I know I’m not the only one to have rediscovered (or discovered?) the joys of jigsaw puzzling during the pandemic. During this season when we’ve needed more to fill our prolonged time at home, jigsaw puzzles have, for many of us, filled that space very nicely. 

I love the way puzzles help ease anxiety, elevate the mood, pass the time. They make fun gifts to give and receive. Some of them are truly lovely, too, which makes the hours spent assembling them purely delightful. 

As a reader, I love how puzzling allows me to “read” and do something creative at the same time. I find it incredibly soothing to tune in to a great audiobook as I make progress on my latest PIP (Puzzle in Progress). My favorite audiobooks these days are fallback comfort-reads: mysteries by Agatha Christie, especially those narrated by Hugh Fraser or Emilia Fox. For other audiobooks I love, see this recent post or this one. 

The more hours I’ve spent puzzling, the more I’ve also come to realize how encouraging they are to me as a writer with a WIP (Work in Progress). There’s something very meta watching how a puzzle comes together, so many parallels between that and the writing process. To wit:

• start with the outline and fill in from there
• work on the section you know best; when that is filled in, move on to the next, and so on
• no matter how big the project, all it takes is assembling one piece after another to complete the puzzle
• the hole you think will never be filled, eventually is

It’s a great object lesson. 

Here are some of my recent puzzling faves (plus a few on my wish list). No surprise, I tend toward bookish and travel themes. The best ones for me have an element of hygge as well. 

• Neuschwanstein Castle
• Cozy Retreat
• Twinkle Town Mini
• Raining in Paris
• Greatest Bookshop
• Reading Room

Let me finish by offering my best pro tip: Purchase a good-sized bulletin board (like this one) to facilitate easy puzzling in your living space. Assembling your puzzle on a bulletin board keeps everything portable. You can easily move your project out of the way when that space is needed for another purpose. 

So here’s to happy puzzling–as we finish out this pandemic and beyond!

I’d love to hear from you. Has puzzling been a part of your pandemic experience? Which puzzles would you recommend?