I am a sucker for jigsaw puzzles. My wonderful family got me a couple for Father’s Day, and they have been sucking up my time ever since. I really should be helping humanity by liking Facebook pages and retweeting hashtags. I really should be finishing my novel. But no, I have to be working on this.
Here are the ways that working on a jigsaw puzzle is better than writing fiction:
- Each piece has one and only one place where it goes. Find it, and you’re through with that piece. None of this tiresome moving paragraphs around and changing motivations and fiddling with adjectives.
- When you’re done, you’re done. You don’t have to look at it when you’re finished and think: Maybe that boat on the right should be bigger. Maybe the water in the middle should be a different shade of blue.
- Even one of these hard 1000-piece puzzles only takes about a month in your spare time. You don’t look up at the clock and realize a year has gone by and you’re still not done.
Here are the ways that writing fiction is better than working on a jigsaw puzzle:
- You don’t lose pieces.
- When you finish a jigsaw puzzle, no one asks you to do a sequel.
- Every once in a while you earn a tiny bit of money from your fiction. No one has ever offered to pay me for doing a jigsaw puzzle.
I’d say it’s about a tie.
Richard Bowker 
There’s a decent Jigsaw Puzzle App for iPad. App is free, but in-app purchase for puzzles. There is a new free puzzle every day. You can adjust how many pieces for a puzzle. Here’s the pointer: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jigsaw-puzzle/id495583717?mt=8
More stuff to waste your time.
You’re welcome.
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You have ruined my life.
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This is a very interesting and true post.
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Have heart. Sooner or later someone will develop a reality TV show that involves jigsaw puzzles. When that day comes you’ll have another revenue stream. 🙂
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You could always combine them – I write about blog about jigsaw puzzles – LOL!
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You could always combine the two – I write a blog about jigsaw puzzles – LOL. http://jigsaw-puzzles-unique.blogspot.com/ and it earns me a whopping $5 or so every three months. Meanwhile, I plug on the novel…
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So you can make money from jigsaw puzzles. I stand corrected!
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Thanks for this post. Still laughing. It’s so true. As a writer and puzzle fan, I loved it.
I see you’re near Boston, so I just wanted to give a heads-up about the Puzzle Parley happening in Salem, MA Aug 1 – 3 at the Hawthorne Hotel. It’s a great event for wooden puzzle cutters, collectors, and enthusiasts — as well as general jigsaw puzzle fans — that happens only once every two years. Lots of info on their website! Happy puzzling!
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Love that you do jigsaw puzzles. You can find out the history and more on my website http://www.jigsawpuzzlepassion.com I am a puzzle addict, but have discovered there is money to be made with jigsaws and lots of work to be done.
Thanks to the above comment I will need to plan on visiting Salem MA on Aug.01,
Keep on puzzling,
Erma (appledon)
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