Despite what my family will tell you, I don’t have obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Okay, so I will admit this much… I’m Type A. I’m ultra-organized. I like things around me to be neat. If I have something important to do, I have to get it done before I can relax. If I’m not busy, I’ll find something to do. If you’re telling me a story and you don’t get to the point quickly, I’ll start trying to finish it for you. (One of my least endearing traits…) And I take on so many things, some days I feel like a circus juggler. Type A to the very last detail, but not genuinely OCD. At least I didn’t think so until this summer.
For some reason, I find myself drifting to my email just to see what’s come in. Usually nothing. Unless you count the offers to increase a certain part of the human anatomy I simply don’t possess. They evidently can sell me prescription drugs at low prices too. But mostly, my email is nonexistent.
I often wonder what it was like for writers in the past — before the miracle of email and file sharing. Did they sit and stare at their mailbox the same way I hover over my cyber mailbox? Did they make repeated trips to the post office to drop off their precious partials with a kiss and a prayer? Did they know the Kinko’s salesman by his first name? Damn, but between the postage and the printing, it had to be expensive to get noticed.
The explosion of computers has changed the world for writers, not just on the obvious level of using word processing. That, in and of itself, is a true miracle in my book. But it’s changed publishing too. I’m amazed how many agents are “green” now — only taking queries through email. Now that the post office has made it next to impossible to send manuscripts without a DNA sample, a thumbprint, and a scan of your retina, it shouldn’t be surprising. I imagine it’s just as wonderful for agents and editors as it is for writers. No lugging around piles of partials. No worrying about losing pages. A handy laptop or PDA, and you’re connected to anyone you’d ever want to talk to and can pull up any number of files to read.
On the other hand, there’s something to be said about being too connected, especially for people like me. We tend to have trouble simply turning the silly computer off. But I suppose my Type A personality plays well into this new technologically rich world. I just need to learn when to walk away and let the mailbox alone.
Besides, if I was going to have OCD, it would have to be called CDO so it was in alphabetical order. 