If you’ve done any poking around the site you may have noticed a semi-broken link to the “Crosswords” writing samples page. I say semi-broken because the link is functional, but it only brings you to a site that says, more or less, that crosswords are coming soon.

With my recent acquisition of Crossword Compiler, that soon may be sooner than I’d hoped. I haven’t studied the ins and outs of the product just yet, but it promised to help me along in my crossword writing quest. I’m very wary of software that promises to help make people better writers. I’m not a technophobe…I’m particularly enthusiastic about books or audiotapes or videos that promise to make people better writers either. I believe–and I think that any good writer will agree–that the only way to become a better writer is to write. Or maybe read. But definitely, definitely write.

It’s true for fiction, it’s true for journalism, so I can’t think of a single reason it would be different for crosswords. I will say, though, that Crossword Compiler comes with a nifty set of dictionaries and word lookups that I expect will be handy in a pickle.

This program also gives me the ability to save crosswords in an online-publishable format. This means, that with the right software, I’ll not only be able to publish my puzzles in a nice-looking fashion–I’ll be able to publish them in a nice-looking and playable fashion, which should spice things up over at the Writing Samples page.

At any rate, I still need to figure out how to do it, so if you have any suggestions contact me.