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Hi everyone, I'm just starting out with learning how to write properly and I'm having a ton of issues. Let me start at the beginning so everyone knows where I'm coming from. For starters, I'm left handed. I'm not sure how much that matters but it might explain some issues I'm having so I thought I would start out with that. I got interested in learning how to turn my chicken scratching into decent handwriting a few months ago. I've watched various videos on Youtube and read different articles to figure out where to start. I decided to start by attempting to learn Spencerian. I picked up the kit offered by Mott Media from Amazon. I got the theory book and all the practice books. I've also looked into Ames Guide to Self Instruction as well as some other Spencerian books I found as PDFs. I picked up a Pilot Metopolitan pen with an extra fine nib. I like the pen alot but I can't seem to write with it very well at all. I found out pretty quickly that I do not hold my pen correctly at all. Right now I hold my pen with my second finger as the main force with the thumb below offering support and the first finger almost wrapped around the pen above the middle finger. As I write, the middle finger does at least 90% of the work. From what I've seen on Youtube and read, this is nor correct so I thought fixing my pen grip would be the best place to start. I changed it by grabbing the pen with my index finger and thumb with the three fingers offering support under. The problem I have with this grip is the pen rests on my middle finger right above the cuticle. After just a few minutes this causes quite a bit of pain in my middle finger. I know it's becasue I'm holding the pen too tightly but I don't really know how to fix that. Even with my current grip I grip the pen too tightly causing my hand to cramp pretty quickly when I write. I don't know how to fix this. I looked online to see if there were some good pictures of how to hold a pen correctly. It appears as if the grip I'm attempting to do with my first finger and thumb is the correct grip. How do I get around the pain it causes on my middle finger? Do I need to change my grip or is this not necessary? I've started lesson 1 in the practice book but until I get the grip problem figured out I feel like I'm wasting my time. Any suggestions? Am I approaching this wrong? I want to start out on the right foot per se, so I don't set new bad habits that I'm gonna have to go back and fix later on. thanks for the help. I've attached some pictures of how I currently hold my pen (image 4) and how I'm trying to modify it (image 5). I'm holding a basic ball point but the hold is the same regardless of writing instrument. Image 6 is showing how the pen puts pressure on my middle finger with the modified grip.