Saturday, November 20, 2010

Gotta Love Google & Lisa Gail Green!

The other day (while Stephen Tremp was visiting here), the lovely Lisa Gail Green at Paranormal Point of View was deciding what paranormal creature I might be. Lisa's a terrific blogger and friend. Pop on over and say Hi! You won't regret it!

***

I think writers must have the most bizarre and eclectic mix of Google searches of all people on the planet. Just today I searched 'freeze branding for cattle', 'ammunition belts', 'PTSD recovery', 'Blackfoot swear words', 'nfl jerseys', 'cerebral palsy therapy' and 'gang symbols'.

Anyone monitoring my Google searches might wonder just what kind of life I'm living. Some people might wonder if I needed a little help. Or how many personalities I've got going on.

Writers would just nod and smile. Then they'd put together the pieces to figure out the genre of my current wip. :)

(BTW, the Blackfoot group apparently never used curse words and there aren't any in any of the sites I found. How cool is that? Gotta love the Internet!)

So, what's your Google list look like lately? Any weird and wacky combinations in your searches?

80 comments:

Mason Canyon said...

You have much better luck with Google than I do. I tried to find out about spider bites last night and all I could find was seek medical attention. Like your list of searches, does make the mind wonder. :)

Mason
Thoughts in Progress

Jemi Fraser said...

Mason - that's so frustrating! I hate when I can't find answers. I figure the machine should know what I really need and let me have access to it! :)

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

I wonder what 'Big Brother' would think of you searches?

Jemi Fraser said...

Susan - Lol :) I think Big Brother might be taking a slightly closer look at my life!! :)

DL Curran said...

Ah geez... now I'm going to be a bit paranoid! lol Some of my days have searches for the husband, the kids, and the WIP... with that kind of mess, I'll be in real trouble! ;)

Jemi Fraser said...

Debbie - lol :) You're right - it might be pretty interesting!!

Julie Musil said...

I just loved your profile over on Lisa's blog. She's hilarious.

I laughed out loud when I read this post. I've thought that same thing before when googling. Last year I wrote a book that was set on an Army post, and I thought maybe someone would think I had bad intentions or something. Nope! Just needed scenery details! Glad the FBI didn't come knocking.

Jemi Fraser said...

Julie - Lisa is awesome!! :)

I worry about it too. I don't know much about some of the things my villains get into, so Google is the best... but what if someone's tracking my searches!!!

Summer Frey said...

Yep, I've definitely searched things from how to freeze beer to blown pupils and what kind of equipment one needs to wear in high radiation areas. Ahh, sci-fi... :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Summer - LOVE those searches! You're right - my sci-fi searches are often really entertaining! :)

Old Kitty said...

Er.... mine would be shoes, bargain shoes, sale shoes and erm... shoes. Oh cats.

:-) Take care
x

Jemi Fraser said...

Old Kitty - Hmmm.... I'm wondering if you maybe like shoes... :)I already know you like cats! :)

TK Richardson said...

Jemi, I've often wondered what people would think of my Google searches, too! I'm glad I'm not alone in this. And you're right, another writer would automatically try to figure out the latest wip. :)

Lola Sharp said...

Oh boy, the things I have googled. I'm sure I'm on some crazy federal watch lists.

What I want to know is how did people write before computers and google?

Have a delightful rest of your weekend, Jemi!
Hugs,
Lola

Jemi Fraser said...

TK - it's odd isn't it? To us, they make sense, and probably to other writers. But the general public might start to worry just a little! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Lola - I know! It's a little scary some of things we've Googled! I can't even imagine getting by without the Internet! I'd definitely be writing more slowly!! :)

Major congrats on getting your NaNo win in so early! You have completely rocked the month!

Lisa Gail Green said...

Awwww!!! Thanks, Jemi! You're so sweet. I thought it was funny when I saw someone found my blog by searching for the words "kickle snifters" :D

Anonymous said...

You got me thinking about 'freeze branding for cattle.' I may just have to search that up for myself! And cool tidbit about the Blackfoot. I'd want you on my team if playing a trivia game.

Amie Kaufman said...

I was thinking about this today! I've been googling whether you can ride a llama, and the ingredients for hummingbird cake in the last couple of hours. What others would make of it, I have no idea.

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

I am fed up with my google email address, I can't get my mail so change my password, it say "Reset" then I log in only to find it's the wrong password.
Enjoyed your post.
Yvonne.

Jemi Fraser said...

