How can I improve my handwriting?

Question

My productivity is hampered by the poor quality of my handwriting. Nobody else can read it, and even I struggle at times. I usually compensate by typing things, but sometimes handwriting is unavoidable. How can I improve my penmanship?

By the way, I'm looking for specific tips on where to start and what to do next. I don't object to book recommendations / courses, but they are not really what I'm looking for.

Answer 1

Summary: learn how to form the letters correctly (unlearn bad habits) and practice, practice, practice.

Personally, I addressed this same problem by:

1. Purchasing a fountain pen that I really wanted, so that the act of writing was less of a chore and something that I actually began to enjoy. Doesn't have to be a fountain pen, the point is this new "toy" made it something I wanted to do.
2. Picking up a book to essentially learn how to write all over again.
3. Spending some time every evening for about a month just practicing.

I got started with Getty-Dubay's "Write Now: The Complete Program for Better Handwriting" book, which I was able to find at the library. You can even find portions of the book online which is enough to get started.

After getting the basics down, I used these lessons for continued practice.

Answer 2

I faced this problem once. I just went to the local bookstore and bought myself a kindergarten book on cursive writing. Finish the book one page per day and notice the change! Repeat whenever you're slacking. :)

Answer 3

This is just one factor, but you can't write well if the muscles in your hand are cramping.

This article helped me realize why my hand hurt while writing. To keep your hand comfortable you need to use the muscles of your forearm and shoulder, and not your fingers. It's not a matter of fine motor skill, it's using the right muscles.

Answer 4

In my opinion, the secret to good handwriting is practice and a fountain pen. I have also found that writing in Cursive Style in a double line notebook helps in improving ones handwriting. But you have to patient as writing will not improve overnight. As mentioned earlier, it will take a lot of practice before changes are noticeable.

Answer 5

As with most things, deliberate practice. Fortunately you can do that by paying attention as you write and seeing where the problems are.

Answer 6

While there certainly are things to do to improve your overall handwriting, this most likely takes a lot of time since you'll have to unlearn years of bad habits.
Why not try to keep your handwriting down to a minimum, and type whenever possible, and then, when it's unavoidable, try to print as slowly as possible. Larger letters and bigger spacings help here (both because the shapes become clearer, and because this automatically slows you down).

Answer 7

Fine motor skill is good for better handwriting. You can try pen spinning or sleiting to improve your handwriting. And this just is interesting :)

Pen spinning

Pen spinning is a form of object manipulation that involves the deft manipulation of a writing instrument with one's hands.

from Wikipedia article (there is good gif image inside)

Good videos you can find at youtube.

Sleiting (card sleiting, cardistry, card flourish)

Look like, there is no stable name for this activity, but it looks good. In few words, it is art cards manipulation. Look for videos in youtube here (cardistry) or here (sleiting).

Note: I have very bad handwriting too. I you are interested, I'll describe results after I'll try some of this activities.

Answer 8

I am interested that most of the answers here are about improving cursive penmanship, as I always find cursive to be much more difficult to read than printing--something that I imagine is becoming even more true as people are exposed to less long-hand penmanship and more computerized typography.

I stopped using cursive for anything except my signature in 5th grade and switched to lettering in all capitals (which as long been the standard in architectural drawing because it is so easy to read).

The motions are simpler and robust to starting and stopping because printing doesn't require the flow of cursive. Because so many of the strokes are straight lines, it may also be easier to improve your legibility.

I know several people who print in all caps and all are frequently complemented on their writing.

Answer 9

I suggest you have a look at the ebook Master Handwriting , it's just $27 and has helped me tremendously. I am left handed so my problems were probably different than yours, but you should find it very useful.

Answer 10

That works for me:
--look how the letters are printed (in books, magazines, etc.) and adapt to their style. There is a big advantage of it: the printed texts are everywhere. --rather than starting modifying all your writing, you can work on some letters, for example the most problematic ones.
In time, you will be happy to see improvement.

Answer 11

I'm surprised to see that so many answer recommend working on cursive; there are so many more variations, and (because the letters are connected) so much more opportunity for it to become sloppy.

I agree with Adam: try printing in all capital letters. (You can adjust the size, so a true capital is larger than your "lowercase" letters.) Each letter is distinct, which will make it easier to read.

Answer 12

There are 3 basic steps to learning to write better in a practical way as I have done myself to improve my own handwriting:

1. Buy a good quality fountain pen.
2. Write daily and slowly almost one paragraph or more as per your comfort and time.
3. Have patience as it's a gradual process.

I hope you will start writing better in a few weeks.

Answer 13

Well - when my son was in kindergarten and was struggling with his penmanship she recommended he use chop sticks at every meal possible. Not sure if it works with adults but maybe strengthening your finger muscles with other activities would improve dexterity in adult penmanship too?!