Back from holiday, poetry bingo, books

Hello everyone

Well it has been some confusing days in many ways. Is that good or is it bad? Well I don´t know but I hope it will come out some good of it in the end :-).

"Happiness is for close friends.

To have close friends is happiness.

Close friends,

one of the most important thing in the world." (MG)

This Monday Sara came back from her holiday in Austria. Welcome back Sara! It´s nice to have you around again, it´s not so quiet any longer. As she has told us she had a really nice time down there with her boyfriend Christof and some other relatives to him. Hopefully we will see some pictures also. Sara, I hope we will?

Her first thing to prepare for was the Poetry Bingo up in Pershyttan, a couple kilometres from here. It was Sara and My reading poetry.

My reading poetry and Sara is waiting for her turn to do the same thing.

The people first had to write some words (that they later crossed over) in a kind of grid system (bingo badge). It was words that they could hear in the poetry that Sara and My read (poetry that they had written). They really had to pay attention! I actually asked John first if he would go up there but first he was not to (so) keen on it. But then Sara phoned and was a bit concerned that it were so few people up there, it was actually raining a bit. But she manage to persuade John to drive up there and I in the "speed" to the bus catch Jason and told him to come with us :-)). Jason is one of Marianne's sons.

The Bingo grid (badge).

It was actually pity that it was bad weather (not funny at all), if it hadn't been like that then I think it had been some more people up at that event. It was a new experience for me to go to a Poetry Bingo! But a good experience and nice :-)). I had my hands kind of full any way with the film camera, filming the whole thing. It might be a movie that Sara will put up on YouTube (Poetry Bingo in Pershyttan) in time, when it´s finished, it needs to be edited I think.

Here me filming in the rain!

And I also right now doing some setting on two Spanish books, well two books by authors from Latin America. It´s a bit hard to do as I can´t the language. I might have to learn Spanish in the end! But with some help from Melvin that is actually the one that is mentoring these guys it goes just fine. I have kind of sorting it out rather well I think :-)), so far I shall say. I hope that I will have at least one of the books ready and clear for the printing in the end of this week. So keep your fingers crossed out there so I managed to do this :-)). This is important with these two books because Marianne and Melvin plus Niklas will go to Latin America in the end/middle of August and they shall have some examples of the books with them.

Phuu now I have done my blog for this week, this confusing week!

Mari

I have stepped sideways from the International Office at Bombadil and into a role that didn't exist even a few months ago; that of "Creative Something-or-other" Because the position is so new that we're still waiting for the paint to dry on it, I don't have a title yet. So, following the example of a friend of mine who works for a major corporation in London as a statistician and, following a disagreement with Personnel, signs her emails "Chief Number-Cruncher," I shall be known as "The Oracle of Creativity" until our glorious leader Marianne notices and assigns me a slightly more sensible title.

I'm sure that you're all sick to death of hearing about Niklas's moon-mine shindig on Monday, so I shall cover it quickly. If you are up to speed with current events, you will know that I had special respnsibility for the carpark. This assignment was given on the basis that having driven a vehicular wreck from London to halfway down Africa (see It'll Be Fine, available on Amazon.com and all good bookshops) and therefore I knew about cars. So I set about clearing acres of shrubs, rocks, scrap metal and railway sleepers (with invaluable help from Mattias) in anticipation of Niklas's estimate of anything between 500 and 1000 cars that would be arriving. In reality, Swedes like bicycles and buses and most of them managed to arrive without the aid of a private motor vehicle. Of those who did arrive by car, half of them parked in some poor chap's front garden opposite the entrance to the moon-mine and the other half set about very politely ignoring my signs, marking tape and spray painted lines and parked wherever they pleased, in a particularly Scandinavian display of disdain for authority. This suited me just fine as it absolved me from all responsibility when something went wrong. As it happened, nothing did go wrong.

On the day, I had special responsibility for collecting the horse from the stable a couple of miles away (apparently I'm the only one with the correct licence to be able to tow the horse trailer behind the Bombadil bus). The horse was to be in charge of entertaining the children. So having first freed the handbrake on the trailer with the aid of a man with a big hammer and a lump of wood, we bundled the horse in and chucked it out again under the trees at the back of the mine. Apparently the horse was a bit miffed at this treatment and spent a while digging a hole in the ground, before going absolutely mad. Or maybe it had been watching too many westerns at the stable. Or perhaps it was just attempting to emulate its masters and wanted to mince around on two legs for a bit. Whatever the reason was, it was scaring the children (small and large alike) so we shoved it back into the trailer and returned it to the stables whereupon it recommenced its game of poker with the cat. Probably.

