Image by ijmaki from Pixabay
Often, we can’t remember where we read that great article/post/quote and it can be frustrating trying to find it. Even if we’re sure what site it was on, site search boxes don’t always work well. Here are some helps:
Use your browser’s search box to find an article or post.
Let’s say I remember a piece about not having time to write. I think the title had something like “so little time” in it and I think it is on the Institute for Writer’s site: In the search box on my browser, I type what I’m looking for followed by site: and the site url. So for my example, it would look like this: so little time site:instituteforwriters.com. The third entry pops up with “Time to Write” and when I read the blurb, it’s exactly what I’m looking for. (I was using Firefox and searching with Google. I got the same result with Safari.)
But what if I didn’t remember where I saw it? I’d still use the browser search box, but I might try different search combinations. Typing in finding time to write gave me lots of good resources, but it was mostly about writing for adults. Although that applies I know it was on a children’s writing site. So, this time I try finding time to write children’s literature and I find lots of sites related to kidlit. I still did not find the exact piece I’d seen before. Even if I remembered the exact title, unless it is very unique, it’s not likely I’ll find it by a straight browser search.
However, what if I know I only read info on a couple sites? Then I can add a capital OR in between sites, like this: so little time site:instituteforwriters.com OR site:site2. I didn’t find this very effective as my second site didn’t show on the first or second page and I usually don’t look farther than that.
Let’s try again with something else. I read a great blog post on theme and subplots. Fortunately, I saved the url by emailing it to myself because I knew I’d need to reread it several times. But if I hadn’t, let’s see what I get by putting theme subplots in a browser. (Note I left out the meaningless and.) Nothing looked like what I wanted until the bottom of the page where I found a post with similar content. Win!
whats-a-b-story-and-why-that-love-triangle-doesnt-cut-it When I used more of what was in the original title: theme subplots supporting characters, the post was the third entry down.
use-theme-to-determine-subplots-supporting-characters-and-tension
So obviously it works best if you know where you saw it and/or know the exact title.
Searching for quotes using your browser.
If I read this quote “Conflict is the engine that drives plot forward. You should be creating tension on the page at all times, no matter what else is going on.” by Mary Kole and only remember part of it, I search for that part. Searching for conflict is the engine, the quote I’m looking for doesn’t come up on the page. If I put it in quotes, I get more writing related ones, but still not the right one. If I add her name, however, the first entry is correct whether I use quotes or not. Here’s the article that quote came from: “Writing Tension Instead of Teasing.”
What about searching Facebook?
Searching your feed is difficult. But what if you think the discussion you’re looking for was in a specific group. That’s doable. Go to your group on Facebook (you must be logged in to see private groups). On the left there’s a “search this group” box. (Note: this is not the search box at the top of your screen!) I find “search this group” works well. If you’re not sure which group a discussion was in, try another group. Obviously, if you belong to a lot of groups this could get tedious.
I hope my examples help you.
But note to self: if I really want to remember something, copy details into a file and put it where I’ll find it!