Improve Your Handwriting Style

Handwriting is fast becoming a lost art in the digital age of texting and typing on a computer. Yet handwriting is still necessary for practical purposes, such as writing on a whiteboard for school or work, or for personalizing a thank-you note. Improving your handwriting requires a good pen and paper, the right setting and posture, and diligence. With practice, writing is something that anyone at any age can improve.

Steps

Getting Ready to Write

1. Choose a good pen. Having the right instrument to write with will help you improve your handwriting. If the ink doesn’t come out easily, or if the pen leaves globs of ink on the paper, it will detract from your ability to write in a relaxed way. Find a pen with good ink flow. Also consider the size and shape of the pen, as well as the point of the pen.
   • Slim pens may be harder to hold, causing your hand to cramp up more quickly. Thicker pens can offer a better grip, making it easier to write.
   • If you are left-handed, choose a pen with fast-drying ink so that the ink doesn’t smear as you write.
2. Choose good paper. Paper is another essential part of creating good handwriting. Find lined paper with lines that are not too close together. Starting with wide-ruled paper can be a good idea. Alternately, start with grid-lined paper or kids’ handwriting paper, which has more lines on it. This will help you practice writing upper- and lower-case letters.,
   • Stack 3-4 sheets of paper to write on. If you keep the paper in the pad or notebook, the added height might make it more difficult to write smoothly. If you only have one piece of paper, you might feel the imperfections of your writing surface too acutely.
3. Warm up your hands and arms. Do some simple stretches to get your hands and arms warmed up to write. This will help prevent your hands from cramping up too quickly when you write.
   • Wiggle and stretch your fingers around for a couple of minutes.
   • Make a fist and then stretch out your fingers, pushing the fingers upward to feel the stretch.
   • Stretch your wrists around, moving them in a circular motion.
   • Pretend you are playing a piano to get your arms moving sideways.
   • Roll your shoulders around several times.
4. Sit properly at a table or desk. Sit at a desk in a straight-backed chair or comfortable desk chair. Sit with your feet flat on the floor. Rest the forearm of your writing hand on the table.
   • Make sure you have plenty of space on the table or desk around you so that your arms don’t feel cramped for space. Clear coffee cups, old mail, books, and other items out of the way.
   • Many experts recommend writing on a surface that is at a 45 degree angle. This is impractical for many people, unless you have a drafting table or similar surface. A flat surface will be fine for improving your handwriting at this point.
5. Position the paper correctly. Having the paper sit directly in front of you is best, but make minor adjustments to ensure the most comfortable position for you. If you are right-handed, you might choose to rotate the paper slightly to the left. For a left-hander, position the paper at a 45 degree angle to the right. This will enable you to see what you’re writing.
   • When you get near the bottom of the page as you are writing, move the paper upwards, rather than continuing to move your hand downward.
6. Hold your pen properly. Hold the pen with a firm grip, but don’t squeeze it tightly. Your hand will tire and cramp if your grip is too tight. Likewise, if it’s too loose, the pen will slip out of your hand periodically as you write.
   • Hold the pen between your index finger and your thumb, and rest it slightly on your middle finger. The top of the pen should rest on the base knuckle of your index finger.

Retraining Yourself on How You Write

1. Retrain yourself to write with your arm, not your hand. Your fingers and hand should not move much when writing. They are most responsible for gripping the pen. Your arm and shoulder are the parts of your body that should control the pen’s movement. As you write, notice which part of your body moves: do your fingers move? Your wrist? Your arm or shoulder? Start concentrating on moving the arm and shoulder while holding the wrist and fingers stationary.
2. Practice writing letters in the air. Instead of writing on paper, bring your arm out in front of you and write letters in the air. Focus on using your arm and shoulder to write the letters, keeping your fingers and wrist stationary.
   • Write the alphabet in the air, making printed letters and cursive letters. Make large letters, sweeping your arm to shape the letters. Gradually decrease the size of the letters.
   • Write on a vertical surface such as a chalkboard. To write effectively on a vertical surface, it’s nearly impossible to write with your fingers. Writing here will force you to use your arm and shoulder.
3. Write simple lines and shapes. Write circles, spirals, Xs, vertical lines and slanted lines. Try to get into a rhythm to write them consistently and uniformly. Remember to use your arm and shoulder to make the writing motion, rather than your hand.
   • As you progress, add other shapes, such as Us and mounds, zigzags, and other shapes that are found in letters.
   • As you practice these more, you will notice more consistency in the writing.
   • These can be practiced anytime, even during meetings or waiting for someone on the phone.
4. Write slowly. Many people have become trained to write fast because they type fast. Keeping up with your thoughts can be difficult when you are handwriting, but slowing down the process will help you improve the quality of your handwriting. Form each letter slowly and deliberately, especially in the beginning.
   • If you think you will forget what you want to write, write out a rough draft and then rewrite it more slowly.

