# What can I do to improve my handwriting? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 30, 2008, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-to-improve-my-handwriting/465803 "2008-09-30T03:02:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-to-improve-my-handwriting/465803/1 "2008-09-30T03:02:36Z")
I have really bad, terrible handwriting. It looks like it should belong to a 5th grader. It’s not particularly hard to read, but messy and sloppy and inconsistent. It really does look like a child wrote it. I’m always slightly embarrassed when I have to fill out a form or something. What can I do to improve it? Someone once told me that my mistake is that I’m trying to write with my fingers, as opposed to my whole arm, but when I try to write with my whole arm I just get bigger messy characters. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-to-improve-my-handwriting/465803/2 "2008-09-30T03:06:05Z")
Start over. Find a good primer, and go back to learning your ABCs. That, or take up calligraphy, and learn the letter forms inside and out. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-to-improve-my-handwriting/465803/3 "2008-09-30T04:25:58Z")
Also, try writing slower. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-to-improve-my-handwriting/465803/4 "2008-09-30T04:38:04Z")
Print. The only thing I use my terrible cursive for is my signature. If I want to, I can actually print in teeny tiny little letters - good for notes in margins, or composing novellas on postit notes. ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2008, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-can-i-do-to-improve-my-handwriting/465803/5 "2008-09-30T04:44:14Z")
As the above posters said, print and write slower. My handwriting was horrible up until I was about a sophomore/junior in college. I’m pretty sure it was my intro to electrical engineering class that I decided I had enough. I couldn’t tell the difference between my 1 and l, my ; and i, my t and +, and the worst, my 8 and my g. I just decided that I’d take the time to fix my writing, and slowly and carefully wrote everything from then on out. It’s still not awesome, but it’s very legible and can almost be considered neat. There is a -huge- difference in my handwriting when I scribble a quick note and when I’m taking my time on an important form. I retrained my muscle memory, though, so my moderately quick writing is now legible. Once your hand knows what it’s supposed to be doing, it will help you out pretty consistently.