Via Mr. Schaub over at Bookslut: Murakami told students at Tufts:
“First train your body. Then, your writing style will follow{.}”… Murakami has run the Boston Marathon six times and will run his 34th marathon this weekend.
“I realized that I needed physical strength [to focus on writing for long periods] and that strength helped to develop my writing style,” he said.
OMG, Haruki! You’re totally right! Here’s what some other authors had to say about physical fitness and writing:
Emily Dickinson: Do 300 cartwheels in your hallway outside the room–run back into the room. Write poems– afterwards, do more cartwheels– you must train your body– the pen will follow.
William Faulkner: I saw them running, so I ran too, every morning before I wrote my sentences. You should run and run too, before you write yours.
Charles Bukowski: I jogged to the bar every morning at 7. I held a cigarette in my lips the entire time. After, at around noon, I ran back home and wrote for 5 hours. Goddamn it, I ran, and you should too.
James Joyce: They said, Admit that jogging is no good.
No.
Admit.
No.
Admit.
No. No.
For real, though. Know what I hate? When people try to impose the magical bullshit that works for them on others. So, like to swim laps before you write? Great! Like to give someone head? Great! Like to eat an entire loaf of banana bread and smoke a joint (or vice versa)? Great! Do what you gotta do. Just don’t charge a university thousands of dollars in a speaking fee so you can tell people they need to do it, too. Please.
