Improving Your Penmanship

As an antique dealer I would often come across letters, invitations and cards that had the most beautiful handwriting.

In the age of text messaging, e-mails and quick telephone calls you don't appreciate the beauty of the written hand until it suddenly show up in front of you, a casual note jotted out by an older person has you thinking, "I really should improve how I write."

Handwriting was once considered a vitally important skill for anyone who wanted to appear well educated. Hours were spent with pen and ink perfecting cursive handwriting. For those that had a love of handwriting they could sign up for courses that would teach them fancier script still, like the famous Spencerian Script made famous through out America during the 1800's.

There are times that you want you handwriting to shine; when you are writing a loving note in a birthday card or holiday greeting. I treasure a simple thank you note my mother sent me years ago because the handwriting is so beautiful but also I can hear her voice on every line of the letter.

There are still courses today that you can take to improve your penmanship but most of us just want to learn a few tricks so that we will have a good hand for those times that we need it.

Like all things in life that look easy to do, good penmanship actually has of practice behind it. If you have never learned cursive writing (the nice stuff with loops) then your best bet would be to down load some worksheets to practice from. If you see how the letters are formed it is quite easy to learn them. To see how capital letters are formed watch these animated letters.

If you put aside a few minutes a day you will be surprised how quickly your hand will pick it up.

You might know cursive writing but are not comfortable about how it looks when you write it. You need to develop your own style of writing that is comfortable for you and looks good as well.

Many people are just too tense when they start writing and need to loosen up first. If you are holding your pen tightly you tend to get very scratchy shaky lines to your writing.

One of the biggest problems you might have with your handwriting might be your pen. You might never have held a truly good pen and found what a difference it can do for your handwriting. Not all pens are made the same.

Cheap pens tend to drag along the page while good quality pens will flow and make the forming of letters so much easier. If you have never used a fountain pen see if you can find one to borrow. Many people will not every let you use their fountain pens as over time the nib has formed to the pressure that they put on the page and gets a very unique slant to it.

Even a better quality ball point pen will make your writing smoother and easier to do. You can spend some time in a stationery store and see what they can suggest to you.

You need to confront what you do not like about your hand writing. Is it that the letters are not the same size, that some letters you write look awkward, that you can never write on a straight line, or you hate the way you were taught to form capital letters.

You also need to look at your hand writing and pick three things that you really like about it so you can continue these traits. You might really like the angle that you write on, the fact that you have a distinct way of forming some letters or that you have a combination of print and script in your writing style.

Showcase these traits. Your handwriting very much reflects your personality. You might like the way that you make bold strokes when you cross your t's and H's. You could develop this trait to making bold strokes at the tops of capital T's I's and F's. If you make a large curl that you like on y's then learn to continue this with g's.

If there are traits in other people's handwriting that you admire then copy what it is. You might admire the way that they have very vertical lines when they write or you might admire the slant that they write at. When you do it in your own hand it will look different but that is part of your personality.

You can also copy the way some letters are done extravagantly without writing completely in fancy script. It could be that when you form certain words such as "and" that you have a distinct way of doing it. This can make your writing unique when you are addressing letters or cards.

It is quite difficult to write on a straight line on a blank sheet of paper and this can be easily remedied by placing lined paper behind it so you can see the lines to write on. If you are addressing a lot of envelopes then take a piece of card were you draw several dark straight lines on and place it inside the envelope so you will have a guide to write on. Remove it of course before you insert your card or letter.

To this day people will still judge you by your handwriting and a beautiful, easy to read, script is going to make a good impression. It will showcase you personality and your education so you want it to be the best you can possibly make it. You also want your writing to be recognizable to friends and family so as soon as they get an envelope from you they will be waiting in anticipation to open it.

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Have you read?

Writing the Perfect Thank You Note

Flourishes on Envelopes