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Make Your Handwriting Beautiful

In the age of computers people value a handwritten card or note highly. Many love to keep a diary or notebook full of ideas and observations. But if you can’t read it, or if it’s embarrassing to look at, then better handwriting is the answer. But not just better—beautiful.

  1. The entry tricks—there are two that will improve your writing. Instantly. First, hold your pen higher. Poor handwriters scribble with their mucky paws only millimeters from the nib. Hold it higher. Really high. Imagine it is a paint brush and you are Gauguin poised before the easel . . . holding a pen higher means you stop simply using the wrist and fingers and start using the whole arm. The more of the arm you can use, the better the handwriting. It will feel freer and look much better. The second trick is even more mysterious—simply elongate the letters with long tops and bottoms—make your “y”s and “p”s and “g”s with really long tails. Make your “t”s and “l”s and “h”s reach for the sky. You will straight away discover that not only does your writing look far better and more stylish but also that it no longer slopes down or up across the page. The reason is that every time you make a long letter you are sending a strong signal to the brain about where your pen is in relation to the page. It’s as if you are recalibrating each time. When you scribble along with each letter at the same height, you have an initial starting reference, but then it’s as if you are walking ahead without any guidelines.
  2. The rub-pat barrier is speed versus beauty. But actually writing very slowly, like drawing slowly, can result in some ugly shapes. So you need to get up the speed yet keep the accuracy. This is best maintained through flourishes, through doing letters you really enjoy and actively look forward to writing. First, start with the elongated finials on “y”s and “t”s—and only do these. Do your little “a” with a top curl—like a printed one—it looks great and is very satisfying. But even better is doing a “g” like a printed one—a circle connected to a larger lower circle. It’s almost impossible to make a “g” like this look bad and it gives your handwriting an extra element of interest and art.
  3. Tools. Cheap paper and ballpoint pens lead one down the path of bad handwriting. Buy a fountain pen, a good one. The Japanese brand Sailor make some excellent writing pens—get the fine nib, it’s more versatile. Get a nice notebook, maybe handmade. With the right materials you’ll make more of an effort. If it’s essential to keep the lines straight, rule very light pencil lines first.
  4. Keep a diary with a view to showing it to others. Write short entries but make them beautiful. Include sketches and maps, if you like—somehow, writing always improves if it accompanies illustrations, however basic. Dan Price’s How to Make a Journal of Your Life (Ten Speed Press, 1999) is excellent reading on this subject.
  5. Buy weird, odd, old, and interesting postcards whenever you can. Make a point of using them to stay in touch rather than e-mail. It’s also a great way to make sure someone actually gets the message—even CEOs and celebrities get to see all their postcards since they might actually be from a close friend. But use each postcard as a chance to do nice handwriting.
  6. When you have mastered the long finials and the “a”s and “g”s take a look at a book of copperplate and other handwriting styles. Look at some of the styles from centuries past. Copy them. With a high-held pen and a shoulder-led flourish they will be easy to master.