I'm obsessive. No, not in the clinical obsessive-compulsive sense. Rather, when I find a form of entertainment that I enjoy, I tend to glom everything I can find about it. If I discover a song I love, I play it over and over and over until I finally tire of it and have to give it a break. This happened earlier this summer when I played my Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks every day, multiple times. I would relive favorite movie moments when certain songs played, even when certain sections of those songs played.
When I fall in love with a new TV series, particularly if it's one that is now over but that I missed, I get a bit obsessive about catching up on the episodes. For instance, I'd heard writers talk about Buffy the Vampire Slayer for years but I'd never watched it. Then in the summer of 2006, I was bummed about my own writing, uninspired, and got sick on top of that. I decided to borrow the first season DVDs of Buffy from a friend, thinking I'd watch one here and there. Uh, no. I flew through that season, and had to get seasons 2-4 from her. I kid you not, I was watching eight episodes a day. When I exhausted the seasons she owned, I went out and bought the ones still left. In about six weeks, I watched all seven seasons of Buffy, all five of the spin-off Angel, and the first season of Supernatural, another show I'd missed (thought luckily only the first season) but now love.
A few months ago, I fell into the same pattern with Smallville. I watched the first five seasons as fast as Netflix would send me the DVDs. I get so hooked on shows and have to keep watching mainly because there's a love story involved, and I just HAVE to know how it ends up. (I still say Buffy and Angel are going to get together at some point.) I've just started this same thing with a Canadian show from the 1990s called Road to Avonlea. Through the wonders of YouTube (yet another of my obsessions), I know there's a wonderful love story between the characters of Gus Pike and Felicity King and I can't wait to see it unfold.
On YouTube, I love the fan-made videos about certain TV or movie couples. The ones I've been watching lately are for Gus and Felicity as well as some for Padme and Anakin from the newest Star Wars trilogy. Earlier in the summer, my passion was for the videos about Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
There are, of course, certain books that make me keep reading past the point I should be going to sleep and when I should be working. J.R. Ward's books are like that for me.The thing is, I believe all of these things inspire my writing. I write romance and young adult novels with teen romance in them, so these shows, songs, and novels feed my muse as well as provide entertainment.
Do you have this same type of obsessive nature regarding things you love? If so, what things have you been obsessing about lately?
I'll close by sharing this YouTube video. I love the song, "Everything" by Lifehouse, and it's set to video clips of lots of wonderful romantic couples.
