

"At present I'm doing my taxes," William replied.

Better as: "Right now I'm doing my taxes," William replied.

The narrator:

(Speaking in present tense) At present I don't know where William is.
Better: I don't know where William is.

But I would not write: Presently I don't know where William is.
It just sounds wrong to me.

 

I understand presently to mean soon. At present means now.

Don't get me started on momentarily.  Where I come from it means for a short time, not in a moment. The second meaning makes me grind my teeth. 

 

I'm going to be annoying -- I don't use either term or "currently." I'd simply say, "I'm editing my book."

(Full disclosure: My degree's in journalism, so I tend to remove extra words. I was brainwashed.)

Same here. I don't have the degree in journalism, but I worked in advertising, where we had to make the greatest impact with the fewest words. I dislike redundant words and phrases. Currently, presently, as of this time, etc. They all get cut.

 

Agreeing with vlmain and sheshenet.

Presently is what Brits use instead of the more American momentarily.

 

I can't think of a reason when or why I'd ever use "at present," too stiff and formal, so maybe I'd have a snooty butler say it?? To me at present and presently mean the same thing, and since at present seems clunkier, I'd avoid it. Ergo, of the two I prefer presently.

Disclaimer 1: I'm American, if that explains anything.
Disclaimer 2: To be honest, I probably wouldn't use presently, either; I'd probably go with currently or at the moment.

 

Same here. I don't have the degree in journalism, but I worked in advertising, where we had to make the greatest impact with the fewest words. I dislike redundant words and phrases. Currently, presently, as of this time, etc. They all get cut.

Double yes to this. As someone with editing and journalism training, I'd say you want to be wary of adverbs. Saying "I'm presently editing..." and "I'm editing..." mean the same thing, so cut the redundant word and keep things simple. If your verb isn't getting the job done, first try to come up with a better verb before resorting to tacking on adverbs.

That aside, I don't see any difference in meaning in the ways you use "presently" or "at present." You could argue one use is more formal than the other, but they mean the same thing. I've never heard of "presently" meaning at some point in the future.

 

Just to chuck a spanner in the works, in England (where I grew up) we used presently to mean later. Such as, "I'll do it presently," which means you will do it later. I've been gone from the UK a long time, so maybe word usage has changed and I am hopelessly out-of-date.

Not to be a pain in the butt, but every one here using "presently" to refer to some point in the future is focusing on the wrong part of their example sentences. Even in England, if you changed "I'll do it" to "I'm doing it" the meaning of "presently" changes. If I say, "I'm presently drinking coffee," or "I'm editing my book presently," those both mean right now, not in the future.

 

Not to be a pain in the butt, but every one here using "presently" to refer to some point in the future is focusing on the wrong part of their example sentences. Even in England, if you changed "I'll do it" to "I'm doing it" the meaning of "presently" changes. If I say, "I'm presently drinking coffee," or "I'm editing my book presently," those both mean right now, not in the future.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/presently

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/presently

 

I'd definitely take 'presently' to mean I am about to do something.

 

Not to be a pain in the butt, but every one here using "presently" to refer to some point in the future is focusing on the wrong part of their example sentences. Even in England, if you changed "I'll do it" to "I'm doing it" the meaning of "presently" changes. If I say, "I'm presently drinking coffee," or "I'm editing my book presently," those both mean right now, not in the future.

Ah, but did you live in England in the 1950s? That's where my memories are from and I was clear about stating that they were from long ago, and that maybe things had changed.

Does anyone else remember this, or am I the only old fart Brit here?