Best Books of 2010

Once again, I found it surprisingly easy to pick the best books that I read this year.  Some titles just stay with you and leave a deep impression upon you.  These are the books that ended up on my bookshelf, which I hope to someday again read and enjoy, and think that everyone else should read as well. 

Fiction:
Come Sunday by Isla Morley—a beautifully-written tale of a mother's loss and journey to healing through the memories of her childhood.  Why I liked it: Morley has a gift for words; this writer excels at metaphor and description.

Chasing Lilacs by Carla Stewart—a page-turning coming-of-age story set in Texas, where a young girl struggles with her mother's mental illness.  Why I liked it: the narrator's story and her desire to simply be loved by her mom pulls at something that all of us want.

Almost Heaven by Chris Fabry—a boy who seems "different" from other boys grows up to realize his dream of starting a radio station and playing the Gospel music that he loves for those around him.  Why I liked it: the plot surprised me in many ways.  I also liked the perspective of the guardian angel and his narration interspersed with the main character's story.

Delivery by Betty Jane Hegerat—a young mom struggles to make the right decision for her newborn daughter.  Why I liked it: Hegerat shows that there is no easy answer, no matter how we all try to come up with one.  This was a grittily real tale of a difficult decision.

City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell—the story of a missionary couple in China in the early 1900s.  Why I liked it: Caldwell makes China come alive; I felt like I was there, or could easily picture it.  I also liked both main characters and the play between narrative and journal entries.


Children’s Books:
This Little Prayer of Mine by Anthony DeStefano—a delightful rhyming prayer for children.

Nonfiction:
Love and War by John and Stasi Eldredge—seriously, the BEST marriage book that I have read yet; just as good as Captivating and Wild at Heart and a must-read for any married couple.

What was the best book that you read in 2010?

I'll Be Home for Christmas

I spent the month before Christmas planning ways to keep Sunshine and Lily busy in the Jeep on the drive back to Alberta.  Friends at playgroup suggested things that had worked for their kids: sticker books, play dough, music.  I packed three little bags with a few toys each, to come out one at a time, and we bought Sunshine a few new toys just for the Jeep.  Then we started driving.

We left at 6 am and caught the 8 am ferry for Vancouver.  Sunshine enjoys the ferry, for it has a small children's play space where all the toddlers congregate for the trip across.  In Vancouver, while we took a tour to the US border before finding our way onto the highway east, Sunshine pointed to the houses shouting, "That's Grandpa's house!"  Every half an hour, it seemed, she declared happily, "We're going to find Grandpa!"

As we drove out of Vancouver, the mountains loomed ahead.  The first mountains were green.  The mountains behind them were frosted green.  And the mountains behind those were white.  I was driving when we hit the Coquihalla, and a smile spread across my face.  The white snow dusting the road and ditches and mountains felt like home.  The road was fairly quiet, and other than one section of black ice (where we slid past a rolled-over SUV) and a few sections of blowing snow (where we were stuck in a line of four cars behind a very cautious driver), the highway wasn't too bad.  From Merritt east, the roads were bare and dry.

We stopped in Kamloops to visit an old homeschooling friend of mine.  When we left, the girls zonked out and I pushed for Golden.  Lily and I were ready to get there about half an hour before we did, but finally we arrived.  Potty break, change diaper, feed baby, buy coffees, and we were ready to hit the road—home was only three hours away now.  We called my in-laws to let them know our ETA and then kept going.  A full moon lit up the highway and the mountains, making me think of my dad—it was the kind of night he liked driving in.

We arrived "home" at 2 am and said hello and goodnight and went to bed.  Since then, it's been fun to watch Sunshine playing with Grandma and Grandpa again.  She's enjoyed walking in the snow with Grandma and helping Grandpa feed the dog and the cows.  Lily has remained "mommy's girl," but will give Grandma or Grandpa a hug for a little bit.  One of my favourite moments on Christmas day was watching Sunshine run to my mom as soon as she walked in the room.  "Grandma D" was able to stay with us for a few days, and the night that she left, Sunshine went to bed (in the room that she had shared with my mom) and said, "I want Grandma D to come back."

