I forgot how hard practicing something can be....
I have been practicing the paragraph that needs to be written for the World Handwriting Contest.... :doh: :doh:
I thought it would be as easy as just putting together a snail mail... NOT SO... you can make little mistakes and glitches in your snail mails and no one will care...
This entry has to be my absolute best handwriting sample....
Now on top of this, I am trying to figure out which pen is going to be honored with writing this entry....
I started with my Pelikan 605, a Parker 51, a Sheaffer Balance, a Sheaffer Copper Legacy, an Esterbrook SJ, and one of my custom made pens. I have narrowed the field down to the following... Sheaffer Balance, Esterbrook SJ, and Parker 51 (see I am not totally prejudiced toward Sheaffers). The interesting thing is that as much as I like Pelikans, I found the 605 uncomfortable for this task, but not for everyday snailing. The Legacy is just too heavy for this kind of concentration as is my custom pen. I needed pens that just seemed to flow in my hand.
Trying to write neatly is a lot harder than just letting yourself go and do it...
I think I am really going to just write the paragraph twice with each pen, then decide which I like the best...
I might even post 2-3 samples for you all to vote on. But I have to get it to the judges by June 30.

I almost forgot about this. I mailed my first one in. I thought I was going to write more samples to choose from, but then a month past and I didn't do anything, so I just decided to mail the first writing in. It was written on cheap looseleaf paper too....

So is the text specified? Where can I find it? Now I am curious. (Idly so, since my handwriting, while acceptable, is not going to win any awards.)

Here is a copy of the text that has to be written....
They require black ink in white paper and it can be lined paper...
Here is a link to the site... you need to click on the Handwriting Contest... the site is nasty to navigate...
Handwriting Contest

HANDWRITING: that action of emotion, of thought, and of decision that has recorded the history of mankind, revealed the genius of invention, and disclosed the inmost depths of the soulful heart. It gives ideas tangible form through written letters, pictographs, symbols, and signs. Handwriting forms a bond across millennia and generations that not only ties us to the thoughts and deeds of our forebears, but also serves as an irrevocable link to our humanity. Neither machines nor technology can replace the contribution or continuing importance of this inexpensive portable skill. Necessary in every age, handwriting remains just as vital to the enduring saga of civilization as our next breath.
-Michael R. Sull-

Good Luck Betty... hopefully we will both place ... and bring everlasting recognition to the FPN

What? No talk of which nib to use?!?!?!? You're only half-way there!

-Bruce

You just know it has to be that RH Oblique nib....

For me there is only one nib to use... a FINE nib... my handwriting is too "delicate" (like me ) to use anything else...
Funny thing is that before I started writing more and more with a FP, all my custom pens had medium nibs... but the more I write, the more I prefer a fine nib....

You know, that's interesting, because I have been thinking that the fine nib was the nib for me, then I got this Copper P45 with a RH Oblique and WOW! Instant handwriting improvement......Needless to say, I love it. It will now become my standard for correspondance to family.

Anywho, good luck there, Mr. Delicate!



-Bruce

This reminds me of an old Zen tale: The abbot wants the name of the monastery up on the front gate. He calls upon a particularly talented monk for the task. "This is a Zen monastery, make sure you capture the right spirit in your brushstrokes," the abbot instructs the monk.

Looking over his shoulder, the abbot watches as the monk bushes the characters of the monastery in beautiful, bold strokes. "Wonderful...but not quite...it," the abbot remarks. The monk tries again. Almost, so he has to try again. Not quite. This goes on for perhaps a dozen attempts. Then another monk hurries in and informs the abbot that there is a legation from the main monastery arriving. The abbot rushes out to formally greet his visitors.

Taking this as an opportunity to be done with the sign, the monk grabs his brush and quickly brushes the characters onto the paper, runs out the door and tacks it up on the front gate.

After some time had passes he is summoned to the abbot now standing outside looking at the sign. Uh oh, thinks the monk. When the monk arrives at the gate, the abbot points up at his sign. "It's perfect!"

Good luck Tom (and anyone else entering the contest)!

Tom, thanks for the link! (Whew that is a bad site.)

I had not heard of this site. I started, just for fun, writing the paragraph. It is really a challenge to make it nice. I thought the winning entries from last year were nicely done. I will have to try to see if I can come up with a nice enough product to make it worth entering. I would like to see scans of the entries that FPNers submit.

-Jack

Hdoug,

My Father told me a tale when that sort of situation was indeed true. It involved the need to write Japanese characters in exactly the right way; the solution finally came when time had run out, beer had therefore flowed to drown the sense of frustrated disappointment and just for fun the slightly sozzled scribe tried to write left-handed! Result - perfect - with just the right flaws and errors to convey a very tense situation.

....................................................

But this little joke really requires visual skills, so whether my description will work remainst to be seen.

Imagine a large pile of pages of beautifully illuminated parchment manuscipts, wonderfully described in gold leaf and blue, red and green inks edging around bold, black capitals. Each one the work of endless days and nights of painstaking dedication.
Line after line of neatly created characters marching across for the enlightenment and education of fellow mankind. Chapter after chapter prepared to contribute to one of the greatest books ever to be seen.

In front, hunched over his desk, an old and dedicated monk, hands cramped from the years of toil, eyes blurred from the strain of trying for perfection in every stroke of the quill as page after page of this wonderful work slowly issued forth.

And the passing Abbot happens to glance at his next page and says, "Dear Brother, I think you'll find Psalm 92 should be spelt with a P not an S!"



Chris

I've been having fun writing out the paragraph. It's interesting to write with that much consciousness of the letter forms.

Good luck, Tom!

I mailed my entry off this weekend, finally, so I could be done with it. I feel so silly entering a handwriting contest that I didn't even tell my family about it. It's just that in grade school, I always had to make do with "satisfactory" grades in handwriting-- never "good," "very good," or "excellent." Yet my classmates' handwriting was nothing to write home about [no pun intended] and my school stopped going over penmanship as a lesson after they taught it to us in 2nd grade-- so why bother grading students on it if they weren't going to continually reinforce it, like math or science?

So here's my chance to possibly vindicate my maligned script.

Well Tom, I guess I should say thanks.....I think....

Been writing and writing and writing.....my wife thinks I've lost it totally.....and writing....especially after a half pad of paper....and writing...yes, I wrote on both sides....

-Bruce


and writing.....

And your problem is ???????????

Welcome to the world I live in...

I went through about 1/4 of a pad just deciding what pen to use and I am still not 100% sure.... I do have it narrowed down to 3 though....

I've been having fun practicing--my expectations are low, so if it looks halfway decent I'm happy!

Well, if nothing else, it has been an interesting exercise in the various characteristics of the pen/hand interface.....

-Bruce

(writers cramp, just when I had forgotten....)