When I was in fourth grade, I got a D on my report card, in penmanship. My teacher said it broke her heart to do it, but she told me that it was important that I learn to write more neatly. My parents weren’t impressed, and with practice, from then on it was Cs and then Bs in fifth grade, and then I think we stopped getting grades for penmanship. In seventh grade, I ditched cursive and landed on traditional printing. It was downhill from there.
Flash forward 25 years (has it been that long?). I just finished writing two thank you cards (in a professional setting), and when I re-read them, it struck me that my penmanship is terrible. Almost everything I ‘write’ is on the computer, and I think that has contributed. I can’t imagine I’m doing myself any favors with penmanship that looks like I wrote it with my toes during an earthquake.
Is there hope? I suppose I can just take time out and practice; maybe I should get some lined paper and do it grade-school style (not that it helped before…). When I slow down, that helps somewhat, but it’s like I don’t have great motor-skill control when forming the letters.
Maybe I should take a calligraphy course! I’d probably drive the teacher insane, but maybe I’d pick up some skills that would translate.
Anyway, I’d appreciate any suggestions or comments. Cheers!
My WAG is that since calligraphy is so far the other way - fancy to the point of near-unreadability, sometimes - it might not help your immediate issue, which seems to be basic legibility. Adding loops and flourishes probably won’t help.
Motor skill control is achieved through practise, I’m sorry to say. Try slowing down and concentrating on your letters when you DO write anything. This includes your grocery list and Post-Its to yourself.
Maybe start keeping a journal? Jot down your thoughts, keep track of whatever you’d like to keep track of, but make at least a half-assed but conscious effort to slow down and shape the letters.
After a few weeks or months, flip back through the pages. You’ll probably be able to notice a difference…
For a couple days I’ve been thinking of issuing a challenge to the Dopers to write the alphabet in capital and small letters. I don’t think the majority can do it any longer without having to look up some letters. Use it or lose it.
get a good example of well written ordinary letters from a penmanship book or on web.
on your lined paper do a line or two of each letter every day. do slowly. maybe think of it not as writing (which you might think of as a fast action) but as drawing an identical shape.
after you done this for days to get each letter shaped well then take lines of text and write them out.
I did poorly in ‘penmanship’ in grade school. Challenged by embarrassing memories of that experience I practiced calligraphy during long hours of down time in the military. By age 25 I was good enough to attract some positive attention. As I grew older the muscles just wouldn’t cooperate anymore and by age 55 I was beginning write stuff which I couldn’t read myself at age 65 but I got a couple of good decades as a result of my practice. Go for it. It is an inexpensive pastime.
I’d thought about working on my penmanship too. There are a bunch of books you can get ( I found a lot on Amazon, they’re not rare), and there are resources on-line too, free printable worksheets etc like this Donna Young's Cursive Handwriting Practice
Like someone else already said though, you’d be surprised how much of a difference just slowing down makes.
In 2nd grade I was in Mrs. Carlson’s Chicken Scratch Club, and got grades like yours in pennmanship all the years it was graded.
besides being less than neat, my default handwriting was miniscule. In my mid 20s I made a conscious decision to improve my handwriting. Slowing down did in fact make the biggest change. I forced myself to slow down and wrote everything from grocery lists to phone messages in cursive. By writing more slowly I was able to keep the slant consistent, which to me was the single most noticable improvement.
If I’m jotting something down quickly my handwriting shrinks and is still ridiculous but if it’s something intended for another person to read I just slow down and write it carefully. I’ve actually received compliments on my handwriting.
I went to a Catholic grade school and they really emphasized penmanship to the third degree. The Palmer Method only, absolutely nothing else was permitted. Drill after drill to get every loop and swoop correct.
I don’t know if I’m the exact opposite, but my cursive has always been terrible unless I specifically slow down. So around about eighth grade I just stuck with my comfort zone - I scrapped cursive and wrote everything in small caps. I’ve gotten numerous remarks on how neat and precise my handwriting is.
If you can find a style that you’re comfortable writing and you think looks neat and readable, skip the penmanship classes. If you’re not satisfied with any approach, take a couple courses.