How to Improve Your Handwriting

For some people, good penmanship comes naturally. For others, it's a struggle just to make it legible. If you fall into the latter category, there are ways you can go about improving your handwriting. Follow these steps to enhance your handwriting.

Difficulty:

Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Pencils
• Lined Notebook Papers
• Writing Pens

1. Find an example of handwriting you like and might want to imitate. This will give you a goal.

2. Buy some lined paper in a rule you're comfortable with, whether that's wide-, college- or narrow-ruled.

3. Choose a pen or pencil you like using. Keep in mind that this writing instrument doesn't have to be a Mont Blanc to be the right one for you.

4. Realize that practicing and perfecting will be an ongoing process. To truly improve your handwriting, you must work on it enough that the improvements become natural behavior.

5. Develop a test sentence for yourself and write it at the top of your first practice page. At the beginning of each new week, write this sentence at the top of a new page to help you gauge your progress.

6. Begin with individual letters and practice writing at least one letter per day, incorporating the improvements that will help you reach your goal. Concentrate on overall letter formation, the size of ascenders and descenders, the slant of each letter, and beginning and ending strokes.

7. Move on to complete words once you've made it all the way through the alphabet. Pay attention to character spacing, the way your letters flow from one into the next, and the spacing you place between words.

8. Practice, practice, practice until your handwriting looks the way you want it to.

Tips & Warnings

• Utilize downtime during boring meetings, seminars, lectures, doctor's office visits and so on to practice your handwriting. This will be far more useful in the long run than your usual doodles.

• Don't set unrealistic goals for yourself.