Haruki Murakami is a wonderful writer. Murakami is a runner, and he runs because he has to. He's a writer, and he writes, because he has to. It's that simple.

[p38] In other words, you can't please everybody.

Even when I ran my bar I followed the same policy. A lot of customers came to the bar. If one out of ten enjoyed the place and said he'd come again, that was enough. If one out of ten was a repeat customer, then the business would survive. To put it the other way, it didn't matter if nine out of ten didn't like my bar. This realization lifted a weight off my shoulders. Still, I had to make sure that the one person who did like the place really liked it. In order to make sure he did, I ad to make my philosophy and stance clear-cut, and patiently maintain that stance no matter what. This is what I learned through running a business.