My handwriting is appalling - I don't even do joined up anymore! But as a half-arsed New Year's resolution I would like to improve it and make it not so hideously embarrassing.
Has anyone here worked on their handwriting as an adult? Got any tips for me? Or know of any resources to help me?
Then we can start talking pens, as I seem to remember there's a group of people on here who like fancy pens (to go with proper watches, socks, razors coffee etc that the modern gentleman likes to become obsessed over)
Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman, in which case always be Batman.My boss told me "dress for the job you want, not the job you have"... now I'm sat in a disciplinary meeting dressed as Batman.
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When I was 9 or 10, I had to do "penmanship exercises", writing out lines and lines of letters on ruled paper. I couldn't even do that properly.
But it has deteriorated hugely with neglect as everything gets typed or prodded nowadays.
So, tip 1 = practice. Not sure what you'll find to write-by-hand regularly, but I think that's the trick.
Pens are a personal thing. Some people like them heavy, some prefer lightweight. Some prefer fountain pens, others are ballpoints or roller balls, or whatever. If you're serious about it, go into a pen shop (or the pen department of a reasonable department store) and hold a few, see what feels right in *your* hand.
Ballpoints and rollerballs are then about the quality of the refills that you use .
[edit - and I think that's a great New Year's Resolution!]
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
Over the years I've been given a couple of nice pens. My experience has been that nice looking pens have very little to do with nice writing. Once you get past the 10p Bic level it's about what shaft and ball size suit your writing style.
Write a few sentences and then try to determine what it is you are unhappy about.
Compare to some handwriting you admire (I'm lucky, one of my former colleagues had the most beautiful handwriting, and was always making notes, which were a joy to behold.)
Then write a few more sentences, stop and reflect. What's improving, what still needs work, etc.
Write slowly and methodically, and play with the angle of the page, pay attention to the tension in your fingers and pressure on your finger tips (but don't try to control it), and keep stopping and reflecting.
Over time you will make big gains.
The trick really, is having something to write about!
If you set yourself the task of writing a paragraph a day, and stick to it, I bet you'll see good results.
Keep writing your name, your signature, then description of what you've been doing on the day (unless you actually have something to write about - then do it).
Keep writing real letters and post them - it will make you try harder as you know that other person will read it.
Good luck!
I have a suspicion that my updates to this thread aren't going to be too riveting!
(or, took pics of the progress of your actual handwriting, and posted the pics here )
You could try keeping a diary. Doesn't have to be anything profound, you could just record what you did that day, where you went, what the weather was like, what you watched on the TV...
That said, I keep a diary and my handwriting is appalling, although I haven't been trying to improve it. It used to be very good, I always used to get the handwriting prize in junior school.
I'm sure the advice on here is totally correct - to get my handwriting back on track I'd slow right down and actually concentrate on forming the letters properly. And I'm totally confident it would work. If only I had the same self-belief as regards guitar playing....
I wanted to get back in to using my old fountain pen, but actually considering I should be slowing my writing down I think I'd end up with big puddles of ink. Might need to find a midground pen that's not a BIC biro or a fountain pen. Time to raid the work stationary cupboard (or is it stationery? To be fair, in this case it's hopefully both!)
Like many of my generation I had handwriting lessons at school with an inkwell and a plain "quill" pen. In the days before computers it was important to be able to write neatly, but though I have worked on it for most of my life I have always had awful handwriting. Whenever I need something written out longhand I get my wife to do it.
Mind you I'm not as bad as two of our good friends who are ex GP's - it's absolutely true what they say about doctors.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vere-Fosters-Copy-Book-Bold-Writing-18-Models-for-Book-Keeping-c-1890/322969360306?hash=item4b327957b2:g:FBYAAOSwTLlZ18Wt
You can buy a school hand-writing copy book and a line ruled exercise book and practice cursive writing.
If you do that, photocopy the pages so as not to damage the original.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cursive-hand-writing-Copy-handwriting-Activity-Book-Age-4-above-running-neat/322978634944?epid=1563533365&hash=item4b3306dcc0:m:m_Eowq-UUcHFC6OkdhXcUsA
Alternatively, you can find text suitable for copying on the internet, and practice using the template on a line ruled exercise book.
My wife is a primary school teacher and blames the teachers I had when I was young because I don't hold the pen properly. I'm not about to change now though after more than 40 years of holding the pen the way I do. To change feels unnatural.