We'll be driving back to BC at the end of this week.  I'm not quite as worried about the drive back—in fact, we're going to try it in one day again, though that means we need to catch the ferry on time.  Sunshine got some new CDs for Christmas so my husband and I don't have to go bonkers listening to her favourite "little girl singing song" all the way home.  It will be good to get home and return to classes, but as I sit here in Alberta, there's still so much here that I know we'll miss when we go back.

Merry Christmas!

I wish you all a very merry Christmas,

filled with fun, family, and feasting,

and a blessed start to 2011!

I'm taking a break for Christmas week and will be back next Friday.

If you haven't done so yet, check out the December edition of the Write Mama blog carnival—there's still time to enter the Christmas holiday cookbook draw!

Christmas Shopping and Wrapping

Last year, my husband did our Christmas shopping.  He'd drop me off at Starbucks for work and then head to the mall with Sunshine.  Later that night he'd be back, showing me the things he'd found for each person on our list.  I thought it was great.  I like taking a list shopping, with the plan to "get in, get what I want, and get out."  Wandering around, browsing for something that a certain person might like, doesn't work for me.  I'm good for about an hour in a mall, maybe more without a toddler.

This year, as November turned into December and we talked about plans for Christmas, I realized we'd better get shopping.  I suggested it one night, so we bundled up the girls and headed out to the mall.  We came back with nothing.  The next day, the same thing happened.  I looked at the list of gifts we needed and thought about going shopping again and wanted to cry.  I got my dad's present online; it took me five minutes and a few clicks of my mouse.  If I could do all my shopping that way, I would.

In the end, we went to the mall a third time and managed to find something for almost everyone on our list.  The next day, I got out the wrapping paper and started wrapping.  Sunshine wanted to hold the paper, tape, and scissors for me.  I told her that this present was for Grandpa, that one for Grandma, this one for an uncle.  She was very excited about that, suggesting, "We drive to Grandpa's to give it to him?"  I nodded, smiling.  Until then, she hadn't seemed to understand that we'd be seeing her grandparents for Christmas.

One of our shopping trips included a bag from Toys R Us with toys for her.  Despite my efforts to sneak the bag out of the store and into the house, she knew about it.  I told her it was for Christmas and that she couldn't have it.  When I began wrapping the last few gifts that we bought, she brought me the Toys R Us bag and said, "Wrap this?"  Again, I smiled.  Somehow the act of wrapping had helped her understand that she had to wait for these things, but that they were hers—someday soon.

And so, with Christmas shopping done, presents wrapped, Christmas music playing, some shortbread baking, and family around... it really feels like Christmas finally.

Submissions Challenge

Back in October, I saw a writing challenge that a fellow blogger had given herself.  At the time, schoolwork was too pressing for me to join her challenge, but I decided I would do the same thing once school ended.  I would submit one story or article for publication each day for two weeks—these last two weeks.

I'm happy to say that I've been successful.  I even wrote one new piece for publication; the other pieces submitted were stories or articles I'd written but had never submitted before, or which had been submitted and rejected.  It was fun to make each new entry in my submissions-tracking spreadsheet.  I felt productive and hopeful.

At the same time, I was reminded how much work submitting writing is.  It's much easier to sit at my computer churning out the stories and articles themselves than to try to find homes for them!  For a few stories, I knew which magazines I would pitch, as I've written for those magazines before.  Others, however, required extra research, which was hard to do with Sunshine and Lily wanting attention.  Studying each publication to decide whether a specific story suits it takes a lot of time and concentration.  We'll see in the next months whether I succeeded or not!

During my two-week challenge, I did find several good lists of writing markets.  I have copies of several writer's market guides, and thought once or twice about pulling them off my shelves—but it was so much easier just to use Google.  One editor compiled a list of 50 Travel Magazines that Want to Publish Your Writing.  Many of these are online magazines, making it easy to peruse the magazine for the style of writing that they prefer.  Another editor has a list of Markets for Writers; many of these links are for other lists of markets.  However, some links were also dead links and some were for magazines that have ceased publication.

Submitting is still something that I have to work at and force myself to do, but it's nice to have these ten submissions done.  Hopefully I can "keep the ball rolling" and keep submitting more work as I produce it, rather than letting in linger in obscurity on my computer.

Book Review: City of Tranquil Light

One of the reasons that we read fiction is to escape to another time or place.  Historical fiction has the ability (if well-written) to take us away to a world that we can only read about and dream about.  Bo Caldwell's latest novel City of Tranquil Light caught my attention for this reason.  The story is set mostly in China, as the main characters are missionaries there during the early 1900s.

