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I Think I Might Just Switch To Printing


Witsius

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Ever since I got into fountain pens a few years ago, I've been consistently trying to improve my cursive script. I learned cursive in school as a child, and it was the main form I used up through the mid-90's. But then came that period of life where I hardly ever wrote anything besides checks, and my cursive hand really deteriorated. Even after consistently writing in cursive for the past few years, my cursive hand is still fairly bad. I consistently have touble legibly connecting double "s" and double "r", and I've got a few other problems that I just can't seem to get over. My printing isn't amazing, but it's relatively neat and quite legible, and I can generally print faster than I can write in cursive script.

 

Who knows, maybe with practice I can turn my print hand into something really beautiful. Maybe it's time to start learning italic.

 

Has anyone esle gone through a similar realization?

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Hamlet, 1.5.167-168

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YES

 

In college, taking notes FAST completely destroyed my script handwriting.

So when I took exams, I PRINTED.

 

It wasn't until decades later, about 5 years ago that I hit the breaking point. One day, I decided that my script was disgusting.

That was when I started the process of relearning how to write script/cursive all over again.

 

Today I have what to me is a relatively nice hand, but ONLY if I take my time to write.

If I speed up, it gets messier and messier. For me speed kills.

 

Now that I've got my script/cursive cleaned up, I plan to learn other hands, like italic and uncial and ...

 

Writing in print/italic is just fine. At the very least, people will be able to read it. With cursive, you may run into people that cannot read script/cursive.

San Francisco Pen Show - August 28-30, 2020 - Redwood City, California

www.SFPenShow.com

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Have seen my cursive writing ability decline over the years due to heavy keyboard use. I used to write everything longhand but technology came along and now I spend all day "inputting'.

This year I traded my DayTimer in for an agenda / planner system based on blank grid pages. It forces me to write everything longhand including the calendar layout.

It takes more time of course but that's the point. I spend more time writing. Writing is a motor skill that needs to be practiced to maintain proficiency. And my writing is slowly improving.

I'm getting the old "flow" back into my hand.

So much so that I'm experimenting with stub nibs (compared to my usual F/XF nails) and getting pretty excited. What's next? Flex?

Edited by FrozenPen
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  • 2 weeks later...

This happen to me too. Speed is a problem, so for legibility I started printing, particularly when I went to university for my notes and this continued when I started my job. Many years on I'm going back to cursive because it can look a lot nicer. The slower I go the more legible it is so it meets those two requirements I'm looking for in my notes.

 

Now I'm experimenting with various styles. I'm thinking I'll flip between them depending on context.

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  • 3 months later...

I'm not a virulent anti-printing bigot. But I am a cursivist. Printing has its place: incendiary slogans on bumper stickers and picket signs; grades/forms 1-3; ID bracelets in surgery; Zorro movies; etcetera. For most things I prefer to look at cursive writing. But either way, the letters have to be legible. And printing, when not in its place, is even more inferior than it otherwise would be if you don't close all those gaps when you make a letter in two or more steps, lifting the pen at the end of each step.

 

fpn_1502559449__img_20170812_00030.jpg

 

 

 

A page full of these gaps looks sloppy. And the text is harder to read.

 

You can, of course (and as I'm sure you know or can imagine), print all of these multi-step letters legibly with a little effort. Some letters can be fixed simply by changing the route your pen takes, completely eliminating the need to lift your pen until you're ready to print the next letter. "B" is one of these; also D, M, N, P, R, and, depending on how you do it, "G." You can reduce the number of steps on "A," "E," and "F."

 

 

fpn_1502559428__img_20170812_00020.jpg

Edited by Bookman

I love the smell of fountain pen ink in the morning.

 

 

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A trick that I used when I was relearning to write cursive, is to write a daily journal.

The trick is you are writing a journal, but at the same time you are practicing your writing.

What do you put in it? ANYTHING and EVERYTHING.

  • what you ate
  • the weather
  • what you did
  • your 'to do' stuff
  • etc. etc. etc.

I sat down after dinner and started writing.

Funny thing was, it got to be like a habit or addiction. I started writing for about 30 minutes, and gradually it got longer and longer till at one point I was writing up to 3 hours.

 

One person on FPN does her journal for about 20 minutes in the morning.

 

I think to improve, you need to practice for at least two 20 minutes sessions.

The more practice time, the more your muscles get retrained to write.

 

BUT, you have to practice good handwriting, or practice and drills to get better.

Practicing bad handwriting will only reinforce that bad handwriting.

San Francisco Pen Show - August 28-30, 2020 - Redwood City, California

www.SFPenShow.com

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My print makes me look like a madman! ( :P )

 

At one point of time, I thought cursive was girly....

 

But now I myself can barely write in print anymore.

 

I do, however, recommend cursive, (and a Gregg nib), for fast notes.

 

I think I need to improve my print...

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I've found italic and stub nibs improve the look of cursive writing.

Susan Wirth would have said an italic nib will improve all writing. She told me it even made my printing look better.

Edited by corgicoupe

Baptiste knew how to make a short job long

For love of it. And yet not waste time either.

Robert Frost

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Have seen my cursive writing ability decline over the years due to heavy keyboard use. I used to write everything longhand but technology came along and now I spend all day "inputting'.

This year I traded my DayTimer in for an agenda / planner system based on blank grid pages. It forces me to write everything longhand including the calendar layout.

It takes more time of course but that's the point. I spend more time writing. Writing is a motor skill that needs to be practiced to maintain proficiency. And my writing is slowly improving.

I'm getting the old "flow" back into my hand.

So much so that I'm experimenting with stub nibs (compared to my usual F/XF nails) and getting pretty excited. What's next? Flex?

