How creative writing is like making a sandwich

Good writing is like a well-crafted sandwich.

We value good writing for its form, its portability and its versatility. We grasp it each time as readers, expecting that its simple three-part structure of beginning, middle and end will deliver us content that we can savor as it sustains and delights us. Our dissatisfaction comes when its texture, taste or presentation is poor or when its proportions are off.

International Sandwich Day is celebrated annually on Nov. 3, the birthday of John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich, just two days after National Author Day. The potentially apocryphal story goes that during the late 18th century the earl, an ardent gambler, requested his cook to make him a dish of sliced meat between two pieces of bread so he could avoid leaving the gaming table.