There are many resources, both online and offline, designed to show you how to write neatly. Below is a list of the best of the best.
The handwriting exercises you'll learn from these resources, and calligraphy practice 10 Unique Ways To Practice Your Handwriting When You Hate It 10 Unique Ways To Practice Your Handwriting When You Hate It You don't have to get bored with practice handwriting. Here are ten tips and tools to help you improve your handwriting and calligraphy by writing beautiful sentences. Read More
To save a bit of time and give you some additional direction, it's worth pointing out some common exercises that are repeatedly mentioned in the courses, lessons, apps, and books that follow.
You should always keep this in mind, no matter which of these resources you try.
This basic 29-part YouTube course on how to write in cursive ( the first video is above) It's a thorough place to start. You may feel like you're back in school, but you'll be surprised at how many fundamental elements you've missed.
Each lesson is extremely short and comes with a free worksheet (which you can find in each video description) to print to help you practice.
Once you've nailed down the basics of cursive (again), you'll probably want to make a few refinements to your style to add more personality or professionalism to your writing.
This 14-minute video from professional writer John Neal looks specifically at how to improve handwriting for adults. The rich content really starts at 2:30, where you'll be shown how to pay close attention to the pace, speed, and direction of your writing.
Then work through this short 8-part YouTube course taught by a handwriting specialist. Much of the information overlaps with the video above, but hearing two different descriptions of similar handwriting techniques will only help.
Be sure to regularly practice the handwriting exercises taught in these videos to help build the muscle memory needed for your new skill to stick.
If you've tried the previous courses without seeing much improvement, it might be time to spend a little money on something more complete.
Udemy has a highly rated 4-hour course titled Improve Your Handwriting - Improve Your Life. I have not taken this course myself, but many previous students cite “immediate improvements” after going through the handwriting classes. The course is usually priced at $75, but I've often seen huge discounts of up to 85%, so it's worth keeping your eyes open.
The goal of the course is to guide you through daily 10-minute practice sessions to develop your muscle memory, having a positive effect on your writing. You can sign up on Udemy for a free preview of the course.
If you're considering using a textbook to improve your writing, there are two books I'd recommend.
The first is Rosemary Sassoon's Improve Your Handwriting. The structure of this book encourages adult readers to experiment with styles to find what works for them, including lefties.
Improve Your Handwriting (Teach Yourself) Improve Your Handwriting (Teach Yourself) Buy Now On Amazon $6.00
The second is Barbara Getty's Write Now:The Complete Program for Better Handwriting. The goal of this book is to help anyone. “achieve elegant and legible writing” by focusing on writing in a specific cursive style.
Although handwriting is almost exclusively pen and paper these days, you can use mobile devices (preferably tablets) to help you practice. It's possible to use these apps on your smartphone, but you'd definitely benefit from a larger, flatter area to write on.
If you have an iPad, the Cursive Practice app is an easy way to practice your cursive handwriting on the go. Handwriting lessons take you through uppercase, lowercase, individual words, cursive practice sentences, and numbers. You can also change the width and style of your “pen”.
Download: Cursive Practice for iOS (Free)
A similar option for Android devices is LazyDog Calligraphy. With this app, you can choose from a variety of different handwriting styles, and you'll receive a score for each letter, showing you how you're progressing. You'll also have access to printable writing worksheets, so you can practice the same style on paper too.
Download: LazyDog Calligraphy for Android (Free)
Remember, for best results, invest in a stylus to use with your smartphone, rather than relying on your finger. The Microsoft CEO asked ABC News what he hopes a technology will be obsolete in ten years. As the technology commander, he should know. His quick response... Read More .
Once you've spent some time studying how to improve your handwriting, you'll need to have some decent worksheets to practice on.
First of all, you should check out our list of free printable handwriting worksheets 10 Printable Handwriting Worksheets to Practice Cursive 10 Printable Handwriting Worksheets to Practice Cursive Best Website to Download Sheets handwriting worksheets to practice cursive. Don't let the art of writing die out! Read more . And if they don't deliver, search Google Images for “handwriting worksheets” (specifically looking for large images that are suitable for printing), you should be able to find everything you need.
Whether you believe it or not, knowing how to write neat and legible cursive is still important. Hate handwriting? I also. Here's why we should teach it anyway. Hate handwriting? I also. Here's why we should teach it anyway. We need to give young people the opportunity to love writing as an art, instead of making them hate it as a chore. Read more.
For kids, good writing leads to better grades. For adults, writing things by hand can act as therapy and can also improve memory.
Yes, you can access some of these benefits even with bad writing. But if your doodles remain unreadable, then you lose a portion of these benefits because you simply can't understand what you wrote in the first place. This means you won't be able to review those thoughts in the future.
If you're looking for an even more pragmatic reason to improve your handwriting, remember that the handwritten note will never be completely replaced by email. When it comes to building your network or climbing your career ladder, Jessica Cleiman believes that:
A handwritten note tends to have more value than a quick email or message. If you are able to craft such a note with decent, if not great, handwriting, then you can use this as a tool to create deeper relationships and stand out from the crowd.
Once you've spent a lot of time practicing the lessons you learn from the handwriting resources mentioned in this article, writing beautifully will become the new norm for you. You can finally have pride in your handwriting. And you can use your new handwriting skill to start developing even more creative skills. How handwriting improves your creative skills. How handwriting improves your creative skills. ? Well, for starters, because handwriting could be linked to creativity. Read more.
