Charli’s prompt this week:
January 11, 2018, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story about wet ink. It can be artistic, writerly or something completely off-the-wall. Go where the prompt leads.
Hmmm… here’s where my mind went…
Inked
It was the bane of my life at school, being left-handed…
The most annoying thing?
Writing with an ink pen.
Now, if only I could write from right to left, like the Arabic community, I’d be fine, but no, we need to write from left to right, meaning my hand would smear the still wet ink across the page, as I wrote my essays.
I’d get told off, have to redo my work, and each inked page would look the same, despite my taking extra care holding my pen.
As I said… the bane of my life being left-handed…
Dedicated to my Lil Princess who is left-handed and
https://carrotranch.com/2018/01/12/january-11-flash-fiction-challenge/
But I Smile Anyway... 
Jan 18, 2018 @ 15:51:50
This one made me smile because it made me remember a very old friend who was a lefty and would curve his hand around the pen to lessen his hand having to smear through ink when he wrote.
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Jan 18, 2018 @ 16:08:56
So many still do that Michael! My daughter is still stubborn so insists on holding her pen straight then smudging the whole line she has written!
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Jan 18, 2018 @ 10:43:36
Great flash and so true. Writing, even without ink, with a more stable medium, is difficult for left-handed people. I guess that’s why, back in “my” day, “they” used to force left-handed children to write with their right hands. That wasn’t a good outcome either.
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Jan 18, 2018 @ 12:10:05
No it’s never the best way.. you jut need the perseverance to try different techniques until you find the one that works! Thank you for reading Norah!
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Jan 19, 2018 @ 05:42:42
I wonder how the process could be made easier for those with a preference for using their left hand.
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Jan 19, 2018 @ 06:50:57
The quickest drying ink in the West!
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Jan 15, 2018 @ 08:23:41
They struggle on so many fronts, and we don’t even realize it so many times. But then, they do get to rise to much greater heights than ‘right-handers.’ 🙂
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Jan 15, 2018 @ 15:54:41
I tell my daughter that!
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Jan 14, 2018 @ 18:13:11
Even now we forget the accommodations that a lefty might require. In the old days (happened to my hub) teachers might try and force right handedness. It oft-times incurred stuttering. Still, I’d give my right arm to be ambidextrous…
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Jan 14, 2018 @ 18:14:24
Ambidextrousness… that would be fun!!!
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Jan 14, 2018 @ 05:52:28
A good piece Ritu. When I went to school you were not allowed to be left handed (probably because of the ink issue). The punishment varied from teacher to teacher but all lefties grew up ambidextrous after suffering a lot of pain.
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Jan 14, 2018 @ 08:55:53
It’s strange isn’t it, but some people just cant use their right hand…! My daughter is one like that. I’m sure her grandparents tried so hard to encourage the other hand for writing, but the left won that battle!
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Jan 13, 2018 @ 13:12:27
Not easy to deal with. Remember the teacher turning your paper on your desk in the opposite direction to make it easier for you to write?
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Jan 13, 2018 @ 13:51:37
I’ve never dealt with it… it’s my poor daughter who is the lefty!!!!
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Jan 13, 2018 @ 16:46:56
Oh! I thought it was both of you. 🙂
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Jan 13, 2018 @ 18:28:03
No… just her!
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Jan 13, 2018 @ 12:53:20
Oh, I can definitely relate to this being a leftie myself! I tended to turn my book at a ridiculous angle so that I wouldn’t smudge my work when writing with a fountain pen.
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Jan 13, 2018 @ 13:00:35
She’s learning techniques sis!!!
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Jan 13, 2018 @ 10:39:37
Writing is not easy for left handed people, Ritu. My sister-in-law is left handed and she also struggled.
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Jan 13, 2018 @ 10:40:54
No it’s really not easy for her bless
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Jan 13, 2018 @ 02:57:03
Oh, I hadn’t thought about the difficulty of writing from left to right as a lefty. I was right-handed but smeared the ink nonetheless. I’m so glad parents and teachers are more excepting of children who are left-handed these days.