Forming Your Letters

1. Print out worksheets to trace. In order to write your letters correctly, use a template to help you rethink how to write letters. Search online for handwriting templates or worksheets. Trace over the letters and then practice writing them yourself.
   • Do this for both upper- and lower-case letters, and both printed and cursive letters.
2. Practice groups of letters. Certain letters are written with 1, 2 or 3 strokes of a pen. Practice pairs of these letters together to work into a rhythm of writing.
   • Letters with one stroke of a pen: L, V, U, W, Z, C, O, S
   • Letters with two strokes: B, D, J, K, M, N, P, Q, R, T, X, Y, G
   • Letters with three strokes: A, E, F, H, I
3. Match the height of letters. Make sure the height of any letter is correct in comparison with the other letters. All capital letters should be the same height. Most lower-case letters are about half the height of upper-case letters, although letters like “k,” “f,” or “d” can extend to the top of the top line.
4. Match the width of letters. Letters should be certain widths relative to each other. As you practice your worksheets and write more, try to make the letters proportionate to each other, width-wise.
5. Practice writing the most frequently used words. There are about 220 words in the English language that are most frequently used in writing. These include words such as “the,” “and,” “is,” “was,” and so on. Search online for “Dolch list,” which is named after Edward Dolch, the creator of this list of words.
   • Add some of your most frequently used words to the list. For example, add your name, the names of your family members, your town, and your address to the list. If you find that you write a lot about a particular topic, you might have other words to add as well.
6. Write large letters. Don’t try to squeeze your letters into a small space. Particularly as you are working on improving your handwriting, allow yourself plenty of space on the paper to write the letters. Write them with a flourish, almost decoratively, so that you can get the flow and rhythm of writing by hand.

Practicing your Skills

1. Practice 10-15 minutes every day. Take a bit of time every day when you feel relaxed to practice your handwriting. Spend some time writing certain letter pairs or pangrams (sentences with all the letters).
   • An example of a pangram is: “A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Search online for other examples.
2. Write everything down. Unless you need to, skip typing things out on the computer or on your phone. Handwrite reminder notes to yourself or family members, shopping lists, postcards, letters, envelopes, and so on.
   • If you need to fill out a form, you usually have the option of printing it and filling it out by hand. Filling out forms will help you practice your capital block letters.
3. Keep a journal. Writing in a journal is a good way to keep you writing every day. Just a few minutes can be helpful for improving your handwriting. Plus, there’s the added benefit of reducing stress that comes with journaling.

Tips

• If you find your handwriting getting messier as you write, that’s a sign that your hand is getting fatigued. You may also be reverting back to using your fingers and wrist to write, rather than using your arm and shoulder. Give yourself a rest for a few minutes and stretch your hand. Write more slowly and relax your arm while you write.
• If you are writing on unlined paper (for a thank-you note, for example), you might choose to buy a light box. Put a grid on the light box that you can follow that when you write on blank, unlined paper.

Sources and Citations

See also

• Have Good Handwriting
• Have Beautiful Writing
• Write Neatly
• Improve Your Handwriting
• Change Your Handwriting
• Sign a Cool Signature
• Become Ambidextrous
• Write With Your Opposite Hand
• Have a Nice Signature
• Copy Someone's Handwriting

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• Have Good Handwriting
• Have Elegant Handwriting