Will Keihn, the main character, is also the primary narrator of the story.  The story begins with him looking back upon his life in China.  He says, "Some say the cities in the North China Plain are by and large alike, one indistinguishable from another; to them this one might look like any other.  But it is not; I can testify to this, for it is the place on this earth that I love the most, the city in which my wife and I lived for nearly twenty-five years among beggars and bandits and farmers and scholars and peasants, people whom we loved dearly.  The name of the city is Kuang P'ing Ch'eng—City of Tranquil Light—and although I now reside in southern California and have for many years, that faraway place remains my home."

Will then takes us back to his youth on a Mennonite farm in the rural United States and how he felt called to go to China as a missionary—young and shy and uncertain, yet sure of his faith and his call.  On the way, he meets his wife, Katherine, a nurse who is going to China to join her sister and brother-in-law in serving the Chinese.  Will falls in love first and slowly wins Katherine's heart, and they are married in China and soon move away to set up their own mission.

For Bo, the story is a return to China.  Her first novel, The Distant Land of My Father, was also set in historic China and was based upon the story of her uncle.  This novel also grew out of family history—her grandparents were missionaries to China.  Bo had her grandfather's memoir to read, as well as the biographies and autobiographies of other missionaries to China, including that of Gladys Aylward, whose biography was a favourite of mine when I was growing up.

Bo says, "When I began the novel in 2002, I tried to understand my grandfather's faith and to present it accurately.  I tried to see the world through his eyes.  Then life intervened."  Bo quit drinking and was diagnosed with breast cancer and went through chemo and radiation before returning to her writing "a different person.  The combination of sobriety and a serious illness had affected my faith deeply, and I was no longer writing about my grandparents' faith.  I was writing about my own."  That depth shines through the novel, in both Will and Katharine.  The novel is never preachy; it is a story of two simple, humble people who obeyed God and lived their faith to the max.

Will's narrative of the events of his life is interspersed with segments from Katharine's diary, balancing and adding to his account.  I loved the two perspectives, the way that Bo slipped into the voices of each character and made them come alive.  She also must have spent an incredible amount of time researching the novel, for that shines through in the details.  She doesn't just tell us that Katherine treated a host of illnesses; she lists those illnesses, from worms to trachoma to wounds.  Those details make China of the 1900s come alive for the reader.

This beautiful, touching novel makes me want to read Bo's first book, to return to China and the stories woven by this skilled storyteller.

Girly Girls and Being Herself

My husband stopped at the two movies for $6 bin while Sunshine pulled me towards the other end of the store.  I wandered with her, reaching the aisle where we usually began looking.  I had barely started browsing titles when she pounced upon a movie, saying, "This one!" She held up a pink DVD case with Arial, Snow White, and Jasmine on the cover: Princess Stories II.

I eyed it dubiously.  Several young girls we've known have gone through a serious "princess" phase, where everything has to be pink and frilly and they live and breathe Disney princesses.  We're hoping to avoid that phase with Sunshine, and so far she has very little "princess" stuff.  From one of her little friends, though, she learned what a princess is.  If I'm browsing wedding pictures on Facebook, she wants to look, exclaiming "Princess!" as she watches the bride or bridesmaids in various poses.

My husband would say our house has too much pink already.  I remind him that we have two little girls.  When we're out shopping, he likes "gender-neutral" clothes—anything blue, apparently, which usually leaves me explaining that Lily is a little girl.  His latest "gender-neutral" find was a red and black plaid lumberjack coat.  I told him we could buy it when we have a little boy.  We got Lily a brown coat with white fur trim around the hood and a pink fleece lining.

I grew up with two brothers, and my mom will be the first to call herself a tomboy.  The first time I wore makeup was just before my wedding.  I had a couple dolls, but I was more likely to play "teddies" with my brother and our stuffed animals.  I can shoot as well as my dad and change the oil in my truck, and I like baking and sewing and scrapbooking too.  My favourite colour is green (especially khaki green), but once in a while I see a pink article of clothing that I like.

