Recently, I have tried to learn Gregg shorthand, and also improve my regular handwriting. I have, in the interest of improving my handwriting, begun forming letters by moving my whole arm, rather than moving my fingers. However, writing in this fashion makes it somewhat difficult for me to smoothly and gradually move my arm to the right as I am nearing the end of a line. Even as a child, it bothered me that the friction between my hand and the paper would impede my hand's smooth motion rightward. Some of you might happen to know that the static coefficient of friction is usually larger than the kinetic coefficient of friction for a given pair of materials, the result being that it may in some circumstances be difficult to move smoothly or accurately when starting a movement. So, I would like to pose a few questions to the collective minds of the Fountain Pen Network.

Do you write with your fingers or your forearm?
Do you rest your hand on the paper for some stability, and if so, what is the specific point of contact between your hand and the paper?
Are you, like me, somewhat bothered by the friction between your hands and the paper or writing surface?
If your hand is generally supported by your writing surface, then what do you do if writing on a raised surface, say, a notebook, above a desk, when you reach the very bottom of the page, or the rightmost side?

There are different (and opposing) viewpoints about this among the folks here. For what it's worth, in my case, I don't rest much weight on any part of my arm or hand on the surface although my wrist and forearm may touch the surface. Sometimes parts of my pinky and ring finger too. I think of it as "skimming" the surface. If I can write the word "telecommunication" without planting my wrist or forearm, I'm doing it the way I should.

I don't like writing in thick notebooks because as you probably have experienced, it makes the bottom of the page difficult to write on.

Your mileage may vary, but good luck on your worthy quest!

Doug

Using a folded flysheet, besides keeping sweat and oil off the page, also allows for sliding. I find the flysheet moves against the writing sheet and my hand doesn't move much against the flysheet.

For several months I practiced only using a single page on a folder as backing, as opposed to a pad with some thickness. Then the right or bottom edge isn't a cliff, and the whole sheet is the same.

I've slowly been moving toward whole arm writing and my lettering has increased in size because of it. I also notice that the characters changed. So in general I don't use the paper as support and my hand doesn't cause as muchproblems with oils as before.

K

Paddler

I've read that many advocate using the whole arm as well because it gives greater control and cramps your hands less. I've tried it and the style is still strange to me.

I write with my fingers. I do not move my hand in the middle of a word. And sometimes I find something to put under my hand, but normally it is not an issue.

I was thinking about some 4" teflon disks.

I use a combination of 25 percent fingers and 75 percent forearm movement.


My contact points are the bottom heel of my hand and my elbow.


Yes. I've tried a variety of things to eliminate it, but eventually resigned myself to simply dealing with it.


I move the raised writing platform, rather than my hand and arm.

Thank you for raising an issue which concerns me as well.

Personally I agree with a lot of the responses just given by WhosYerBob. I'm also a bit bothered by the drag issue, and I am also learning shorthand (not Gregg, but Pitman) and so the hand dragging on the page is very irritating when you have to move fast.

What I am now doing is a lot like what WhosYerBob described. Specifically, I rest my arm on the edge of the table on a fleshy spot just below the elbow, but not on the elbow itself. This can be a kind of fulcrum point. I try to support my hand as little as possible on the hand itself, and aim for whole arm writing to the extent possible. Ideally, I move the page up as I write, and I don't move my arm to accommodate my vertical position on the page. The "moving the page up" is a skill often discussed in shorthand texts: you really have to be constantly moving the page up with your left hand.

Exercises mentioned on a handwriting site suggest trying to write giant letters in the air with your pen. If I find I am finger-writing too much I draw in the air for about 10 seconds. Invariably my next attempt on the page is better. It is really quite amazing. You realize right away how much your writing suffers if you are not using the shoulder girdle.

The downside of not allowing my palm or ring finger/pinky to rest much on the page is that my pen angle is too high. With my big hands I just can't see how to resolve the issue: to get the pen angle low enough to avoid problems I have to touch the table with the palm. Moreover I find that if I have no support at all except at the fulcrum point near my elbow, I don't have very good control: I need a wee little bit with the hand to help control movements. On the other hand, I tell myself that if I practice more the muscles of my arm will get stronger and more skilled and I eventually won't need this.

I think in principle one can escape the drag problem by using a table which slopes upward. You are then writing more in the manner of painting on a canvas.

If I am not at my writing table or table of similar height, I find everything is messed up and I revert to old bad habits. At my early stage of development everything has to be "just so" for the writing to work properly.