About Nine Square Press

Kelly & Heather

We live in the small New England town of Cumberland, Maine. We became friends through our sons who were in the same fourth grade class. We took up walking together in the early mornings. Walking led to talking and talking led to puzzling over problems — big and small problems — personal problems and those larger problems that have been plaguing human kind since the beginning of time. We discussed problems in books, problems with words, family problems, gender problems, workplace problems. The list goes on.

When, together, we delved into the world of sudoku, we found we had many new problems to discuss. "Did you solve the puzzle in the Sunday paper? How long did it take you? What's your strategy? Do you write little numbers in the boxes? What do you mean when you say you write outside of the boxes?" The wonderful thing that came from all of those puzzled questions was advice and support. "Sometimes you just have to walk away and come back later to look at it with a fresh viewpoint." "There is only one answer but there are lots of ways to get there." "It's okay that you ripped up that puzzle. Just start fresh with a new one."

It didn't take long for us to realize that the advice and support we were giving one another in the sudoku world was the same advice and support we gave when taking about other problems. In fact, even the problem solving strategies were the same. It was this connection that led us to write Sudoku for the Spirit.

Heather and Kelly enjoy puzzling over words, books, and human nature. Kelly is a University of Maine graduate and a former elementary school teacher. Heather graduated from Dartmouth College and is a web design project manager. Both reside in Cumberland, Maine with their families.