Lisa - 'kickle snifters'???? Wow - that's pretty cool!! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Lynn - lol :) I love those tidbits of info - they're fun! And I do love Trivial Pursuit!! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Amie - those are fun! You've got me wondering with the hummingbird cake for sure!!! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Yvonne - yikes! That's got to be so frustrating!! I'm going to touch some wood before I say I haven't had that problem yet. Hope I didn't just jinx myself. :) Hope your problem gets solved soon!

Talli Roland said...

I shudder to think what my Google history looks like! I will definitely have some very bizarre things on there!

Jemi Fraser said...

Talli - It's kind of scary, isn't it? The Internet is so handy - and we look up so many odd things!

Shelley Sly said...

Haha, I was going to make a similar post about what we writers research. I'll have to remember to link you when I do. :)

I've Googled a ton of stuff for my books. My searches range from "neighborhoods in Philadelphia" to "kid-friendly insults" to "climate in Japan" to "football terminology"... the list goes on...

Jemi Fraser said...

Shelley - our timing is good! Great minds and all that... :)

The lists of searches are fun. I wonder if we should all make lists, shuffle them up and then choose four to kickstart new wips!

TerryLynnJohnson said...

I have a google search set for my name and sometimes get emails about Terry Lynn Johnson obituaries. Sort of spooky.

Jemi Fraser said...

Terry - yikes! That's spooky! I havne't got anything like that yet - hope I never do!!

Anonymous said...

I've Googled some crazy stuff the past few years. But as a writer you have to. Can't be shy now. My wife was concerned to say the least at some of the sites she saw in my history. Took a few weeks to convince her I'm not a creepy guy LOL! True story. Its all about the research.

Stephanie Thornton said...

My Google list makes me look like I'm into poisoning people. I tend to look up a lot of herbs-I have to do some digging to find out which were used in ancient times.

Jackee said...

Love internet research! I think if someone were to look at my lists, they'd think I was a Neo-Nazi or starting my own militia. lol! Which either couldn't be farther from the truth. Racism is one of my biggest disgusts and I hate guns. Just researching them is fun.... (most searched words btw? Panzer.)

Have a great night, Jemi!

Arlee Bird said...

I googled plenty of strange things over the years--none in particular come to mind offhand. Sometimes the results are weirder than what I've googled. I gotten some information that I didn't need to know as well gotten off on tangents that were pretty interesting.
Lately I've been googling about a lot of stuff related to Chicago in 1965. Google can be such a great resource.

Lee
Tossing It Out

Cinette said...

With all the diseases I've researched, I'm betting Big Brother would think I was planning biochemical warfare;0)

Jemi Fraser said...

Stephen - yikes! I'm so glad you convinced your wife it's all okay!! I can imagine what she was thinking! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Stephanie - those are awesome searches!! :) Love it!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

One of my blogger buddies posts a weekly weird Google search results. You can really find anything online...

Lisa_Gibson said...

lol, lately I've searched calcium, info related to coma patients, which Peanuts character are you, cupcakes. Gosh it looks as though I'm big on the C's lately. :)
Lisa ~ YA Literature Lover

Velvet Over Steel said...

Ha.. funny yet interesting search results!

It's scary how much, and What, information you can find on-line now.

Shannon said...

Too funny - I think about this a lot. If anyone checks my current history, they would think I'm seriously deranged, lol.

If you get a chance, please stop on over to my blog today? I have an anonymous critique up for review. =)

Thanks,

Shannon

Lenny Lee said...

hi miss jemi! wow you sure got a lot of strange searched going on. ha ha. for me mostly i like doing google images for stuff. but i do some to from my posts. at our house it could be real strange to put all the searches together cause theres 6 of us using the computer and mostly everyone does google stuff.
...hugs from lenny

NENSA MOON said...

It's such a pleasure when I found some visitor on my blog coming by google search...

very nice post, Jemi!
all the best to you,
nensa

Jemi Fraser said...

Jackee - that's what I was thinking. We often write about things that scare us or worry us or digust us. So THAT's what shows up on our Google lists. There can be some creepy stuff!

Jemi Fraser said...

Lee - you're right. I can't imagine having to research the old fashioned way anymore! I go off on those tangents too - such fun!

Jemi Fraser said...

Cinette - lol :) Big Brother is probably worrying about quite a few of us!! Unless he's created a 'writers' list!!

Jemi Fraser said...

Alex - what a great idea! I bet we all google something weird each week - or at the very least we find something weird when we Google!

Jemi Fraser said...

Lisa - those are fun ... and I'm definitely going to find out which Peanut I am! Hope it's not Lucy!!!

