When I’m in writing mode for a novel, I get up at 4 am and work five to six hours. In the afternoon, I run for 10 km or swim 1500 m, or do both, then I read a bit and listen to some music.  I go to bed at 9 pm.I keep to this routine everyday 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 one year—requires a good amount of mental and physical strength.  In that sense, writing a novel is like survival training.  

Physical strength is as necessary as artistic sensitivity.

- Murakami Haruki