Improving Handwriting?
@allyoftherain (7208)
United States
January 23, 2010 6:26pm CST
I personally really hate my handwriting. I've tried lots of things to improve it, but nothing seems to do much good. I spend lots of time writing things out by hand in journals and notebooks and I'd like other people to be able to read what I write some of the time. Does anyone have any practical tips on how to improve handwriting?
3 responses
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
24 Jan 10
To improve your handwriting you have to get back to basics.
There are practice books for teaching children to write and they are very inexpensive. Get one and start at the very beginning (boring - yes; but necessary).
Make sure your letters look as close to the original as possible. After you have worked your way through the book, try to continue to make your writing the same way you have just taught yourself and refer back to the book as necessary.
Remember, you are not learning to write from the beginning; you are trying to break years of bad writing habits and that takes time, concentration, and practise .
@LoSouLyricist (125)
• United States
24 Jan 10
I'd like to learn some good techniques too... my handwriting is well enough in print or very nice depending on what I'm writing and how patient I am at the time... but my cursive is god awful.
I used to take Computer Aided Drafting and Design in highschool, and any paper designs we did, my failing was always the writing of numbers and titles. I simply could not get a consistent shape or size for all my letters and numbers, unless I carefully crafted them with a ruler with light lines first (as if I was drafting the words as well).
...my mom had told me in the past, that when I was in school in Oxford as a small child my handwriting was beautiful, but after moving to the US and attending school in Arkansas - where they used the big wide, white ledger books with the dotted lines, to "teach" kids how to write and how big letters were, relative to each other, my handwriting was compromised, changed, and forgotten.
Maybe we should take up writing Japanese kanjii with a paint brush lol
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
24 Jan 10
When my family moved from Mississippi to Arizona, I discovered my son could not even write his own name in cursive; all he could do was print. When I asked him, he said they had taught the kids how to write cursive; but, just for a short time and he could not remember even half of what he was taught.
So, I got one of those books that "used the big wide, white ledger books with the dotted lines" and had examples on each page of how to write the letters and join them together. First you traced the letters, then you copied them, and finally you wrote them without looking at the examples. We spent the summer going through the book (a few pages every day - Mon thru Fri). By the end of summer he could write anything in cursive (slowly but beautifully). After that, when he went back to school, he won awards for his beautiful penmanship.
@LoSouLyricist (125)
• United States
24 Jan 10
Oh, and I think what's helped maintain consistency in my printed handwriting has been using a pen alot more over the years, whereas throughout school, the use of #2's promoted carelessness. I have to fill out forms all day everyday, and have gotten better at it over the years, wether it's a job app or a tax form, but long sessions (40+ page forms etc) result in me just illegibly scrawling tons of information into tiny boxes, and scratching things out lol an old school type writer would be handy.
@soledadclickz (1106)
• Philippines
24 Jan 10
Hi. When I was still studying, I used to have a neat and good handwriting. But after working for nine years using computers for almost eight to fifteen hours a day, the quality of my handwriting has deteriorated. I guess it's because I seldom hand-write notes and documents in the workplace.
On the other hand, my husband used to have a not-so-good/neat handwriting. It took him almost three or four years to improve his handwriting in preparation for his bar examinations. He practiced handwriting long articles and case answers for at least four to eight hours daily. He had no choice because bar examinations are still conducted here in our country by handwriting case answers manually and continuously for eight hours (in four days). And most of the examiners who will read and check their answers are already senior citizens with poor or deteriorated eyesight. After passing the bar, he's handwriting is now back to normal (the not-so-good) because he is now using computers in typing all the legal documents, notes and memos that he need at work.
I guess in this case, "practice makes perfect" is still the best advice I could give you.
