improving my handwriting

A3M0N · Nov 5, 2014

This is a tad embarrassing to admit, but I'm 33 years old and I have terrible handwriting. My 8 y/o daughter's is better than mine. I like to blame it on being left handed, but it's just a fun excuse.

Can y'all suggest any way to improve handwriting? Any drills or techniques? Or is it best to just write sentences over and over or the alphabet everyday taking my time?

Thanks!

Eaaqas · Nov 5, 2014

Last year I had someone suggest this. It completely changed my penmanship

Try writing in all caps - your mind has to switch so you can make adjustments as needed

Sleeper · Nov 6, 2014

Eaaqas said:
Last year I had someone suggest this. It completely changed my penmanship

Try writing in all caps - your mind has to switch so you can make adjustments as needed

Good idea.

I've started writing the cursive alphabet in meetings to occupy my time. It's pretty ugly now but I hope it starts improving.

shaversnapper · Nov 6, 2014

I am also the same age, lefty with horrid hand writing. It was suggested to me to find a style (online or a word pro) print it off and copy the heck out of it. Standard italic cursive can be a challenge for lefties as we generally push across the page rather than pull, but it can be done. Just have fun with it.

Eaaqas · Nov 6, 2014

I avoid cursive because my hand tends to smudge everything. Caps with a very rigid font seems to be best for me.

GordyN · Nov 6, 2014

Eaaqas said:
Last year I had someone suggest this. It completely changed my penmanship

Try writing in all caps - your mind has to switch so you can make adjustments as needed

I've never posted in this area before but as I was reading the title in unread posts, I thought I'd chip in - but I've been beaten to it.
I was told as a young teenager, that writing in block capitals would not only improve my handwriting, but it would be quicker. When I started as an apprentice engineer at a large subcontractors, the internal customer slips we worked with at that time, were really messy and as a consequence, big mistakes were made - like Boeing [emoji6]big!! During a large audit, one of the inspectors singled out my sheets and subsequently the whole company was made to write in block capitals. This was something I took with me to other companies and stood me in good stead.
I still write in block capitals, with my own style, and my daughter was actually singled out in her school recently for adopting this style. The teachers had been in despair at the level of handwriting amongst the younger pupils and had been looking at ways to improve it. They have adopted this for most work and my daughter was given an award for her effort.

Eaaqas · Nov 6, 2014

Wow, what a great success story! Very cool. Thanks for sharing!

GordyN said:
I've never posted in this area before but as I was reading the title in unread posts, I thought I'd chip in - but I've been beaten to it.
I was told as a young teenager, that writing in block capitals would not only improve my handwriting, but it would be quicker. When I started as an apprentice engineer at a large subcontractors, the internal customer slips we worked with at that time, were really messy and as a consequence, big mistakes were made - like Boeing [emoji6]big!! During a large audit, one of the inspectors singled out my sheets and subsequently the whole company was made to write in block capitals. This was something I took with me to other companies and stood me in good stead.
I still write in block capitals, with my own style, and my daughter was actually singled out in her school recently for adopting this style. The teachers had been in despair at the level of handwriting amongst the younger pupils and had been looking at ways to improve it. They have adopted this for most work and my daughter was given an award for her effort.

TAYLORPUPPY · Nov 6, 2014

A3MON. One idea is to go to LOOPS AND TAILS. They're on YouTube also. They have practice guides to follow and download

coyotewhisper · Nov 6, 2014

First of all you need the right tool, a fountain pen is the right tool. Do you write with a hook or underhanded? I'm left handed I write primarily underhand. I found that writing out the alphabet and then simple words was great primer for my cursive.

A3M0N · Nov 6, 2014

Thank you for all the replies. I will try writing in caps and see how it goes. Do you still write your "lower case" letters smaller than the capitals to distinguish proper nouns and such, or all the same size?

Coyotewhisper, I'm not sure what you mean. I write the same way a righty would just with my left hand. I don't curve my wrist over or under, I do turn my page clockwise a bit.

zje4 · Nov 6, 2014

I've been thinking about improving my handwriting and came across this: http://www.paperpenalia.com/handwriting.html
Has anyone found any truth to the writing with your whole arm vs. drawing with your fingers that they talk about? For what it's worth, I found that I do draw letters with my fingers and my writing is atrocious...

P.S.
I find that I often write in all caps not for practice, but just so other people can read my chicken scratch

syngent · Nov 6, 2014

First example is underhand, the second one is over hooked,... underhand will prevent you from smudging. though it isn't right for everyone, comes from a site, im not the one who put the x through the second example lol

Eaaqas · Nov 6, 2014

A3M0N said:
Thank you for all the replies. I will try writing in caps and see how it goes. Do you still write your "lower case" letters smaller than the capitals to distinguish proper nouns and such, or all the same size?

Coyotewhisper, I'm not sure what you mean. I write the same way a righty would just with my left hand. I don't curve my wrist over or under, I do turn my page clockwise a bit.

It really depends on what I'm writing, honestly. Notes, mathematics, etc. don't require the differentiation for the most part. When I'm writing up something else, though I stick to the half-sized lowercase are presentation. I think the font looks better that way.

Just remember to make it as blocky as you like at first. I accidentally made my E's look like epsilons and I can't get myself to switch it. I really regret not making all the changes I should have when I started writing in the new font.

A3M0N · Nov 6, 2014

Thanks syngent, I write underhand.

I'll try to make some of these changes.

Senshi · Nov 6, 2014

Funny James, I don't see an "X"

TS, I myself have taken more notice of my horrible hand writing as well. Wanna compare in this thread?

The Knize · Nov 6, 2014

I was really unhappy with my handwriting so I got some sessions with a handwriting coach as a Christmas gift. I thought they were tremendously helpful. Still took a lot of practice, but at least I knew what to practice and what I was doing wrong. Based on my experience it is hard to tell exactly what all one is doing wrong. Still takes a lot of consistent, as in every day, practice.

Re using the fingers versus the entire arm, I am not sure. I am guessing that if one is going to actually do something like Spencerian, or even a precise version of cursive, using the whole arm is going to be a part of the process. I am not so sure it is important re the kind of combined cursive-printing, semi-italic a lot of us drift to naturally and which for me works the best.

What do you think on this last point, James? Your formal handwriting is about as good as exists and I know you have worked hard on it. How does using your arm instead of fingers fit into that do you think?

Bob L. · Nov 7, 2014

I've introduced Getty-Dubay print and cursive to my 6th, 7th, and 8th graders this year. All tests are now essays with defined content requirements. Kids who choose to use cursive gain five to ten bonus points on each assignment. The kids' handwriting has really improved. Pride and care in their work has also improved.

The kids who already owned a decent writing style have "borrowed" some of the letters and "improved" others. It's going great so far.

Here's the "is it good enough" test. (I needed one the kids could easily comprehend.) If the handwriting is neat and clear enough to read upside down the work can be turned in for grading. This blew their minds. But, it works!

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improving my handwriting

A3M0N

Eaaqas

Sleeper

shaversnapper

Eaaqas

GordyN

Eaaqas

TAYLORPUPPY

coyotewhisper

A3M0N

zje4

syngent

Eaaqas

A3M0N

Senshi

The Knize

Bob L.

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