While Sunshine's favourite colour is pink (she prefers the pink dresses that are too small for her to the blue dress that fits her), she plays with cars as much as her doll and likes dinosaurs and zoo animals.  My husband started playing dinosaur with her, which involves them roaring at each other and running around the house or down the sidewalk.  He showed her the trailer for Dinosaurs Alive! and when she wanted to watch it three times, we decided to take her.  She loved it.  She now has a dinosaur book and my husband occasionally turns on a TV show about dinosaurs for her.

In the end, I remind myself that she is growing and learning.  She is her own little person with her own likes and dislikes, and that's just fine.  Life with her everyday is surprising and interesting, and whether she likes pink or blue and dinosaurs or dollies, I will try to encourage her interests and hobbies and support her in being herself.

Tracy Krauss and My Mother the Man-Eater

Fellow blogger and Inscriber Tracy Krauss recently released a new book, My Mother the Man-Eater, so I asked if she'd be willing to chat.

KBW: Can you give us the short, quick description?
Tracy: Here is the short version of the press release. Not to include a spoiler, but the “outlet” is faith in God. :)

Loaded with humour, action, intrigue and romance, My Mother the Man-Eater is the exciting story of a woman whose search for meaning in life finds an unexpected outlet. Joleen Allen is on the hunt for a man. Unfortunately, every time the mother of five meets one, he falls for one of her daughters instead! At forty-four, Joleen has lived a tough life. She became a mother at 16, and her five daughters are now grown. Her ex-husband, Harold, is out of prison and back in the picture, looking for revenge. He’ll stop at nothing—even murder—to ruin Joleen’s reputation as well as her relationship with their daughters. My Mother the Man-Eater makes for some truly tempting and redemptive reading.

KBW: Where did you get the idea for the book?
Tracy: Believe it or not, this book was inspired while playing the Sims. Really. This was several years ago when the game first came out and I admit, I had a lot of fun (and wasted a lot of time) playing it. My husband calls it “Barbies for big girls.” Anyway, the interesting characters and the twisted inter-relationships that developed mushroomed into the idea for this book.

Of course, the plot became much deeper as I began to write, and includes such potentially “hot” topics as abuse, prostitution, promiscuity, and drug use. However, despite the darker aspects, it also has a lot of humour in it. There is lots of action and intrigue as well. The real message is one of redemption—God accepts anyone despite their past or present circumstances.

KBW: This book has an, um, shocking title. How did you choose it?
Tracy: The maunscript was originally titled Mother of the Bride. However, I felt that this did not really describe the true nature of the book. The main character is a “cougar”—the term for an older woman out to attract younger men. Also, the plot twists and turns as her own daughters become involved in her various romantic escapades and eventually find redemption as well. The title just came to me one day when I was trying to think of something that would better suit the novel and also catch the attention of prospective readers. I think this one does both.

KBW: What other projects are you working on right now?
Tracy: My goodness. I just had one of my original plays published—“Ebenezer's Christmas Carol”—a comedic twist on the classic available through Pioneer Drama Services. I have written a lot of plays and so I am pitching, pitching, pitching!

I'm also in the process of directing an original play based on “A MidSummer Night's Dream” so after the performance dates, I plan to pitch that one as well. I also have one manuscript ready for publication, one to finish revising and three others in the rough stages. I did the NaNoWriMo thing in November so I'm looking forward to expanding on that one. Life is always busy.

KBW: What is the most rewarding part of writing a novel?
Tracy: There are so many rewards. If writing is your element—your place of passion—the whole process is rewarding. I really enjoyed the freedom to just write without stopping to edit during the NaNo month, and actually finishing a manuscript that you've started is a wonderful feeling, too. It has been tremendously satisfying to see my work in print, too, I must say.

KBW: What is your best piece of advice for other writers?
Tracy: Keep on writing. Keep on submitting. Keep on honing your craft. I'm not sure I can offer much beyond that since I feel that I am learning myself every day. Finding a support group is also something I recommend, whether it is an on-line group or an “in the flesh” group. We need the encouragement, advise and honest criticism of people that are like minded.

KBW: Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Tracy: Don't let the title scare you away! It is definitely “edgy Christian” but not graphic. Be blessed.

For more about Tracy or My Mother the Man-Eater, check out Tracy's blog.

What is a Short Story?

I was a bit surprised when my short story professor started our first class this semester by asking, "What is a short story?"  We'd just had that discussion about creative nonfiction in my other class, but I thought short stories—having been around longer than CNF—were more established.  Everyone knows what they are... right?

