[alibrarydweller]

I learned handwriting in schools (early 90s) and like many it turned into absolute chicken scratch by high school as with many.

Somewhere between high school and college I decided it was worth fixing and after a few years it got much better, continuing to improve for the next ten years or so.

I'm really glad I did it - my notes flow more easily, my written correspondence impresses and I have the common sense to simply hand print when one shot understanding is more important than aesthetics.

[ListeningPie]

How did you go about improving it?

[derekp7]

There are a number of techniques you can use, but it really boils down to practice repetition. Some exercises that seemed to help me, when done at night before going to bed (about 5 minutes or so) is to take a piece of paper and write a bunch of parallel lines (basically small letter "L") and try to get them to be exactly the same. Then draw a bunch of circles (letter "O") and try to make them the same size and perfectly round. Do it slow enough at first so you don't practice in bad technique, then try to get faster at it.

Also, as part of a woodworking hobby I'm getting back into, I needed to start drawing out sketches of projects. I started with some light graph paper to get proportions right, but now can somewhat easily draw out the board layouts of things like desks or dressers and get fairly straight lines over distance on the paper. I couldn't do this before.

Oh, and getting something like a good fountain pen that flows good, with good paper, will make you "want" to write whenever you get the chance. Get a nice one or two, but also pick up a pack of Pilot Varsity disposable fountain pens -- they actually write fairly decent, and aren't fussy at all.