We recently connected with Gail Marie Beckman and have shared our conversation below.
Gail Marie, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about one of the craziest things you’ve experienced in your journey so far.
Over 30 years ago a gentleman from Port Washington, New York commissioned me to create a crossword puzzle for his girlfriend, since they enjoyed working them together. The puzzle was all about the people, places and things in her life, and the bottom line was literally a proposal. Reading across the bottom four answers: WILL, EWE, MARY, MI with clues designed to deflect, and when he had her read it out loud, he was ready with the ring. She had a three letter answer for him: YES.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
It’s said that everyone’s born with a talent. Some of us are meant to be carpenters; others are born dancers. I believe I was always meant to be a cruciverbalist. A cruciverbalist, [kroo-suh-vur-buh-list], is a designer or aficionado of crossword puzzles, and I am both!
I wrote my first crossword in 1990 as a training tool for cable TV. It bothered me that co-workers would spell cable: C-A-B-E-L, so I developed a puzzle comprised of cable television terminology that couldn’t be completed unless everything was spelled correctly. Before I knew it, I was asked to write a crossword puzzle all about someone’s Dad, then for a local restaurant guide, a coupon booklet, and an automotive newspaper, and Custom Crosswords was born.
Personalized puzzles are all about an individual, a couple, or group for family occasions, milestone birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, reunions, and baby showers. For business, a crossword can be for training employees or engaging the public with a word search puzzle listing their products and services as a contest to win something fun. For magazines I create subject puzzles on whatever the theme is for that edition.
My favorite celebrity puzzle was designed after I saw an interview with Betty White, and she mentioned her name was once in a magazine crossword, so I got in touch with her agent to ask if he’d assist in delivering a crossword puzzle all about her life in time for her 99th birthday, which he did. Second place is the custom word search that was half The Rolling Stones and half “I Love Lucy.”
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Actually, interviews, whether in a magazine article, a podcast, or live on a morning news show, is tied with being a guest speaker at a Rotary Club luncheon, a marketing seminar, or business networking event with an audience of curious folks. I especially like the Q and A portion because it always gives me insight on how to clarify my message, which tends to remind me that telling the story behind a few of the thousands of puzzles I’ve created over the years, added to my nerd tendencies from a very young age, is intriguing to many. Plus, in 2010 I began performing stand-up comedy in a few locations around Las Vegas, which helps me to use humor in my presentations.
Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?
Last year I created two subject puzzle books through Barnes and Noble print-on-demand and plan to create six more this year. Most of these puzzles were previously written for magazines over the years. Cannabis CrossWords & More has 16 crosswords and 8 word search puzzles about marijuana, and Food Connoisseur CrossWords & More has 21 crosswords and 7 word search puzzles about food and drink. Currently I’m working on a mind/body puzzle book.
This will give me residual income forever, something I can leave my kids since neither of them are interested in writing puzzles and one of them can’t spell.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.customcrosswords.com
- Instagram: customcruciverbalist
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gail.m.beckman
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gail-marie-638725309/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Bdc5RP4q2Fk&t=291s
