Wednesday, April 14, 2010

L is for Lists

Special Note: My blog post on Exploring: Internet Resources for Crime Writers is scheduled for today (Wednesday, April 14th) at The Blood-Red Pencil. Hope you'll stop by.

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L is for Lists

The word "Lists" was the first one to pop into my head for "L" as I considered the next few post topics in the A to Z Blog Challenge. I love lists. They seem to be popular choices for blog posts as well. I knew there used to be a book called The Book of Lists so I started with a quick search at amazon.com and found quite a few list titles.

For those of us who like to do quick research for a blog post, however, choosing and ordering a book is not the quickest way to go. I did a Google search on the very general word "Lists" and received 253,000,000 results.

Here are two that will provide hours of reading fun:

Listverse: Ultimate Top 10 Lists. I found Top 10 Bizarre Products, 15 Quite Bizarre Factlets, and Top 10 Misconceptions About Neanderthals plus many more.

TopTenz.net: life, on a short list. Here you'll discover Top 10 Free Twitter Tools, Top 10 Songs by the Beatles, and 101 Things To Do When You're Bored.

I narrowed my search to "Lists funny" and narrowed the hits to 85,300,000.

At funnylists.net you'll discover 25 Signs You've Grown Up and 50 Ways to Mess With People in a Computer Lab.

The Laugh Line: Top Ten Lists includes Top 35 Oxymorons, Top Ten Reasons to Go to Work Naked, and Twenty Responses to Use With Telemarketers.

Narrowing the search further (in an effort to tie this post to the world of mysteries), I Googled "Top 10 Lists for Cops" and received 9,910,000 listings.

Tactical Pants Blog has this post on Top 10 Badass TV Cops from the '80s

Random Acts of Comedy Meets Police Academy features Top Ten Signs You've Been Exposed to Hazardous Material and Top Ten Signs You're Dealing With a Dumb Criminal.

Hope you enjoy one or two of those lists, and maybe pick up a couple of ideas for top ten lists of your own.

17 comments:

Hart Johnson said...

Nuts what people will make lists for, ne? I think my favorite lists are the ones at McSweeneys--those always crack me up.

FYI (and your readers) I reviewed Prairie Grass Mysteries today!: http://waterytart23.blogspot.com/2010/04/murder-mysteries.html

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Thanks for sharing these!

I love your post on Blood Red. I've tweeted it!

Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder

Mason Canyon said...

Following your challenge has been interesting. Enjoying your post.

Mason
Thoughts in Progress

Ann said...

Lists reared their ugly heads in my life on my arrival to the US. There was a list for everything! I hardly notice them anymore.

Elspeth Futcher said...

Thanks for this list of links about lists!

Beth Zimmerman said...

I'm forever making lists! My favorites are the "to do" lists where I write down what I've already done so I can cross it off and feel accomplished!

Sugar said...

Thanks for the list! I run out of sticky notes to add my lists to. Add that to the list! lol..

Patricia Stoltey said...

Good afternoon! Thanks to all who have stopped by so far.

Speaking of lists, hubby and daughter and I wrote a grocery list this morning. I was halfway to the store before I realized I'd left it on the kitchen table.

I did pretty well, though. The two things I forgot were baking powder and vanilla extract, and I won't need them anytime soon.

Hart, thanks for that wonderful review. Be sure you read Chris Roerden's "Don't Murder Your Mystery" as well. It's a great book on writing and self-editing.

And thanks for tweeting the BRP post, Elizabeth. That's much appreciated.

Anonymous said...

As soon as I saw the title to this post, I thought lists = grocery and errands, both never-ending.

Ann Elle Altman said...

Those are some funny lists. I want to check them out further.

ann

Unknown said...

Lists? How can you live with out lists -- even if you don't write?

Raquel Byrnes said...

Loved your lists and the one at the Blood-Red Pencil...thanks for the tips.

Grammy said...

Hi,
Loved the lists! Some were really hilarious! I make lists all the time (when you're 76 you sometimes need them. ha)
Ruby

Charmaine Clancy said...

Well done with L! :-)

Rebecca T. said...

My Dad is a huge list person and he has passed that on to most of his children. I love lists. I love funny lists the most - I'll have to check out those links :)

Arlee Bird said...

I love lists. Everyone likes lists. Now you've given us a list of books of lists. Yay!
Lee
Blogging From A to Z April Challenge

Jeanette K. said...

Thanks for linking to the Tactical Pants Blog. We heart top 10 lists!