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A common subject for writers is the topic of research. I once attended a Nora Roberts workshop where she stated that her office was filled with three-page stapled internet searches. Or, back in the day, three-pages of library notes. She would pick up one small stack and announce, "Here is The Reef." It looked like a scant three pages. "No," she added, "I did not fly to the Caribbean and take up deep sea diving lessons. Everything I needed to know could be found somewhere."
Of course, with the number of books Nora has, her three-paged stacks could probably build a fort now.
I often wonder what NSA would make of my internet searches. Yesterday was, "purposely scuttled ships". I've looked up, "plasma thrusters", "Pacific Tsunami Warning Center", "famous drug lords", "Jupiter's moons", "Heterochromia" and "HAARP", the last being the research facility in Alaska which will probably blow us all up one day. A few seconds after the HAARP search, an ad for Harp Insurance appeared on my Google screen.
I once joked that I was going to do a search everyday for naked aardvarks just to see what type of spam Google could produce from it. Of course, in testing this theory out I began to learn a lot about aardvarks. They don't make a sound unless you poke them (very similar to me). Aardvarks sleep during the day, but not at night (not at all like me). Their name translates to "Earth pig" (like many men I've known).
The search for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center is included in HIGH TIDE, which is part of the DANGEROUS DOZEN 12-book Romantic Suspense boxed set released this week.
As a writer or a reader, what are some of the strange search terms you've typed into your browser?
7 comments:
Ha ha, I've wondered the same thing (what NSA would think) about some of my internet searches! "Children who kill" and "secret ways into the White House" are some of my faves, and of course there was all that research about silencers and guns that women can carry concealed… I have to say I laughed at loud at your comment on Earth pig! ;)
LOL - naked aardvarks? Yikes! I predict the next big charity will be knitting sweaters for aardvarks.
I've researched whether scorpion poison can be replicated, what noises alligators make, and many more weird things. One of my favorite uses for the Internet is researching setting - I've used Google Maps to hone in on apartment buildings in downtown Chicago to see what they look like. I'm sure my heroine would have done the same before moving there! LOL
Congrats on the boxed set. Research is fun. Talked my way on board a luxury yacht one time in the name of research.
My brother almost expired when I emailed him about making dirty bombs (he works for MOD in UK). I am always googling maps and looking at government buildings trying to find the back entrance. Today I'm trying to break into the Russian Embassy in DC :) Fun times.
PS. The aardvark looks cold :)
PPS. Congrats on the box set!!!
Maureen, we can always count on you to make us laugh! Like Anne Marie, I do a lot of research on settings on the Internet. And I research things like the kinds of guns police carry in various jurisdictions. That shouldn't get me into trouble, right?
LOL, Ana. "Secret ways into the White House". That's a contender to put you on their radar. :)
Can scorpion poison be replicated, Anne Marie? Oh, and I've heard alligators. They sound like Jimmy Durante.
Thanks Rita! I could absolutely see you doing that. That is awesome. :)
The poor naked aardvark, Toni. :) Let us know if you got in!
Marcelle, if they catch you, just bat your eyes at them and say, "Who me? Do I really look like a threat?"
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