We welcome a new Bombadilian

We are happy and proud to welcome Felix into this world. Felix is the first child of Mousumi and Alex in India. He was born at 9:50 PM on the 27th August.
Welcome Felix, we hope the world will bring you what your name suggests: prosperity and happiness.

rain, rain, rain and food

Hello you all

Well today it has been a rainy day here in Gyttorp (Nora), hmmm not so funny at all. As you now know I prefer sun and warmth so today was not "my" day. Unfortunately this weather comes with the autumn. You(I) can´t be out as much as you(I) want, well you can if you have good raining clothes. Hmm my rain trousers are leaking :-(, actually I need some new raining clothes. Today I didn´t bike to work, I did go by car (not me driving) that was okej. But I like to bike even when it´s raining, well no to much. I can the road so well, so I bike that way by routine and can think about whatever comes in my mind. And sometimes I totally forget where I´m actually is going so it has happen that I have bike a bit to far from the road I should turn at :-)):-)). It´s nice that actually be able to so totally "let go" of what you are doing and actually think or just let out and clean your mind.


Rain, rain, rain.........

Foooood. Today I and the rest of Bombadil crew did some food together, well Sara and I did the most of it :-)). It was on Monday I think that I got that idea to make food to us all, sometimes I do get some bright ideas :-)). It was fun and it is always better and nicer taste on the food when you actually has done it and can eat it straight away. Normally I have food with me and warm it upp in the microwave, and it do lost some taste when you do like that not all food but a lot. What had I decided to make then? Well I had something in mind and actually did it. It is a kind of fish "pot". It contains at least two different kind of fish, apple, paprika, long leak, cream and some other stuff. To that we had rice and a nice salad with cucumber, salad, radishes and some herbs from my small greenhouse. The rest in the sallad was from the store.
It's nice to do things like this together once in a while, maybe we will do this some more times. we will see.

I will end with these words. They are meant for an animal (dog) but I think it actually can be for a human being too.

"Don´t walk in front of me because I may not follow.
Don´t walk behind me because I may not lead.
Just walk beside me and be my friend".
~Albert Camus

bye bye
Mari

Literature- The art of healing

Hello everybody!

I have written a small essay and I'll appreciate your comments and suggestions. It is in the response of the question Alex had asked me a while ago.



“Literature adds to reality, it doesn’t simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become” -C.S Lewis
Literature has always been considered as healing power for reducing the rushes of stresses we experience in our daily deal of life; it has also been considered as medicine to help the readers recover from any kind of trauma, and food for intellectual growth. Significant force and effect of literature has been seen more prominently in world wars by restoring courage and strength among people. It significantly assisted them to get rid of pain of losing near and dear ones.

From ancient time, literature has shown positive changes in children’s as well as adult’s lives. Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice and wonderland’, Charles Perrault’s ‘Cinderella’, ‘Sleeping beauty’ and ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ in 17th century, John Newbery’s ‘Little Pretty Pocket book in 18th century, Brothers Grimm’s ‘Snow White’ and L. Frank Baum’s ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ all were widely embraced by children as it not only offers them entering in the world of imagination but also assists them developing deeper understanding and critical thinking.

Oliver Twist, Treasure Island, The outsiders, Little Women, The Catcher In The Rye, The Jungle Book, Great Expectation, Are You There God?, Moonfleet, The Adventure of Tom Sawyer, Harry potter and many more among young-adult literature were greatly acknowledged by young readers.
Judy Blume, J.K Rowling, Tim Bowler, S.E Hinton, J.D Salinger, Maureen McCarthy, Libby Gleeson, and Alan Baillie renowned authors who have influenced the world in an unavoidable way.
It helps children as well as adults to know the different parts of the world, cultures, and people in better way; it encourages them to perceive lives from different perspective by finding their real-life situation through the characters, their wishes, dreams and frustrations. Sometimes readers, while reading, receive some clues to solve their own problems from the characters. Literary technique (for example, humour, comedy or tragedy) throws them into diverse range of reality creating a perfect ground to react positively towards them. It fulfils their intellectual, social and emotional needs through challenging experiences.