When we got back, all the fuses had blown and the inside of the mine building was as dark as a brown cow's insides. A bit of gaffer tape and chewing gum later and Mattias, the saviour of Bombadil Publishing, had the lights working again. I suppose my own personal claim to fame is now meeting (well, being in the same room as) Maria Aldrin, who is a relative of Buzz Aldrin. The last time I spoke to Niklas on the subject, he informed me that Maria had not volunteered to divulge exactly how close to the great man she was and Niklas, for his part, had politely neglected to ask. At any rate, it beats my previous best of walking into (quite literally) Trinny and Suzannah on Hammersmith Grove.

My kayak is coming on quite nicely, mainly thanks to Steinar's expertise.



Steinar is the one who actually looks like a kayak builder...



...I'm the one with the slightly Boy George shirt.



I'm aiming to get it into the water before it freezes over. (The kayak, not the shirt.)

/John

Think about it! When JRR Tolkein, the creator of our inspirational namesake Tom Bombadil, wrote his famous trilogy “The Lord of the Rings” and gave life to our famous character named Tom Bombadil – he couldn’t have thought that Tom Bombadil should be a traveller, a world wide traveller, and even an astronaut!


Tom Bombadil

Our company is established in many countries; in Asia: India, Thailand, Singapore, China, Nepal, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Pakistan. Bombadil has visiting all those countries in Europe: England and U.K., Romania, Spain, Norway, Germany and Bombadil is thriving, of course, in Sweden, our base country.

And we together with Tom Bombadil keep travelling and we arrived to the American continent and found Bombadil in Canada, USA, Mexico, The Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Columbia, Peru and Argentina. It isn’t amazing? What a traveller Bombadil is! A world wide traveller in all those exotic and marvellous countries!


Scientist and Bombadilian Niklas Järvstråt.

But the amazing, really amazing thing is that our very own scientist and Vice-President, Niklas Järvstråt, took Bombadil all the way to the moon. This week has Niklas presenting his wonderful project about a crew base at the moon and he had early this week the Grand Opening of the Moon-Mine Project. And Niklas took the all Bombadil’s crew with him to the moon. JJR Tolkien might think now, if he would live now, that his character Tom Bombadil had been an astronaut, a happy one. There are those wonderful feelings and wonderful sensations that take all us to those marvellous travellers and found our fantastic world of books; we get the inspiration this way.

Melvin González

Grand opening of the Moon-Mine project

Hello out there.

It has been a couple days of very intensive work here at Bombadil. Why you might think? Well we all are in one way or another involved in Niklas's Grand opening of his big, big Moon-Mine project. It was also the celebration of the 40-year anniversary of the first Moon landing on another celestial body.

Television (SVT and Tv4) came and did interviews with Niklas at the same time and then a Radio station also came and did the same thing. And we know that the radio program actually was out on the net as the occasion was going on.


Here is Niklas being interviewed on the radio.

All the people has done very hard work, specially Mattias and John. They dug away sand and gravel, put up a lot off stuff. Actually they all worked late evenings and we are very grateful for that. Well done you two! Off course there where other people to help like Göran and Siv, Niklas's parents. They also did a great job. Thanks to you also! And Veronica and her mum Gun baking cakes and buns, taking care of the coffee "tent". Thanks to you two it was nice to have you there and get some nice tea and buns :-)). AND thanks to everyone else that helped, I don´t know all names but I will not forget you!


Here John, Mattias and Göran are having thoughts on how to set up the film screen (actually a window blind) in the best way.

All the program points went on well. Well off course it went well with perhaps the usual power cuts which may arise at times like this, it´s not unusual at all :-)). Everyone took it calmly and there were even small laughter :-)). The thing on the program that caught me was the guys telling about cave diving (Baggbodydykarna). Absolutely amazing and how they even dared to dive in mines and caves, oj oj oj. And they actually did dive to take a look in "Storgruvan".


Here Mattias making friends with one the divers' young daughter, including Pixie our "office" dog.

It was as I mentioned a lot of peoples and the seemed to enjoied it. Hopefully we will see an occasion like this in the future. It was hell of lot of work but worth it in the end!

And of course Bombadil was involved in it as we all work there and Bombadil also was sponsoring.

Here you can see how many people were there, from the left with the back towards the camera is me (Mari), Jason and Mattias.