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Jan 13, 2018 @ 08:12:42
You’d be surprised… I think the newbie teachers don’t have the experience, so at the start of their careers, in pursuit of perfect books for the management and parents to see, they chastise children, before learning that the lefties need a little extra understanding and support to ensure they are as neat as the others, especially when pen cones into play!
I know Lil Princess’s most recent teacher found her a quick drying ink pen to use in class, to combat the smudging problem, but she also finds that when using pencil, she ends up with lead residue on her hand!
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Jan 14, 2018 @ 03:13:30
Lil Princess is fortunate to have you as a parent, then. I had hoped there was a turning of the tides regarding left handedness. Sounds like her teacher has some experience and practical solutions.
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Jan 14, 2018 @ 08:52:58
She is a great practitioner, but unfortunately she left the school just before Christmas, so Lil Princess has another teacher, who she is not getting on so well with…
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Jan 14, 2018 @ 23:38:15
I hope you get the chance to teach the teacher.
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Jan 15, 2018 @ 07:23:05
Oh, we will, and experience teaches a lot too!
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Jan 13, 2018 @ 02:12:38
I’m a lefty! 😀
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Jan 13, 2018 @ 08:09:16
Creative too, see!
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Jan 13, 2018 @ 13:42:16
😄
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 23:25:52
Marvelous! 😎🥀
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Jan 13, 2018 @ 08:07:50
Thanks Dorna!
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 22:52:20
Yes I remember the left handed kids did it tough…..thankfully ink and quills only lasted a short while for me…the good old biro saved so many of us.
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Jan 13, 2018 @ 08:07:41
She finds that she can smudge even a biro lol!
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 22:01:28
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 20:52:44
Many of my friends are left-handed. I remember what a challenge it was for my best friend to write with an ink pen!
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 21:16:19
She hates It!
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 21:49:38
I understand her so well! A few years and she can put that ink pen aside.
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 22:42:26
Lol! She hopes!!!
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Jan 13, 2018 @ 09:35:28
LOL!! Hang in, my sweet niece!!
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Jan 13, 2018 @ 10:22:04
😀
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Jan 13, 2018 @ 18:13:33
😊
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 20:33:41
Ah, a lefty.
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 21:15:22
She is … not me!
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 21:16:26
Oh!
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 21:16:38
😀
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 19:24:35
My husband and son, too. You poor thing. ❤ I bet you go easy on your left-handed students. 😉 ❤
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 19:35:49
I’m definitely more conscious of the difficulties!!! ❤
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 19:39:10
I write, right-handed but am ambidextrous. It’s nice being interchangeable. I do feel for you. ❤
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 19:45:42
My son started out left handed but at 4 changed to writing with his right hand . But there are still ambidextrous traits… he kicks with his left foot and bowls left handed which makes him a great spin bowler to have in his team apparently!
Still don’t know why he changes his writing hand though… 💖
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 20:53:01
I think my grandmother did it for me. I should have been left-handed. I bowl left-handed but kick with my right! I’ve always been a conundrum! 😀
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 21:16:59
Just like my Lil Man!
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 21:17:44
LOL! I bet he’s creative too! He uses both sides of his brain! 😀 ❤
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 21:25:32
He has his moments lol!
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 21:29:19
Don’t we all? ❤
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 19:14:15
Frustrating I’m sure!
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 19:19:53
I just asked Lil Princess, and it was the first struggle she came up with, followed by not always having left-handed scissors available all the time!
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 19:06:13
Aw, my sister is also a lefty… I never thought about this before. Thank you, for generating a whole new level of compassion for the struggles, no matter how large or small, that others face. ❤
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Jan 12, 2018 @ 19:19:16
Bless their lefty hearts, eh sis! ❤
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