Bombadil Publishing, a youth to youth publisher, is successfully heading and enriching this trends with vigilant thought and assessment by offering readers (young readers in particular) to venture for gems hidden their inside and let them sparkle across the globe. Bombadil Publishing has actually made virtue of necessity. Young people, against the popular conservative belief that they destroy literature, have proved themselves to be highly instrumental to positive change. They are poised to contribute to literature and grateful to our ancestors who spent their lives thinking and writing.

Sincerely,
Mousumi from Bombadil, India

Travelling and an empty HQ

Our grand travellers have now left for Latin America and the office feels rather empty frankly, it´s quieter and a bit darker for some reason. The only advantage as I see it is the fact that I can play music as loud as I want. Without disturbing a single soul. Mari´s office is too far away for her to be disturbed ;)

There are a lot of things for Marianne, Niklas and Melvin to do, they are meeting up with the minister of culture in El Salvador and I think a dinner with the president was on the schedule too. (Correct me if I´m wrong)Further they are visiting an orphanage and Melvin mother even! In Peru the release of our two new Spanish titles will be held and hopefully lots and lots of press will be there to acknowledge the authors and their great books! In the previous blog post by Melvin you can read more about these books.

But, back to Sweden... The office is empty and the Bombadil dog Pixie is a bit worried about the fact that Marianne is not here, but Pixie is in good hands with the rest of the Bombadil staff. She spent last night wakening up poor Mattias and apparently she really enjoyed jumping up and down in his bed, whilst he was trying to sleep after dropping our grand travellers in Örebro to catch their coach to the airport. He mentioned something about snoring too, I just can´t recall if he was talking about himself or the dog. Since she is staying with me the coming week I think I will invest in a pair of ear plugs, just to be on the safe side.

During the time Marianne, Niklas and Melvin is gone the Bombadil work in the Bombadil office continues as usual. And we have a new project to start up, which we need all our readers, mentors and authors to participate in! We want to have pictures of people all over the world photographing themselves wearing Bombadil t-shirts for our new "Bombadil all over the world"-photo album. So if you happen to have a Bombadil t-shirt, take a photograph in front of something that is typical or representative for your country and send it to us! I for example; I would probably have my picture taken whilst sitting on an elk (?) or strolling around in a great forest... Yeah something like that.

And if you don´t have a Bombadil t-shirt yet, check out this link to get one! http://www.cafepress.com/Bombadil

Over&out
Sara

Bombadil Publishing has launched their first two books in Spanish.

A group representing Bombadil Publishing AB will be travelling to Latin America to launch the two very first books in Spanish, next already next week in Lima, Peru where we will be presenting Rogger Avendaño’s book “La Dama de Negro y otros Cuentos”, at the Cultural Spain Center in the Incan capital. A week later our Bombadil group will be in El Salvador’s capital, San Salvador, and we will be introducing to the world the book of our author Mario Chavez Jovel named “31 Cuentos Cortos” at the famous local in San Salvador.

Our company will be represented by our lovely MD Marianne Rugård-Järvstråt, the smart Niklas Järvstråt and myself Melvin González, together with our local mentors Maggy Jacinto in Peru and Margarita Alfaro Bulle in El Salvador, who will be very happy to get these books to their writers. The feelings of our work is crowned.

These two books are the result of the combined work of a great cooperation team between Bombadilians, the author, the mentor, myself, the team in the international office and the distribution team. There is a very good feeling in the air about these books and the message of those young writer is very clear: harmony, love, peace and taking care each other and help to building a better future, a Bombadilian future where young people help young people… and adults… as myself. YOUTH2YOUTH

Melvin González

Autum in the air

Hello out there

Well last evening when I was at the stable, as I always are every day. I just felt that it had started to be colder outside. I couldn't be without my "oil" coat!!! Noo, noo my thoughts come at once. I don´t like the autumn and the dark moist weather that will come more and more :(. I prefer spring and summer and warm weather, i want sun! By other words I don´t like the change from summer to autumn.
One nice thing it is, just one, the colours that will appear in the trees, that can be really amasing! Hmm actually one more thing, you can harvest the things that you have sowed and eat it up.


