Is it for someone with AS to stick to some hobby obsesively?

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I think there might be a connection, as well.

For me it's not special interest stuff, but compulsive movements and actions and such. My whole life I have had lots of compulsive movements and actions and all that, which I need to do. They're not like stimming, where I don't notice it, but they're thoughts where I feel compelled to do something, whether I want to or not - and it feels like if I don't do them, something (don't know what) bad will happen, or everything I'm doing will go wrong, even though I know this is completely illogical. I find it all illogical, but I -have- to do it still.

The movements are small - the most noticeable ones involve blinking, but all of the movements are tiny, mostly done with smaller muscles, and fast moving. For the most part it looks like I'm holding still and twitching a little bit, but they're very specific rhythms that I do with the movements.

My special interest is true crime, for the last 7yrs I have been obsessed with true crime, I would and still do read constantly about it (much to the horror of my high school teachers while I was at school) I have a great collection of books and magazines on the topic

I have never read that OCD accumulates obsessive hobbies, except maybe cleaning, or organizing, but that is more for the purpose of your environment feeling "perfect" or simply good enough to stop doing it.

Special interests are a widely known ASD trait, though, and your interest certainly falls into that.

I never thought bad things will happen if I don't do it. I have had I have to do this or I won't be able to relax. For example, I made my shower time at eight when I was in my teens due to school nights. I started to stick to that routine but however if something was coming up and I knew I would not shower at eight because I be out late, I would move my shower time to an earlier time and do it then. Sometimes I would do it late at night because I knew ahead of time I would have to move it ahead that day. It was not a problem for me. But did I think bad things would happen if I don't shower at eight? No. I knew it was illogical that it had to be that time because there was no school the next day but I just felt comfortable doing it at that time. It was my swing shift job that broke me out of that routine and it no longer mattered how late at night I did it and I was an adult, not in school. But yet on my days off I was starting to get upset because eight o clock was coming and then I realized "hey what am I getting uptight about, I shower after 11 anyways so I can do that on my days off too." I had to use logic to get out of that routine and not be trapped by it anymore. Now it doesn't matter anymore how late I do it or if I do it in the morning. I change my routines around. But yet I only feel trapped by them if something spontaneous comes up or if there is too much change in my routine due to other stuff I have to do like take my husband to his appointment or take him back to work because he brought home the keys by mistake and it overwhelms me so I can't be flexible anymore and also the fact I may want to do something but I can't set my mind to it or can't plan for it and it's like I can't get organized for it. But yet if I know I have to grocery shop, I do it without a problem because it's always set every other weekend I go. But yet when I had to do it on a new day (Sunday instead of Saturday) not a problem. My husband and his sister were supposed to go shopping together because my husband didn't want me doing it but she forgot about it so I got to do it after all and I was so happy. But yet when I go there, I always go the same route in the store. Do I feel compelled to it? I dunno. Does it feel right when I do it that way? Yes. Do I like doing it this way? Yes. Do I wish to do it any other way? No. "Do I hate it if my husband tries to go the other way? Yes. It just doesn't feel right. Plus I feel when I have a routine, I function better. Do it any other way, it throws me off and I forget things. Have I ever changed my routines there without a problem? Yes. Sometimes I have to add a new aisle and I am expecting it. Does it feel wrong? No. OCD here? I said I liked it but yet I said it doesn't feel right if my husband tries to do it differently.

As for cleaning, I liked things clean, it makes me happy, it keeps me relaxed. But yet I hated when it be messy so I clean it. Did I hate being obsessed with being clean? No. I also enjoyed it too. But yet it caused problems for my family even though it was nice having a free housekeeper. But yet I would not be ale to relax unless something was clean. OCD or autism or both? I also know if they prefer things in certain spots, wouldn't they also get distressed if someone moved it? Same as if they came home and the furniture in the room had been moved around to different spots? Wouldn't that be distress if that upset them? This whole autism vs OCD is all still confusing for me because I don't know which is it for me and what my reasons are for doing things. I have had to be told why I do this or that such as I do this because it relaxes me.

I look back and wonder if I ever had OCD since age two since my food had to be served in a certain way and food had to be in the same spot on the plate or I would refuse to eat it. I had other ritualistic behaviors and doctors said that was autism. I read that in my medical report and thought "that sounds like OCD." But at that age I probably liked it that way.

I also remember being new to my school when I was three and I wanted everything to stay the same, even a little small change would upset me so I move it back. I remembered what everything looked like on the first day of school for me and I would always move things back the way it was. But after a while I started to get used to the changes and I quit moving them back. My mom says I did this because I liked things predictable and I didn't like change, I liked predictability. I guess once I got used to the new environment, I didn't need things to be the same anymore so I welcomed change finally. Always like that with new things, like it to be the same and then after a while, it didn't have to be that way anymore.

I also remember other patterns I used to do when I play or how I did things but I liked them. My friends even had to pull teeth with me to make changes in my dollhouse because I would get upset if they moved anything in there so they had to do a compromise and I was able to be flexible that way. Then I would end up helping them move it back when they were through because they couldn't remember how I had it. They would ask me if that was correct and if that was how I had it.