N.B.

Writing lets me enter my own subconscious; that's the process I use to tell my stories. It's the most exciting thing I've ever done. For me telling a good story is like what happens when I walk down the street. I love the street and so when I'm walking I'm watching everything, hearing and smelling everything. When you do this, the world changes--you're experiencing everything in a new way. The light and the sounds and your emotions. That's the way writing is for me.

-- Haruki Murakami, "It Don't Mean a Thing, If It Ain't Got that Swing: An Interview with Haruki Murakami" (Center for Book Culture).