Thanks to you all for coming and for helping with this Grand opening!
Over and out
Mari

A new Bombadilian is always welcome!

We at Bombadil Publishing welcome our new mentor and representing us in the Central-American area, Margarita Alfaro Bulle. Margarita has a degree in psychology and she’s working in her country El Salvador as well. She is a very talented writer with experience in magazines and local newspapers, etc. and best of all, she shares our philosophy, to build communicate between young writers and to help them with the development of their books, their feelings and their wishes.



Mrs. Margarita Alfaro Bulle.

Margarita has been coordinating Bombadil Publishing's tour in El Salvador this summer, she did some excellent work that we are very proud of. This summer Bombadil will supply the very first two books in Spanish, our metor in Peru, Maggy Jacinto, has had several intensive weeks with these two books. The first one named “31 Cuentos Cortos” writen by the young and talented writer Mario Chavez Jovel, who is living in Calgary, Canada. The second one named “La Dama de negro y otros cuentos” writen by the young and talented Rogger Avendaño, who is living in the city of Tacna, Peru. Bombadil is very excited to meet these two young writers and put into their very own hands their finished books, to present them with their crowning work, a magnificent work provided by the Bombadil feelings, the feeling which is growing and growing.

Melvin González

Spontaneity

Hello everyone out there!

Hope you all are well and is having fun.

Last week I had some trouble in my thoughts on what to write about. Well I have some words this time, not much perhaps but some :-)).

Yesterday afternoon Marianne said at fika that we should barbecue that evening and have a bit fun!!?? Oppps barbecue, no planning at all just those word: -this evening we shall barbecue! This is typical for Marianne, doing and saying spontaneous things :-)) and it´s fun. So we all had a nice evening with very good food and some wine/bear. Hopefully this will happen some more times.

Our spontaneous Bombadil "chief" Marianne, at another barbecue time.

This spontaneity is also there in our young authors and I just love it! They all are great in every way. They can write so seriously despite their young age! And they "let out" the words in an admirable way.

Today I also had managed to do a new colour on a feather for Galadriel publishing, it's green. More information will come about that.

Have a nice week

Mari

What makes a good writer?

As a Bombadilian, my interactions with diverse young authors shove me deep into numerous precious questions and “What makes a good writer?” is one of them.

Today, intellectually, youth are more mature than their age, no doubt. The impact of internet is palpable on their broader vision. What amazes me is that they take criticism positively and are quite flexible for desired changes. As far as the above mentioned question is concerned, my humble advice would be:

Writing remains a raw material or rough elements – a conglomeration of lifeless words or phrases until a writer, through aesthetic voice, pours ‘soul’ into it. It is the craftsmanship to create a real world where readers can walk through and experience the events as if they were real.

Some technical aspects such as precise planning, style or language, knowledge and clear vision of the subject are the basic instruments for further succession of proceeding rationally and logically. In order to become a good writer, one needs to keep their senses active and observe each moment and event they come across. It helps accumulate basic ingredients and then a writer polishes them with their best possible skills.
There is no short cut and no time limit for making a good writer. It has to be practiced on a regular basis. Reading books written by some famous writers, discussing your writing with friends, family members, and receiving expert advice from mentors will certainly help a lot.
At the end, I’d like to remember a famous quote of Richard Wright, “I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all.”

Happy writing,
Alex

The Bombadil books are flying around the world!

A young writer from El Salvador; Mario, emigrated to Canada several years ago, wehere he started a book of short stories,and when our young writer finished his book he was contacted by another young writer in Mexico, this young lady, Lauri, who told Mario about Bombadil Publishing. Mario sent the manuscript to our international office in Sweden, and I, Melvin the Latin-American Editor in Bombadil Publishing, sent Mario´s book to our mentor in Peru, Maggy, and Maggy will send back to us this book, this week, when she, in according with Mario, is finished reading the book as a mentor and as proofreading.

It’s amazing and amusing? Of course it is. The amazing thing is the flying Mario´s book took, I mean, flying from El Salvador to Canada in Mario´s mind and the book flew to Mexico to Lauri, and our book continued to travel and flew to Sweden and then to Peru, then back to Sweden again, there is an amazing flying. It was amusing that our mentor, Maggy in Peru, doesn’t understand so of the book much because Mario wrote in the special way people from El Salvador use to speak Spanish. And I was laughing because I am from El Salvador and I totally understood what Mario wrote. I told Mario that we needed to change the language a little to express the book in an international Spanish, again that was funny and amusing because we people from El Salvador speak a special Spanish, but at the same time we speak “real” Spanish too, and Mario and my self smiled, we smiled a Bombadil’s smile, a global smile, as many young writers around the world, whom are writing at this very moment a Bombadil book. We in Bombadil Publishing are flying and flying around the world. Would you like fly with us?