Well, to start with, what's short?  Pick up any literary fiction journal and you'll see that there's a big variation in the length of a "short" story.  In fact, even Joseph Conrad's story "Heart of Darkness" is considered "short," I believe—when it's not called a novella (but we won't get into that).

If you want to go really, really short, there's the 6-word story, started by Hemingway.  He claims that his best story ever was this: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."  Other short stories include "Longed for him. Got him. Shit." by Margaret Atwood and "Easy. Just touch the match to" by Ursula K. Le Guin.  Sorry, no examples by yours truly.  It's harder than it looks.

If six words is too short, you could write a story in six sentences.  This sounded easier to me, especially if you write sentences like Herman Melville.  But some people can write a six-sentence story with normal sentences.  The Six Sentences Blog has a large selection of these stories, perfect for those short on time.  Our prof had us write one for our final exam and encouraged us to submit it, so maybe mine will appear there someday soon.

There's also the Drabble, a short story of exactly 100 words.  That didn't sound too bad to me, until I tried writing it.  At 80 words, I'd barely started and realized I'd have to be much more concise.

Flash fiction comes in at 250-2500 words—much more manageable, but still very short.  Despite being short, well-written flash fiction can still pack a huge emotional punch, like "Incarnations of Burned Children."  (Warning: if you're a parent, that story is hard to read.  I called it a "nightmare.")  Still, it seemed over too soon to me.  I like more time to get to know the characters, the place.

Edgar Allen Poe said that a short story should be read in one sitting.  Once upon a time, I could read a novel in one sitting.  Now, I'd better hang out at the Six Sentences Blog.  Novels get read in bits and pieces and are still my preferred type of fiction, but I find it interesting what can be done with words—and how so few can convey so much.

What sort of fiction—long or short—do you prefer?

December Write Mama

Welcome to the third edition of the Write Mama Blog Carnival.  Since this is the Christmas edition, I'm also doing a Christmas giveaway—read down to the bottom and leave a comment for your chance to win!

Mothering

Everything Finance presents Traveling with Kids – You Can Do It! posted at Travel-Eat-Sleep, saying, "Once upon a time, before I was blessed with two beautiful children, I was one of those women who would decide to go off to other countries for the weekend, just for fun."

Brent Fisher presents Answer the Question, "What's For Dinner?" posted at Answer the Question, "What's For Dinner!", saying, "My blog and website are all about answering the question, 'What's for dinner?' I have developed a unique software system and technology to help anybody create a menu plan, accompanying cookbook and shopping list, in less than ten minutes.  This post explains why a menu plan is so important to transform dinner time stress into meaningful and memorable experiences for families."

Danette M. Schott presents Invisible Children with Tender Hearts posted at Help! S-O-S for Parents.

Bonnie Way presents Asking for Help posted at The Koala Bear Writer, saying, "In this post, I muse about the advice given to new mothers to ask for help and why I am relectant to do that."

Brent Fisher presents Dinner and Dancing posted at Answer the Question, "What's For Dinner!", saying, "In this article, Colleen remembers dinners past with great fondness, and details planning methods for moms to make meal times engaging."

Amanda Radcliffe presents Top 50 Blogs to Help Your Personal Relationships posted at Masters in Counseling, saying, "If you are looking for a little simple relationship guidance, you can find it online. There are a number of blogs that can provide insight into your personal relationships and how to develop them. Here are 50 blogs that can help you with your personal relationships."

Writing

Graham Alice presents 40 Fantastic Calligraphy Blogs posted at Web Design Schools Guide.

Rowena Hebert presents 20 Essential African-American Writers posted at Masters Degree.

Androsen Dsouza presents 21 Educational Open Courseware Classes About Communication posted at Masters in Communication, saying, "Whether you’re pursuing a specialty in communications, or you simply want to improve your skills as an oral or written communicator, these 21 courses can help you."

Moms and Writers

Bonnie Way presents Book Review: The Other Daughter posted at The Koala Bear Writer, saying, "This is a touching story, based on the author's personal experience, of one woman's decision to become a mom to her husband's daughter."

Bonnie Way presents Wanting to Write posted at The Koala Bear Writer, saying, "This blog post is about the challenges of being both a mom and a writer."

