Ini bukan cuma rutinitas alias morning routine, tapi lebih ke daily routine atau boleh juga dibilang writing routine. Menarik, melihat dua penulis terkemuka ini, Harumi Murakami dan Charles Bukowski, memiliki rutinitas yang jauh berbeda.
Harumi Murakami:
When I’m in writing mode for a novel, I get up at 4:00 am and work for five to six hours. In the afternoon, 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 9:00 pm. 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.
The Paris Review, Summer 2004
Charles Bukowski:
I never type in the morning. I don’t get up in the morning. I drink at night. I try to stay in bed until twelve o’clock, that’s noon. Usually, if I have to get up earlier, I don’t feel good all day. I look, if it says twelve, then I get up and my day begins. I eat something, and then I usually run right up to the race track after I wake up. I bet the horses, then I come back and Linda cooks something and we talk awhile, we eat, and we have a few drinks, and then I go upstairs with a couple of bottles and I type — starting around nine-thirty and going until one-thirty, to, two-thirty at night. And that’s it.
Sumber: Sunlight Here I Am: Interviews and Encounters 1963–1993
Meskipun berbeda, mereka berdua punya kesamaan: konsistensi dan persistensi.
Dan dua hal itu, temanku, adalah kunci kesuksesan. Apapun bidang yang kita tekuni.
(Pengakuan dosa: saya belum bisa konsisten dan persisten. Mangkanya nggak sukses-sukses. He he he.)