Some nice colours in a rowanberry tree. You can actually do jelly out of these!

"falling leaves
hide the path
so quietly"
~John Bailey

Ohh by the way, yesterday we collected the first examples of the two Spanish books "La Dama De Negro" and "31 Cuentos Cortos". That was really nice to have them in the hands, to see them. It was hard to do them because I can´t speak Spanish and didn´t understand more than a very few words!

And at the same time I collected my new passport and Id card, jiiipppiii. Now, now I can go somewhere, don´t know where yet but I have some thoughts and wishes :-). Like I have write somewhere else (FB) i can be "free to fly like a dove and free to go wherever I want". I´m really happy about this.

So bye bye for this time
Mari

August: the festive season begins in India

First of all I apologize for being abscond for almost a month—no writing, nothing. Thanks to Marianne and Sara for reminding me.

Events come and pass by and we tend to forget the nicest moments of our lives. August is such a beautiful month in India: the beginning of festivals and grand celebrations. I really missed my three sisters on 5th of August, the festival of Raksha Bandhan; it’s the occasion when sisters tie Rakhi (a beautifully crafted and decorated thread) on the right wrist of their brothers as a reminder of love and protection.
Brothers vow to take care of their sisters and in return (not a mandatory) offer her gifts and sweets. The festival is a wonderful way of bringing the family closer together. Many women also tie Rakhis on their close friends and neighbors as a sign of caring and harmony in their social lives. This is the day when you receive so many valuable lectures from your sister: a lot of Dos and Don’ts. I love them so much; therefore, I don’t mind listening to them. After all, it’s for my well being.




Then came 8th of August, the day I should have been in Kerala, one of the southern states of India. This is the day when people from across the globe come to witness a historical event called ‘Snake Boat Race’. I had been there just once in the year 2004 with some of my friends and memories are still afresh. 100 to 120 feet long boats and over a hundred rowers look marvelous. Since most of the snake boat races are held during the months of July and September, I’m left with no options other than waiting for the next year.


Finally, 15th of August, the Independence Day: the day every countryman celebrates with pride and enthusiasm. This time, I was not alone. I received so many messages from authors (we call ourselves Bombadilians) and they are not just from India; they are from all continents. Some messages were special greetings and some came along with thought provoking questions such as:
What is the true meaning of independence? How independent are we? Isn’t it also about liberating our mind body and soul? Can we freely express ourselves? Somebody sent me this quote:

“Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Thanks to these young Bombadilians for making my day thoughtful.
...Alex

Inspirational meetings and making new friends.

Last week I got really inspired, more inspired than I have felt in a long time. Because last week on Thursday night I met up with one of those friends who are more a friend of a friend, although I can´t remember whose friend he was to begin with. I think we played in the same amateurs football team last summer, maybe that´s were where I first met him, he who gave me waves and waves of inspiration.

I am a hard nut to crack at times, especially when it comes to writing and to feel inspired, I don´t really think inspiration can be forced, although it´s no use just to sit around and wait for it to come and knock your door. Very carefully it need to be pushed and pulled at the same time, and for me who is a hard nut to crack the periods filled with nothing but inspiration seems to be quite irregular and nowadays quite rare even… And I have seriously started to consider if my inspiration has gone off to Greece in order to sunbath ridiculously much, or perhaps skiing in the Austrian alps. Who knows? It´s been missing, and I have surely missed it.

Back to the point; last week I met up with this friend of a friend, but now he is not a friend of a friend no more, now he is "just" a friend =). He writes lyrics and music for his band "Holmes", very, very talented, and we have been saying for quite a while that we should try to do something experimental and creative together. Or rather I have been saying. So at last we did and it all turned out something like this: I have been trying to interpret, unravel and rewrite some of his lyrics, in order to turn them into poems with my way of writing. Then he played his songs that I had rewritten on his guitar. And it all turned out to be pretty fabulous! And because of this energy boost I´ve got from this creative meeting I now have seem to found my inspiration! Didn´t take much; couple of cups of coffee, a new friend and his guitar. That´s the magic recipe. Full stop.

