Lifestories unlocked

Thick Lines and Dirty Hands

The Book That Asked Me to Break Every Rule (Day 5 and 6)

Created by Jana S. Rot on Chat GPT

If you are a non-member click here.

Day 5 and 6:

I honestly never thought I could spend so much time thinking about a few lines and where to get some dirt for my hands. But somehow this book keeps turning the simplest tasks into a full-blown mission to me.

A Few Lines — How Hard Can It Be?

New day, new challenge.

As I mentioned last time, today’s task is pretty simple: draw thick and thin lines on a page. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?

At first, I wondered if I should draw something special. The first thing that came to mind was a house. You know, one of those classic children’s drawings with a roof, a door, and maybe even a chimney.

No idea why that was the first thing I thought of.

Then I started wondering whether I could actually make thick and thin lines. Should I hold the pen upright? Should I turn it sideways? And which pen would even work best for this?

In the end, I picked a pen with four different colours. At least that way the page would look a little more creative and colourful. I thought. So, I started.

I drew thin lines and then tried to make thick ones.

The problem?

The thick lines didn’t get thick at all. They looked exactly like the thin ones.

So I turned the pen a little.

Nothing.

I turned it some more.

Still nothing.

I kept turning it until, eventually, the lines became slightly thicker. But not enough for anyone to say, “Wow, now that’s a thick line!”

And before I knew it, the whole page was full.

Yellow lines, red lines, green lines, blue lines.

So many lines that there wasn’t even room to turn them into something creative. Ha, ha. Mission accomplished. Or not?

But honestly?

I didn’t mind.

At least the page looked colourful, and the task wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It wasn’t really fun, but also not too bad. Thats a good start I think.

Why Am I Suddenly Colouring in the Letters?

Even though the task was simple, I spent a lot of just thinking about how to do it.

And then I suddenly had the urge to colour in the letters at the top of the page. Why? I don’t know. Or may be they looked so sad or not colorful and I had the feeling I have to change that.

So I did.

At least part of them.

It’s kind of funny, really.

The task tells me to do one thing, and somehow I end up doing something completely different as well.

But I like it.

The Search for Dirt

The next challenge says that I have to make my hand dirty and leave a fingerprint or handprint on the page.

That doesn’t sound particularly nice or clean. But… why not? I already spit on one page so dirt shouldn’t be more discussing. Shouldn’t it?

So first I had to figure out what actually counts as dirt for me. I started wandering around the house, looking for something I could use. Then I spotted a bottle of red juice. But I immediately thought, “No, that’s not real dirt.”

And I don’t think the point of the exercise is to make it look pretty. Although, to be honest, that would be nice a red page, or red finger prints.

But I kept looking. For real dirt, what ever it means in this case.

Looking for Dirt and Finding None

I spotted a patch outside on the terrace, that looked genuinely dirty.

Perfect, I thought.

I rubbed my hand over it and…

nothing.

Not a single bit of dirt. Well, that’s disappointing. That idea clearly didn’t work. Then I considered getting some water and making a bit of mud myself just to dirty up my hand. But before doing that, I decided to keep searching.

Isn’t it weird to think about how dirty is dirty enough and how to get better dirt? Ha, ha. And somehow, I couldn’t find anything that was dirty enough and would actually stick to my hand.

Which, I suppose, is a good sign. Maybe I clean more often than I give myself credit for.

The Tea Idea

Then my eyes landed on the tea I had made earlier that morning. And suddenly, I had an idea. I took the tea bags, ripped them open, and ended up with lots of tiny tea leaves. I put them on a plate.

Then I rubbed my hand through the tea leaves until little pieces stuck everywhere. I opened my book, pressed my hand firmly onto the page and…

there it was.

A beautiful handprint. Not made of dirt. Or maybe a different kind of dirt. But definitely made of tea. My perfect dirt of the day. Ha, ha.

And for the first time, I was completely happy with my solution.

Who Would Have Thought?

I honestly never imagined that I would spend time thinking about how to get my hands dirty just so I could work on a book.

And I definitely never thought that looking for dirt could actually be fun.

This book is doing some very strange things to me.

And I have a feeling this is only the beginning.

Thank you so much for reading. Means a lot to me. If you had fun to read it or want read more, give me some or more (maybe 50) ;-) claps and if you like follow me here and on Social Media. Where you can see the Videos.

I am happy to read your thoughts, and maybe you want to join me with my challenges?

We are finally on social media.. Come say hi…

Subscribe and follow our official social handles on **Instagram | X | Facebook**.

Feel free to mention / tag us on these social platforms whenever you want to promote or collaborate on your content. We love watching you grow with this community.

This story published on “**Pen With Paper” — a fresh space where writers bring their thoughts, stories, and ideas to life. Want to share your voice? Join our community, and together, “We Elevate Your Stories”**

[embed]Pen With Paper Submission Guidelines 2026 : A Brand New Way to Be Added as a Writer New submission guidelines, approval steps, writing rules, and how to get publishedmedium.com