[/quote

Can I help with this old advice.when going to school in the uk in 1945 when the English lesson came up and we

were told to get out our Exercise books we would reach into our desks and produce a book which was ruled in this way,it had on each page sets of lines which were riled in the following fashion,3.lines one at the top followed

by another further down which was just more than half way followed by another which was the bottom line so when

you wrote it produced the top of the letter was the top, the middle was the middle of a B if it was a c it went

no further than the middle the lines so what you have is how to write CURSIVE Bceg or Brand or Fashion etc,I hope I have made this clear,you will be amazed at how quickly yo can improve your handwriting,Trust Me. oneill

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Have seen my cursive writing ability decline over the years due to heavy keyboard use. I used to write everything longhand but technology came along and now I spend all day "inputting'.

This year I traded my DayTimer in for an agenda / planner system based on blank grid pages. It forces me to write everything longhand including the calendar layout.

It takes more time of course but that's the point. I spend more time writing. Writing is a motor skill that needs to be practiced to maintain proficiency. And my writing is slowly improving.

I'm getting the old "flow" back into my hand.

So much so that I'm experimenting with stub nibs (compared to my usual F/XF nails) and getting pretty excited. What's next? Flex?

[/quote

Can I help with this old advice.when going to school in the uk in 1945 when the English lesson came up and we

were told to get out our Exercise books we would reach into our desks and produce a book which was ruled in this way,it had on each page sets of lines which were riled in the following fashion,3.lines one at the top followed

by another further down which was just more than half way followed by another which was the bottom line so when

you wrote it produced the top of the letter was the top, the middle was the middle of a B if it was a c it went

no further than the middle the lines so what you have is how to write CURSIVE Bceg or Brand or Fashion etc,I hope I have made this clear,you will be amazed at how quickly yo can improve your handwriting,Trust Me. oneill

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I started using fountain pens in a deliberate effort to improve my handwriting, and after three years I can write about as well as a semi-educated American of the nineteenth century, which is not bad for this time and place.

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Speed will kill even the neatest handwriting, so don't beat yourself up over the fact. There are the occasional freaks who write beautiful script quickly, but for most, increasing speed equals increasing imprecision.

 

That said, there is something to sitting down and slowly and methodically writing something. It gives your brain time to process several times before it comes out. And for faster writing, I find that if I consciously stretch the words out so that they are longer, it makes them easier to read even if written quickly. It takes up a whole lot more paper, but you can't have everything. :)

 

“When the historians of education do equal and exact justice to all who have contributed toward educational progress, they will devote several pages to those revolutionists who invented steel pens and blackboards.” V.T. Thayer, 1928

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"No one is exempt from talking nonsense; the mistake is to do it solemnly."

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Trouble connecting " r 's " and '" y 's " ? So, your handwriting doesn't look perfect. What you see as " defect ", I see as " character ". Do whatever gives you joy.

Auf freiem Grund mit freiem Volke stehn.
Zum Augenblicke dürft ich sagen:
Verweile doch, du bist so schön !

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Speed will kill even the neatest handwriting, so don't beat yourself up over the fact. There are the occasional freaks who write beautiful script quickly, but for most, increasing speed equals increasing imprecision.

 

That said, there is something to sitting down and slowly and methodically writing something. It gives your brain time to process several times before it comes out. And for faster writing, I find that if I consciously stretch the words out so that they are longer, it makes them easier to read even if written quickly. It takes up a whole lot more paper, but you can't have everything. :)

 

That's an issue for me for most ballpoints and some fountain pens that write too smoooooooooooootttttttttttttthhhhhhhhhh.

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Fred Eager's book, The Italic Way to Beautiful Handwriting, with six months of practice, 15 minutes per day, will create an elegant printed hand.

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Trouble connecting " r 's " and '" y 's " ? So, your handwriting doesn't look perfect. What you see as " defect ", I see as " character ". Do whatever gives you joy.

 

+1

Good advice

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  • 3 weeks later...

Similar issues. Cursive had always been horrible. I took to printing in all caps... on a slant. That felt right compared to the labor of trying to beautify my script. Many years this went on.

 

Two years ago I returned to correspondence. I had heard years ago that cursive was quicker because less time was expelled in stopping/starting... lifting pen from paper. I thought, "Not how I do it!"

 

But then I wrote many letters a day for the lettermo.com challenge. After two weeks I was experiencing pain. I unearthed my script to horror. Worse than ever having left it decades ago. The pain caused me to keep trying cursive. I don't feel printing caused the pain. I think I was relearning everything! From speed, to posture, grip, etc.

 

While I kept relearning I stayed open to contributing factors. Two years gone now and I can say that eliminating ballpoints was key! That's what started me on fountain pens. Paper and speed are also huge for me. My improved penmanship has really surprised me. Oh it's not as grand as some, but that is another factor, it's 'mine' and I accept that it is... with all of its little quirks. *grin*

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I am a physician, and years ago, the hospital told me that they had identified 10 doctors with the worst and most illegible writing and that I was one of them. I agreed because I could not even read my own writing. I bought an Italic fountain pen and a book on italic writing and I practiced like I was starting school again. Eventually my printing started to look pretty good. Since I had a fountain pen, I went to a fountain pen show and started collecting. I finally improved my eye hand coordination and when I discovered flex nibs I started cursive writing. With help from the nib I believe my cursive looks pretty good. I practicing writing every night. When I watch a video or TV, I practice writing some of the dialogue. It has been a long journey, but now that I can write cursive, medicine has morphed to a computerized medical record and I either dictate or use a mouse.

I am happy that I put the effort into writing because cursive has become a Zen thing and now I write because I enjoy writing.

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