To summarize it all: Get out there and make some new friends, share your thoughts with someone, dare to show yourself, put your heart on your sleeve for a while, you might like it. It might even inspire you, or someone else, who knows?

Over&OutSara

Young People are writing!

When I read the mails of girls and boys from USA, El Salvador, Peru, Venezuela, Sweden, India and many other countries, and I can see that all of them are writing books with the help of mentors provided by Bombadil Publishing AB, and the writers ask me what I think about their books, about their writing, about their stories, I feel that these young people give me a kind of energy, a kind of inspiration and happiness which takes me to horizons far away deep in the future. When young people are writing different stories, different feelings, different way to think, different ways to see in the future, they express themselves as the adults they will be in a near future. And these young people show us how they will live in the future, how they will take care of matters in the future, in the society and in real life. There will be a good life, no doubt about that, because these young writers are taking their responsibility already now, but in a young way, in a happy way and in a responsible way at the same time.

YOUNG WRITERS OF BOMBADIL PUBLISHING AB

Srishti- India Andrea-Venezuela Lily- Peru Josephine-Sweden

A boy wrote the following to me: “Mr. Melvin, there was time to us, the younger generation to obtain this opportunity that Bombadil Publishing AB gives

us, this will be a historical success for both us young writers and for your nice editorial too, because never before has there been an opportunity like this. My mother is incredulous to this way to write books, because she never seen something like this before; my father is thinking in the same way, but they are just adults, they’re thinking like the other adults who didn’t have this marvelous opportunity your editorial has provided us. My parents are just adults, they don’t know better, poor people.” And there is to this young writer that I want to thanks this wonderful time I live right now, those young writer injected this inspiration, this good feeling, the Bombadil feeling. YOUTH2YOUTH.

A not so younger human been but feeling still young Melvin González.

Fika on Friday

Today we went for Fika at Siggebohyttans Bergsmansgård, just up the road from Gyttorp.



Ulla showed us around and fed us with coffee and cakes until we couldn't really move.



The buildings date from the 18th century. They make their own cakes and brew their own coffee. Maybe they should spend more time weeding the roof, but the cakes were excellent, so on balance I think it was time well spent.

John

Wednesday on Thursday

Hi you all out there!

I don´t have much to say today. Why you might think? Well my head have been a bit confused these past days, but it´s better now. Well the 2 Spanish books is in the printing process right now so hopefully we will get them in our hands tomorrow or on Monday. It´s just a few copies but nevertheless exciting :-)).

And at the same time we (I) can collect my new passport and ID card :-)). So now I soon can "fly away like the doves" if I want. But it feels realy good to actually have it, and be able to go away whenever I want! Everyone here is talking about travelling, and Sara was away in Austria on her holiday. So I want too go away too :-)):-)).

Now I don´t have moore words, they disapeared! So I will end with this (I translated it from swedish to english so I hope it´s okej), i kind of like to find these "short" but good words.

"There is only one kind of real success.
It is to live your own way"
~Christoper Morley

Bye bye for this time
Mari

This is last Friday's blog entry; it's rather late as I have been short of words lately. Instead of rambling at length about kayaks and moon bases and other trivial subjects, I give you some words by the masterful John Keats, who succumbed to tuberculosis at the age of twenty-five and whose epitaph reads "Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water."

On leaving some Friends at an Early Hour

Give me a golden pen, and let me lean
On heap’d up flowers, in regions clear, and far;
Bring me a tablet whiter than a star,
Or hand of hymning angel, when ’tis seen
The silver strings of heavenly harp atween:
And let there glide by many a pearly car,
Pink robes, and wavy hair, and diamond jar,
And half discovered wings, and glances keen.
The while let music wander round my ears,
And as it reaches each delicious ending,
Let me write down a line of glorious tone,
And full of many wonders of the spheres:
For what a height my spirit is contending!
’Tis not content so soon to be alone.

