Anal
It’s not what you think!!! Get your mind out of my ass the gutter. I’m talking ANAL RETENTIVE not, well, you know! For the most part, I’m the most laid back, easy going person around. I don’t sweat the small stuff and I love to pet the sweaty stuff. Ahem, anyway I’m late blogging today because I had to do real work and it was the type of work you have to be super-duper anal retentive about. It’s the type of work I AM super-duper anal retentive 
about–and if you ever saw my house you would wonder about me calling myself AR (Anal Retentive). You see, my mother was AR about the housework. ALL ABOUT THE HOUSEWORK. I, on the other hand, AM NOT. However, when I ask folks to do something (children included) I expect it to be done correctly. Ahem. When it comes to writing I also have AR tendancies. I will double and triple check timelines, I will double and triple check plot points even going so far as to email my crit partners asking them if something I think is plausible, is plausible. And if it’s something I KNOW isn’t plausible, I ask them for help–I’m not afraid to be critical of my own work.
So Are you Anal? And if so, what are you anal about? 
January 29th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Oh Amie, this post made me laugh, because I totally could have written it. Someone actually told me yesterday that when it came to writing/line editing, I was “charmingly anal retentive.”
I decided to take that as a compliment!
January 29th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
January 29th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Emma DAYUM you’re my mother all over again
January 29th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Jackie charmingly anal is so…soo….charming!
January 29th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Seriously. If there are NO lines in your carpet (and not all whilly nilly lines-they have to be straight up and down even lines) your carpet is not clean. It’s a proven scientific fact.
January 29th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
The only thing I’m really anal about is costumes. For my Madonna costume I spent hours watching the Lucky Star video trying to get every last detail so I could do it right. It was sad, really. But I did come up with an amazingly authentic costume.
January 29th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
[…] That’s right…….I’m over at NAS today talking, um…well, you just need to stop by. […]
January 29th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Hmmm I’m not overly anal I don’t think. I’m just lame.
Though there is nothing better than those little lines on the carpet proving it’s clean.
January 29th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
My mother was AR, still is, but I think it’s best to say she’s obsessive compulsive. My friends would ask if it was ok to sit on the lounge!
My house (before Melma) looks like a tornado has passed through. (well I do have four of them)
My husband is AR, I have to account for everything I spend down to the cent, he doesn’t care how much or on what, he just wants a record. He’s always at me to run the kids lives better, better?, oh, his way! Right.
OH MY GOD!!
I married my mother!!!!!
I think I need a drink.
The funny thing is I see my AR/obsessive compulsive genes coming out in my writing. Check, re-check. Check again, oh, and don’t forget to check.
OH MY GOD!!
I’m becoming my mother!!!!!
I’m having that drink! (I don’t care how early in the day it is for me)
January 29th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
I’m really not anal. I’m vaginal.
Seriously, I can’t think of one thing I’m anal about. Hmmm. Hmmm. Maybe…no. I’m just not anal.
January 30th, 2008 at 12:10 am
Does being the “Queen of Listmaking” count as AR?
My children have “teased” me about making a list
before I do anything! Of even making a list of my
lists!!
Pat Cochran
January 30th, 2008 at 7:07 am
Oh gosh, Amie. *raises hand*
I’m a little anal and a lot compulsive. I need to do specific things in specific order or… the world will explode.
But seriously, I won’t say anymore because I don’t want to sound like a looney. But let’s just say that I must do three drafts of every story, at all times. Don’t ask me why. I just MUST.
Okay, I’m leaving now…
January 30th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
*eyes emma*
Yolanda….is that three drafts with edits? That’s pretty much what I do *looks around* S’okay.
LOL
January 30th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
I’m vaginal.
January 30th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Rachel….I hope you had that drink. You married your mom and you’re turning into her–that definitely deserves one!
January 30th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
Karen….those little lines actually make me smile. I mean…it’s progress right? No one can call you a slob if you have those lines right?
January 30th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
I’m anal about making sure I see all of Feisty’s costumes…
January 30th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Yep. I write the first draft. Do a second. And you know, sometimes the story’s ready to go at this stage, BUT I must do one more after that.
Lol.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Will
January 31st, 2008 at 4:07 am
I’m anal about - folding towels. There. I said it. They must all be folded the same way. And stacked so that the folds go the same way, too, so that all you have to do is reach in and grab a fold and you get ONE towel without pulling the whole damn stack out. It comes from working at far too young of an age (17 and 18) in the Linens dept of a large department store. Then I moved to fabrics/notions. The my final “home for the rest of my college summers: the drapery dept. How many 18 YOs do you know who can measure for custom drapes? And have made pinch pleat drapes and had the cuts between her fingers from the buckram to prove it? It warped me for life.
Actually, that’s one of the very few things I AM anal about. I figure catching grammar and spelling errors in every book I read, plus emailing webmasters about errors on their sites is a GOOD thing for a Copy Editor….
February 1st, 2008 at 10:22 am
~ jodi
February 1st, 2008 at 11:20 am
OMG Amy you just made me realize something…I’m anal about following directions. LIke when you cook stuff like Hamburger Helper or Ramen Noodles. I literally had to walk out of the kitchen last weekend because of the way my son was cooking them
*hangs head*
Jodi…as Leo’s I think we can chalk it up to Selective Anality
