One of the books I read over the holidays was Haruki Murakami's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. Murakami is a Japanese novelist and marathoner and he draws many interesting and often surprising comparisons between writing and running.
Though Murakami concedes that writing requires some talent, he seems to be even more interested in the dual powers of focus and endurance. Here's a quote from his book: "Writing novels, to me, is basically a kind of manual labor.... It doesn't involve heavy lifting, running fast, or leaping high.... You might not move your body around, but there's grueling, dynamic labor going on inside you.... a writer puts on an outfit called narrative and thinks with his entire being."
Smart, don't you think? I especially like Murakami's use of a clothing metaphor ("puts on an outfit") to describe the writer's relationship with story. For me, running is a great time to clear my head and sometimes, if I'm really lucky, to get ideas for my stories... but perhaps Murakami is right and all my years of running have helped strengthen my focus and endurance muscles.
So, have I made you want to go for a run?
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