Melvin González

What to blog about today?

Well today it is a day that I don´t know what to blog about at all!!! It is all stopped in my head at the moment!

Well I at least did a banana/chocolate pie for fika today and everyone seemed to like it :-)), at least I hope that. It was kind of a test because I had never done this one before. My co-workers was kind of testing "tasters" (testing pilots) for the pie :-)).

But I have also got a really nice movie from John, it was from YouTube I think. He, well they all know that I like music by Toto and specially "Africa". This one was by/with a choir that started the whole thing by silently clapping their hands. It sounds that it was raining! Really amazing version of "Africa". Thanks, it made me happy :-)), it made my day bright as the sun outside the window. Yes it is sunny a bit today :-)).

At the lake a nice sunny day.

"True friends are like jewels,

precious and rare. False ones

are like autumn

leaves, found everywhere."

Until next time - hopefully with some idea what to write about!

Mari

Yesterday

I got a reproof yesterday, this very young boy and very good writer, who asked me why I forgot him because I didn’t send any mail. The thing is that we in Bombadil Publishing AB are very busy with our visit to Latin America next month and we are preparing our travel to these beautiful and warm countries. Our charming managing director Mrs. Marianne Rugård, our clever Vice-president Mr. Niklas Järvstråt and myself will be visiting several countries this summer and meeting you young writers and talking about our wonderful world, the Bombadil world, the world we are creating together. My dear friend “Chuck” Don’t think that I can forget you, not for a moment, you young writers are my inspiration, I could never stop thinking about you.



As I wrote, we in Bombadil Publishing AB will travel to Latin America and visit several countries, this will be a fantastic meeting with these beautiful, young and intelligent writers. We shall visit my old dear country El Salvador and is possible Mexico, Venezuela and Peru too. We’ll see all you young people and talk about our deep feelings, our wishes and, more important, your feelings and wishes. That will be a Bombadil feeling, our feeling to make a better world, a world with your books, ours books; books of the world, these books will be our legacy to the next generations, your generations, the future generations,Bombadil’s generations.

Melvin

Hot music

Sweden is a cold, cold country. It's beautiful, but it's cold. Deep frozen moose, Arctic foxes and lynxes with frostbitten paws abound. I know this because my friend who lives in London, and is an 'it' boffin, regularly tells me what the weather is doing just outside my door. He has some desktop widget on his computer that tells him the temperature in various parts of the world and he delights in informing me on a weekly basis that I am living in a cold and frequently damp environment, in contrast to his own existence in West London where he is saved from drowning in his own perspiration only by air conditioning.

In vain do I tell him that the Swedish flags are cracking, the tarmac is melting and my digital thermometer (100 kronor at the local supermarket) is showing temperatures in excess of 30 degrees Celsius. But here I present my one last rebuttal to the constant stream of meteorological misinformation that is emanating from Chiswick, namely one perfectly ordinary compact disc case that I left on the parcel shelf of my car.



John

Heat and thunderstorms

Hello all of you out there!

Well today here at Bombadil there has been some difference in the weather. I'm right now sitting in a very hot office room, almost like a sauna. Outside it has been changing weather, everything from amazing sunshine, to thunderstorm and rain :-)):-)). But it´s better this way than having constantly bad weather. I really love sunshine and warmth. And the sky can really be amazing at this time, with all the different cloud shapes and colours. Just look at the picture John took at a another time when it was thunderstorm, it was early in the spring this year. It´s just amazing.


It was at this jetty I took a swim yesterday and some other days.

Today one of our authors came for a visit. It was John Lomborg who has written the book "Leos Rike". It will be released sometime later his year. "Our" John took the opportunity to take pictures for the cover to John L's book and even filmed a bit for some use. I don´t know exactly for what but something it will be :-)):-)).

And today we also sent another book for printing, that will also released later. Well it will be later because a lot of peoples are going for their summer vacations. So have patience out there if you are waiting, it will come :-)):-)).

Ohh it´s just so lovely these sunny days. I´m so happy in this weather even when it´s warm like these past days. And as I have mentioned before I´m also having some excellent/perfect co-workers that does it too. thanks too you.

have a nice weekend
Mari