John Keats (1795 - 1821)

"A little less conversation"

A new fresh week, another shining Monday and a new blog post to be written. The theme of today’s Bombadil blog post is communication.

To communicate is to speak and get ones message out. It´s to talk and to get your opinions across. And what else? Listening, in my opinion, communicating is mainly about listening.

Sometimes I find myself hearing what the person I´m talking to is saying, but not listening to what this person is actually saying. This especially occurs when I´m meeting new people for the first time, friends of friends, someone’s new boyfriend/girlfriend etc. The big failure take place when we are being introduced, I am trying so hard to look nice, smile a lot and remembering my own name in order to greet this new person that I completely forget to listen to what they are saying! And suddenly I find myself looking like a fool since I for the love of god can´t remember the bloody name of the person I have just shook hands with! And there I stand with my beard in the mailbox (old Swedish saying, which basically means you have screwed up).

Since I have managed to address the great mystery; why I can not remember names I can now push myself and do some training to get rid of this embarrassing situation once and for all. So instead of thinking "my name is Sara, hello, I´m very pleased to meet you" I am nowadays trying to leave my head blank and not think of anything at all in order to fill my little head with the most crucial information at that very moment; the name of the person, who´s hand I´m squeezing.

The same issue can be found almost anywhere, as soon as someone stops listening and is just hearing (big difference!) what is being said, a problem has been born, the important thing is not to let it grow! So start listening to your surrounding and try your best to communicate with it instead of "just" talking to it. Personally I think it probably would spare a lot of hassle, arguments and misunderstanding.

Over&out
Sara

A wonderful Lady! A wonderful book!

We at Bombadil Publishing AB are proud to introduce this young, charming and beautiful writer Lady Jerez from Venezuela, she has finished her book named “Inocencia Marchita, Confesiones de una virgen enamorada” which is to be sent for printing during next week. Lady has done a magnificent work together with me and Mrs. Maggy Jacinto in Peru; we had a very good communication in the virtual Internet world that Bombadil Publishing AB has created all around the world.


Lady Jerez have a contagious energy that she use to send via mail, she sends her energy by writing in an easy but very easily understanding and entertaining way that touches every reader and captures their attention until the end of her book. There is a story about a very young girl who is fallen in love in an older man and then… and then you can read it in Lady’s book, it will possible to buy this book in our internet webshop and your near library in all latin America and USA soon. Congratulations My Dear Lady! We want to send to our lovely Lady our admirations and the best hopes, the green hopes that Bombadil Publishing is getting all around the world to those marvelous young writer in this very moment.
Melvin Gonzalez.

Seeing things, small words

Hello out there

In the last blog I wrote I mentioned something about confusing days and weeks. Well I´m still confused in an strange way! A bit the Spanish books that I´m setting (soon finished) has a little bit to do with it too. I don´t know what it is, but it is a strange feeling. In some way I will sort this out (I hope).
As everybody (I think) when they have this kind of strange feeling they need "small" words or maybe a nice picture as encouragement. Well I at least need/want that and I do get it also :-)) from my very best friends here at Bombadil :-)). It is really nice and I appreciate it a lot, maybe more than you might understand. Thanks to you all and a special one too.

The other day when I came home from work and went to the backside of our house I saw it!! A nice thing in the nature that really "hit me". It really caught (fångade) me and my mind. It was a Sunflower that had taken support to rise up, by the apple tree, it was totaly tangled in there! It was so simple and so nice and beautiful, it made me Happy :-)). It is strange that this simple but very nice thing caught me like that!


The sunflower and apple tree that "hit" me. Taken by mobile phone.

So you all out there take a look around you and try too se a bit more than just the thing in front of your eyes. It is just amazing what you can see and will see!

"To know is nothing at all
To imagine is everything"
~Anatole France

Mari, that hopes you all have good friends out there

I am back!

