Why? Simple. I’m left-handed. And as such, whenever I write with pen or pencil, I tend to smear it across the page and across my skin. Since my handwriting is little better than dipping an epileptic spider in ink and letting it crawl across the page, I figured I should give myself the best chance of actually being able to read what I’ve written. So I stick to typing, and only use longhand to scrawl the occasional mad-dash note when a thought comes to me out and about.
We left-handers (southpaws, or Ciotóg as we’re known by the Irish, which means ‘strange people’) are special, and not just because our mommies told us so. We’re a minority, at least. 70-90% of the population is right-handed, depending on which survey you ascribe to. And while according to this article, left-handers are more prone to being “schizophrenic, alcoholic, delinquent, dyslexic, and have Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, as well as mental disabilities,” we at least enjoy the element of surprise in a fight, since most people are used to fighting those who throw right hooks, or guard and attack the mirroring right side. Nifty, huh?
We have our own website club , an online store devoted to left-handed products (Though I think the left-handed coffee mugs are a little bit of a scam, myself), and now a holiday: August 13th.
Still not convinced that we’re special? Check out this list of famous left-handers, including a number of U.S. presidents, H.G. Wells, and…umm…Jack the Ripper, apparently.
Ahem…
So what’s your method, madness and excuse? Do you prefer writing an entire novel in a stack of notebooks, or does your laptop have a nickname and its own personal plug-in at the local Starbucks?
I see that smile.