Happy to oblige.
Although it’s become common to say, “I’m a little OCD about _____,” true obsessive-compulsive disorder is a mental health issue affecting millions of people. According to Wiki, “the phrase obsessive-compulsive is often used in an informal manner unrelated to OCD to describe someone who is excessively meticulous, perfectionistic, absorbed, or otherwise fixated.”
Hmm, sounds like every single author I know.
I was reflecting on this while recalling the words of one of my writer heroes, John Gardner. In his classic On Becoming A Novelist, Gardner writes, “What the writer probably needs most is an almost daemonic compulsiveness. No novelist is hurt (at least as an artist) by a natural inclination to go to extremes, driving himself too hard, dissatisfied with himself and the world around him and driven to improve on both if he can.”
Yikes.
Of course, if your OCD habits are sort of rinky-dink, like mine, they don’t really improve much, if anything. They are merely distractions at best and silly obsessions at worst.
So with all that being said, I hereby admit my OCD, er, issues.
Alphabetization.
Yes, I’ve been a chronic alphabetizer since I was in college or even high school. I think it started with my record collection (I really am that old), and progressed to cassette tapes, then CDs. They are in pretty much perfect alphabetical order by artist.
Books.
Same thing, in order by author. I cut myself some slack on this one a couple years back when an entire shelf of paperbacks fell on my head and scattered all over the floor. After I recovered my dignity, I put them back on the shelf willy-nilly, without regard to author last name. Lucky they weren’t hard covers.
Coins…especially quarters.
Well, I don’t have much excuse for this one, except that I collected coins as a kid and liked the classic designs. I absolutely loathe all the recent redesigns of American money, coins and bills alike. So in the console of my car, where I have a pile of silver coins – yes, I separate the pennies out, since they are near-worthless these days – I turn over the newer quarters periodically. Right, I don’t want to look at the backs of them, all of which represent, rather badly in my opinion, each of the 50 states.
Okay, even I’ll admit, that one is a little nutty.
What about you, fellow readers and writers? Any good OCD admissions you’d like to share? Must you make every normal Oreo into a “Double-Stuf” version? Never sing on Saturday? Brush your teeth only in the shower? Put them in the comments section below. You can be anonymous if you like. I’ll approve any comment that’s not obscene or insulting!