Jemi Fraser said...

Velvet - you're right. There's so much information - and misinformation - out there! Makes it interesting!

Jemi Fraser said...

Shannon - I think a lot of us are in that boat!!! :)

I've got company on the way in for a family b-day, but I'll check it out after!

Jemi Fraser said...

Lenny - it would be fun to combine all those searches together! My son is a sports nut, my daughter likes crafts and I have my writing so it would be fun. My hubby never uses the computer :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Nensa - that's so true! Google has certainly proved its usefulness! :)

Patricia Stoltey said...

My searches were pretty boring this week, but they can be bizarre when I'm working on a new book.

Jemi Fraser said...

Pat - that's so true. My most interesting searches tend to come in first and second drafts. After that's it's more fine tuning and I don't do too many weird searches :)

DL Hammons said...

I can't imagine what writing would be like if we didn't have Google. I did a image search yesterday for a complicated equation...and wah-la!! :)

Anonymous said...

Oh, and I left an award for you on my blog today!

Terry Stonecrop said...

I love your searches!

Mine tend toward crime: Criminal psychology, lots of psycopathic stuff, different types of guns, poisons. Also, a lot on Boston and the 1960's, the chic chi restaurants of the time and styles etc. Also image searches related to these things.

Fun post:)

Jemi Fraser said...

DL - you're right! It would be SO much harder without the internet. I can stop and check something quickly and not have it niggle away at the back of my mind!

Jemi Fraser said...

Stephen - thank you!! What a nice thing to do :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Terry - exactly - we go in streaks of searches. I love the image searches too - steampunk can bring up some mighty interesting stuff! :)

N. R. Williams said...

Hi Jemi. I am in the middle of edits so no searches today. Your post is interesting and made me smile. Thanks for dropping by my blog and leaving a comment.
Nancy
N. R. Williams, fantasy author

Jemi Fraser said...

Nancy - I don't do as many searches when I'm editing either - most are in my first drafts. :)

Helen Ginger said...

Love your search words. I sometimes wonder if the FBI monitors such things and how many writers would be on their watch list.

Jemi Fraser said...

Helen - lol :) If they do, I'll be they have a whole separate list for the 'crazy writer types'!! :)

Carolina M. Valdez Schneider said...

I've often wondered the same thing!! I figure most of us are probably all on some government watch list now. :P

Jemi Fraser said...

Carol - we probably are! I think they probably do a tiny bit of research, find out we're writers, and assign us to the crazy writer list!

Anonymous said...

I love the figure you added. He is so adorable.

dolorah said...

Writer = multiple personality disorder

Correct?

Have a great weekend.

.......dhole

Cecelia Dowdy said...

Jemi, actually, I haven't been Googling for my WIP lately. I've been researching the Longhouse. Apparantly American Indians, including Iroquois and Mohawk, lived in these longhouses, over 54 feet wide with more than one entrance. Several families lived in these houses and the families were related through a strong matriarchial figure.

Jemi Fraser said...

Flootie - thanks! I thought he was a real cutie too :) Thanks for dropping by!

Jemi Fraser said...

Donna - lol! Exactly!!! :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Cecilia - Part of the curriculum I teach is First Nation cultures before European contact. It's so interesting - the kids love that unit!! :)

notesfromnadir said...

I admire anyone who doesn't curse as it's sometimes kinda hard not to! :)

I look up all sorts of weird things online in the name of research. Lately it's been a lotta recipes & I found 1 for walnut fudge that's relatively quick 'n easy!

Jemi Fraser said...

Notes from Nadir - you're so right! It's amazing an entire culture didn't create cursing! :)

I do search for a lot of recipes too! It's a great source. :)

Aubrie said...

Oh yes! I've searched for "Pirate lingo" "space terms" and other stuff I wouldn't necessarily need to know about if I wasn't a writer! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jemi Fraser said...

Aubrie - those are fun searches - I might just have to check out pirate lingo for fun!! Hope your Thanksgiving day & weekend is great :)

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

My husband and I always joke that I'll get arrested some day because all my searches are murder-related. :)

Jemi Fraser said...

Elizabeth - exactly!! We do search for the most bizarre things - thank goodness for the Internet! :)

Anonymous said...

I Google any little thing to check for accuracy while I'm writing. My search terms are probably wacky to others. I'm glad I'm not alone in this.

Jemi Fraser said...

Medeia - you're definitely not alone! If any of the authorities come knocking, at least we have proof we're not the only ones with the weird search items :)