After four weeks holiday I sort of had forgot my regular duties and commitments, which lead to me forgettng to blog last Monday. I do apologise for this rather fatal mistake, but here I am, back with more energy than ever!...Except for today. My energy levels are not as high as they should be after a weekends rest, well saying that, my head is working harder than ever. But my body is not, therefore I am working from bed today. Believe it or not. And no, I have not moved my bed into the office, but I am working from home (Trollhättan) today. The reason for my soar feet and exhausted legs might be that me and some friends went to the Swedish amusement park Liseberg yesterday, lots of fun, but still so exhausting! As a child I could run back and forth in that place for hours, not remebering to eat or caring about what the time was. Energy must have got lost on the way. Somewhere from 12-22 years old I have seemed to been a victime of energy loss. Very peculiar.

Well, anyway I am back at work and it feels like I never been away. The Bombadil dog Pixie looked just the same, John is still pulling his same old jokes and the coffee tastes the same. Good to be back.

A lot of things are happening at the moment in the Bombadil HQ, one thing is that I will take over some work from Mariannes and start being her assitant more or less. Obviosly I will still also be a mentor like before and still handeling my own projects and take care of our website. But now also do some more administrive work. Which I am very happy to do, since I like new challenges and learning new things. The wisedome of today therefore is: Challenge yourself and gain experience. Hell yeah!

over&out
/sara

An ice fridge is a nice fridge

Today, I decided to get some work done in the office. I don't normally work on the weekend, but I've been feeling so inspired since I took on my new (and still nameless) creative role that at ten o'clock this morning I made my way towards the office. Then I bumped into Steinar, who announced that it was a wonderful day for kayaking and that we should put the kayaks on top of the car and head out to a lake at the top of Pershyttan. I don't know how a lake gets to be at the top of anywhere, but there it was, and very nice it was too.





I would have put a picture of the lake here, but I didn't take one, so tough. Use your imagination. (Click for larger image)

When we got back, I tried to make it to the office for a second time, before Mattias called me. Consequently, we went to visit his brother to collect a three piece suite that Marianne had bought from them. We met a few people from his family and I acquired this.



It's a Swedish ice fridge from around 1850. The ice goes in the top (I'm not quite sure how it used to work as it had all melted) It is insulated with chalk.



It's currently in a bit of a state as some kind Swede has tacked linoleum to the top, painted it an attractive shade of "old mans' sock brown" and clad the inside with tartan wrapping paper. However, with a little paint stripper and furniture wax it should make a top notch wine cabinet.

It was quite heavy. Well, really heavy. I looked inside it and discovered an antique flat iron hiding in one of the corners. "Aha," I though, 'that will be making it heavy.' Then I looked a little further and found another. And another. And finally a fourth. So what I actually have is a circa 1850 ice fridge, a 1970s mains operated calculator (with retro green on black display, no less!) and four antique flat irons in various states of repair.



Not bad, I'm sure you'll agree!

English, Swedish and Spanish!

This week we found a talented author who is writing a mysterious book; a mysterious story about mysterious creatures. She really has a talent for mysterious writing and she asked me what I think about her work. The truth is that I don’t like this kind of literature because I get afraid! But I read it! It was a very good tale, a good story. And I think this girl is really good as any author, despite she is only sixteen years old! Imagine! As John Lennon song, if we all adults in the word should be like this girl! It should be a wonderful world of ideas, good ideas. So I very proudly introduce to the world our very young writer Andrea Lujano from Maracay, Venezuela.

Get a first glance to her, I mean to Andrea, because you’ll love her. As we do right now in Bombadil Publishing! This kind of event is the special kind of occasion which we adults can get the sort of inspiration that this young girl gave me and her mentor, Maggy Jacinto, Mrs. Jacinto said that it’s was almost unbelievable that a very young girl is writing so carefully and so competently, like one of the best writers in the young world of Bombadil Publishing. This is one of the moments that I appreciate so much. The best of all is that Bombadil is publishing in three languages English, Swedish and Spanish to the entire world!

So thanks Andrea, you are really the best!

Melvin Gonzalez.