Stories I Found
September 30th, 2025
Can I Borrow that Turtle?
Dear Readers,
Hello again! Welcome back to Stories I Found! These past two weeks have been very busy at work but also with writing! I finished writing chapter 16 this week and have been working on something else fun for you all that will be released as the something extra for third newsletter Further, I am getting ready to return to Iceland this week! I will be joining a week long trip with
Compass Path Inc. We will be in Akureyri on the north coast working with local partners to meet the needs of the community. My prior visit to Iceland was very brief, as my wife and I got to enjoy one day in Reykjavík on our return trip from Ireland. Seeing more of this beautiful country and meeting new people will certainly be highlights of this trip, but I am also very excited to go and have time away from work that is dedicated to restoration and service. Extended times like this dedicated to both service and personal reflection are something that have been a part of my life all throughout high school and college. However, since I moved to Massachusetts, grad school and work have made carving out these times much more challenging. I hope to make these times a more regular part of my life in the future and am looking forward to the time I have in Iceland.
This Weeks Chapter
This chapter is not the one that I wrote second, but it best fits in the overall story here. Writing is funny like that sometimes. One chapter can turn into two and plot points that you thought would get their own chapter get a paragraph or a sentence.
Regardless of how it got here, Chapter 2 focuses on one of my favorite characters to write. Kalikel is the embodiment of the wild. Almost everything she does conveys both power and vivaciousness. Yet like the natural world, she is deeply multifaceted. She can be a winter storm at the top of a mountain, merciless and deadly. Or she can be a calm field on a bright summers day cheery and calm. She may be a frolicking in a spring rain, or deep in contemplation on a fall day in a forest of falling leaves. Writing a character who has this many facets and complexities is a delight as she has so many different possible ways she may react to any given circumstance.
The plot of Chapter 2 pulls on several real life inspirations. First is my personal experience of the weirdness that is having a stranger, who you have never met in real life or interacted with online, tell you things about yourself that they gleaned off the internet. It has only happened to me a few times, but it is a very strange experience. The second inspiration are the stories that various women in my life have told me about their experiences on dating apps. Boltumeth, the other central character of Chapter 2, has many of the most disappointing, irritating, or grating traits they have experienced. I don’t think Boltumeth is an inherently bad character, but he certainly hasn’t thought very much about how a romantic interest might want to be treated. Which brings me to the third real life inspiration. In many ways, Boltumeth is a reflection of some flaws of my younger self when I first met my wife as a freshman in college. Suffice to say I grew quite a bit as person before we were married, but some of Boltumeth’s arrogance and pride are exaggerated versions of a younger me.
As always, please feel free to share these newsletters with other people you think may be interested, and leave comments on the chapters!
“Chapter 2: The Spurning of Boltumeth
Before Kilomond was cast from heaven, in the days in which Silnethren first wandered the earth and the sea was not yet broken by islands, the goddess Kalikel knew no rival on land, for her wild winds and rivers rushed to and fro wherever they so desired. Beautiful and fierce, she went from coast to coast, but never did she go into the sea. When her crashing streams reached the ocean, she always turned back. In those days, the sea had no salt in it but still Kalikel turned back, for she loved most the places where the water and land met and were vibrant. Many a wild creature ventured out into the ocean, traveling both Kali’s rivers and Boltulemth’s seas. Foremost and wisest among these creatures are the great turtles who wandered land, river, and sea…”
Something Extra
This weeks something extra is short song that is very atmospheric and whose title matches nicely with this weeks story. My Tears Are Becoming A Sea by M83 is a highly atmospheric piece of music that has been set over many different pieces of text and film for dramatic effect (put it in the Youtube search bar and you can find dozens).
The lyrics of the song do not particularly fit with the chapter, but I like to imagine that perhaps it plays as one the children of Boltumeth and the wild river spirits decides to leave the ocean to go find Kalikel. They have grown up hearing stories of the wild lady and, eventually, wanderlust takes them on a great adventure through the stars and heavens. Maybe I’ll get around to writing this someday…