THE CONTEST: leave a comment here about your favourite article in this blog carnival for your chance to win a copy of A Holiday Collection, an ATCO Gas Christmas cookbook (just in time for some new Christmas dinner suggestions and some great baking ideas).  Help spread the word by sharing about this blog carnival on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog and leave another comment here telling me about that for another chance to win.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition (first Monday in January!) of Write Mama using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Book Review: Little Star

Christmas is a hard concept to explain to an almost-three-year-old.  Sunshine can't remember last year or the year before, and the name means little to her.  To help her understand, I've been reading Christmas stories to her—Baby Bible Christmas Storybook and Little Star.  Little Star, by Anthony DeSefano and illustrated by Mark Elliot, is the adorable story of the star of Bethlehem.

Little Star is a very small, insignificant star in the sky.  While all the other stars are excited about the arrival of the king, and getting shined by comets to be ready to shine brightly for the king, Little Star wonders what he can do.  When he finally sees the king's birth, he realizes that the king is little like he is.  The other stars turn away, disappointed by the seemingly unimportant baby, while Little Star shines brighter and brighter, doing all he can to warm this tiny baby.

The story is bookended by the story of a boy and his dad.  The little boy asks his dad about the Christmas star and the dad then tells the story of Little Star.  At the end of the book, the boy thinks about the story and connects this to the star on top of his Christmas tree.  This gives parents a chance to talk to their children about the story too.

DeStefano actually wrote Little Star while in high school, studying under author Frank McCourt.  He says, “My goal was to try to encapsulate the whole gospel message in a simple Christmas story.”  McCourt encouraged his students to seek publication for their stories, but it seemed that nobody wanted Little Star.  Despite so many rejections, DeStefano says, “I honestly think this is the best thing I’ve ever done.”  The story of Little Star has finally found a home.

I found myself a bit disappointed by the story, because there are so many Christmas stories that it's hard to find a new way to tell the old story.  I had also expected this story to be rhymed, like DeStefano's earlier children's book, This Little Prayer of Mine.  It seems that children's books are the only place one can find poetry with rhyme and rhythm anymore, and both Sunshine and I enjoy such poetry.

Sunshine enjoys seeing the stars at night and singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," so she also enjoyed this story. It was a great way to talk about Mary and Joseph and Baby Jesus again.  I hope that the message of the story will also stick with her as she grows up, that she will remember little stars and little people can do great things too.

If you have little people at home, you can preview Little Star with them by watching Pat Boone read the story to his grandchildren.

This book was provided for review by the author.

Puzzles, Pictures, and Writing

I can't remember who gave my twin brother the puzzle reproduction of Ron DiCianni's picture Simeon's Moment.  It sat in our basement for years, shuffled in among the board games, while a few pieces fell out and got lost.  Then one day I saw it and decided to put it together.  The puzzle filled my desk and took me several days to complete.  Some pieces were just navy blue and left me wanting to give up.  Yet there was something thrilling about each piece that fit and completed more of the picture.

In the end, the puzzle was missing seven pieces.  I didn't really care.  It seemed like an analogy for life.  In our earthly perspective, life looks like a puzzle and we sometimes think there's pieces missing, things we can't see or understand.  In a heavenly view, the picture is perfect and everything is there.  God is in control.  Putting the puzzle together gave me time to meditate upon the subject of the puzzle: Simeon holding Jesus.  He'd waited all his life for this one little moment—a moment when the last piece of the puzzle fell into place for him.


It's an old saying that "a picture is worth a thousand words."  With my artistic skills, I'd rather write the thousand words than try drawing or painting that picture.  Yet both words and pictures have the power of reaching people.  The early church used paintings and drawings (icons) to tell the stories of the Gospel to an illiterate world.  Simeon's Moment is one picture that I've always loved, because it captures for me that short story in the Bible, tells so much more of the story than just the words can convey.

Putting puzzles together is a lot like writing.  A writer has a stack of ideas, characters, plots, settings—all the pieces.  Somehow, those things have to come together into a story, a picture that makes sense for the reader and even makes them think about something in a way that they hadn't before.  It takes a lot of time and concentration to do a puzzle or write a story.  And both the writer and the puzzle piecer must have some sort of vision of the finished piece—even if it's hazy or small—to work towards.