Le vent se lève! . . . il faut tenter de vivre!
The wind is rising! . . . We must try to live!
- Taken from The Graveyard By The Sea (Le Cimetière marin) by Paul Valéry
Every night for the past week, I have watched airplanes flying low over my apartment. I don’t know why they do this. I don’t live anywhere near the airport and it hasn’t been particularly stormy of late. But every night, there they are, approaching one by one with their headlights glaring through the dark.
When I notice one in the distance, I like to step out onto the balcony and wait. As the plane gets closer, I feel subtle shifts in the air playfully tickling my arms. The feeling intensifies as the sound of the engines grows from a low drone to a roar. And then, at the very moment when the craft passes overhead, it reaches its crescendo. A powerful gust of wind is unleashed, and it feels like the whole world has been shaken out of its stupor.
I feel the same way when I have a great idea. I like to think all writers do in some way. And the most amazing thing is that the feeling translates! When I write something that raises that current in me — whether a full piece or just a few words — I show it to someone and watch in wonder as they feel it too. I don’t know why. But every time, there it is.
Sure, not every idea is a great idea. I’m not claiming I’m a masterpiece factory effortlessly churning out processed brilliance. But those specific ideas and the work that comes out of them — the ineffable energy hidden within them — they’re the reason why I write.
Welcome to my eternal quest for the wind that shakes the world.