13th November Murakami Day: Write—Run—Relax

“When I’m in writing mode for a novel, I get up at 4:00am and work for five to six hours. In the after-noon, I run for 10km or swim for 1500m (or do both), then I read a bit and listen to some music. I go to bed at 9:00pm.”

— Haruki Murakami

Write like Murakami for a Day

For this writing challenge, adopt Haruki Murakami’s routine for a day.

4.00: Wake up at 4am. Get yourself set up at your quiet writing desk/space in your home. If you are that way inclined, post a message or photo to social media to prove you are up at 4am, using #MurakamiDay. Then put your phone away and start writing.
10.00: Stop writing.
12.00: Meet outside Gylly beach cafe in running clothes/ shoes. 10k run.
15.00: Meet at Beerwolf. Bring a novel to read. 21.00: Go to bed.

“As I wrote A Wild Sheep Chase, I came to feel strongly that a story, a monogatari, is not something you create. It is something that you pull out of yourself. The story is already there, inside you. You can’t make it, you can only bring it out. This is true for me, at least: it is the story’s spontaneity. For me, a story is a vehicle that takes the reader somewhere. Whatever information you may try to convey, whatever you may try to open the reader’s emotions to, the first thing you have to do is get that reader into the vehicle. And the vehicle – the story – the monogatari – must have the power to make people believe. These above all are the conditions that a story must fulfill.

When I began writing A Wild Sheep Chase I had no preset program in mind. I wrote the opening chapter almost at random. I still had absolutely no idea

how the story would develop from that point. But I experienced no anxiety, because I felt – I knew – that the story was there, inside me. I was like a dowser searching for water with his divining rod. I knew – I felt – that the water was there. And so I started to dig.”

— Haruki Murakami