Meet Kerry Shatzer | Word Search & Puzzle Designer and Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kerry Shatzer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kerry, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I’ve always loved puzzles, especially word searches. It wasn’t until the Covid pandemic where I found myself unemployed that I finally had time to self-publish my own puzzle book on Amazon called DIVERSIONS. Always before my job and personal things kept me too busy to create an entire book. So I really threw myself into the project, creating almost a hundred new word search puzzles including some new variety word searches not found in any magazine or book previously. Then organizing everything into the format Amazon required, editing every puzzle again and designing the cover. In April of 2021 I launched the book on Amazon. Getting the word out about it is almost another full-time job but I’m really proud of it. It’s so different and more creative and challenging than the usual mass-market word search book. I’m slowly working on puzzles for a second volume, and I hope to make an entire series of puzzle books under the Diversions name.

Soon after that I started making LGBTQ+-themed word searches for the local newspaper, the Dallas Voice. Each puzzle features a different LGBTQ+ personality or creation, and each has pictures of the theme encroaching on the puzzle grid. To this date I’ve made 27 puzzles for them and now it’s also featured in Out Front Magazine in Colorado. I’m trying to self-syndicate these puzzles to other LGBTQ+ newspapers and magazines across the country.

Also so far I’ve had three custom word search puzzles featured in the national magazine, Games World Of Puzzles. It’s the premier magazine devoted to puzzles, so it’s really exciting to have some of my work published in their pages.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
There are thousands of word search books on Amazon and in stores, but almost all of them are uninspired, dull and boring in my opinion. Most market themselves as having hundreds of puzzles, but they’re all the same: same grid size, usually too few words hidden in too large a grid, and no creativity or effort put into them. Almost all the word searches in my book have a hidden quote revealed once all the words in the list are found, plus I created several variety word searches that can’t be found anywhere else. Then for my LGBTQ+-themed puzzles, each one has a different grid shape depending on the images I use in the grid. So it’s a lot of extra work, but to make a unique and eye-catching puzzle that sets it apart from anything else out there is what motivates me. I don’t want to do the same thing that other people are doing. I want to make my own creative stamp on it to take it to the next level.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’ve lived in Dallas (and Plano before that) for years, and yet there are still a lot of places I haven’t been to yet. I’d definitely take them to the Perot museum, the Dallas Aquarium and other unique places in the area. I made it to the Dallas Museum of Illusions awhile ago and enjoyed that, and I attended one of the string quartet Fever Candlelight concert series at the Frontiers of Flight Museum. In my regular job I work nights and every weekend so I don’t get to go out much. So it would be fun to explore things to do in Dallas that I just haven’t had the chance to do yet.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The person who deserves the biggest shoutout to me is my late partner, David A Smith. He always believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. He gave me the time, encouragement and love to work on this project. Unfortunately he passed away from a heart attack just before my book was published. I was able to add a dedication to him in the book. I never would have finished my book without his support and love.

Website: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0922ZQ3RB

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kerry_shatzer/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/tx_kerry

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DiversionsPuzzles

Other: https://www.pinterest.com/kerryshatzer/ Definitely my Amazon and Facebook pages please! Thanks!