Haruki Murakami on Mental and Physical Stamina
In an Art of Fiction interview, the novelist, Harukami Murakami describes his workday:
When I’m in writing mode for a novel, I get up at four a.m. and work for five to six hours. In the afternoon, I run for ten kilometers or swim for fifteen hundred meters (or do both), then I read a bit and listen to some music. I go to bed at nine p.m. I keep to this routine every day without variation. The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it’s a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind. But to hold to such repetition for so long — six months to a year — requires a good amount of mental and physical strength. In that sense, writing a long novel is like survival training. Physical strength is as necessary as artistic sensitivity.
In the past, I sometimes would skip my workouts when work got busy. But physical stamina and mental stamina are interconnected. We can only push ourselves mentally when we push ourselves physically as well.