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[Azated]

So, I have horrible handwriting. I always have. I also write incredibly slowly, at least half the speed of most people. It's probably because I have unsteady hands. The upside is that I type very quickly and with brilliant precision.

I never learned to write cursive, either. I was taught some sort of print-cursive hybrid in primary school, but never how to write in full cursive. This doesn't help my sloppy lettering.

My two questions are:

1: How in the holy hell do I learn full cursive, or how to revert to printing legibly (I try both constantly, neither works)?
2: How do I write neatly?

[Graknorke]

What's cursive? I really have no idea what that means. As in, joined up letters?
Anyway, I'd have to say just practice certain letter combinations written together to see how they best go together. And don't worry about neatness so much as legibility. If people can read it, it's okay.

[Azated]

I'll have to practice more, I suppose.

What's cursive? I really have no idea what that means. As in, joined up letters?

I've always called it running-writing, but cursive seems to be the most commonly used term.

[kaijyuu]

Yeah this is one of those skills that comes with practice. Keep writing how you want it to look, and it'll start coming naturally.

Of course, regression is possible, as every doctor ever who writes notes can prove.

[Graknorke]

I've always just called it joined-up writing, because by the time I got past that, it was just regular writing, and printing was printing.

My handwriting is pretty terrible too, but it's usually readable, as long as I keep in mind not to let it get too small.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Give it up, handwriting is outdated anyway.

[ShoesandHats]

Well, glad so see I'm not the only person with this problem. Seeing as I've not really solved it myself, I can't really provide much advice other than you should type whenever you can as opposed to writing by hand.

[gimlet]

Yeah practice, practice, practice.  I had pretty decent, fast printing for a long time when I was taking a lot of notes by hand, then after a few years of not doing it I noticed it got a lot slower and harder to read, but it improved again after a few weeks of a lot of writing.

If you just want to write things for yourself, think about learning some form of shorthand instead of pure cursive - there are a few that are intermediate between normal writing and completely unreadable.  Otherwise look for an online course I guess. 

[Shook]

You're not the only one suffering from that, let me tell you that much. My a's look like u's and my g's look like y's, and my handwriting in general looks like it did 8 years ago, and long periods of writing makes my hand hurt because i habitually hold the pen(cil) tightly. I suppose the only real way to improve it is to practice it. It's not as much of an issue in todays world though, what with computers and all that. Thing is, it's often actually easier to read slowly written text rather than super fast cursive. I'm sure most of you know of that teacher who gives you written feedback in text you can't possibly understand.

[Kagus]

Heh, yep, certainly not the only one...  Although my excuse is that I just never practiced or used handwriting while growing up.  And as for it being outdated; yes it is, but it's still used in a number of situations.  Like exams.  Four-hour handwritten philosophy exams.  Which happens to be precisely the situation I'm trying to find a workaround for.


As has been mentioned, practice is really the only way out.  I was forced into writing a few things both during the military and during my semesters at school, so mine has sharpened itself up a bit.  I can't write cursive either, but considering the state of my print writing I probably wouldn't be able to read it anyways.

I've nosed into a couple decent books out there, as there are indeed books designed specifically towards non-traditional effective, comfortable and reconstructive handwriting techniques.  Only thing I remember offhand is a recommendation for holding the writing implement if you, like me, have a tendency to grip things a bit too hard from trying to concentrate, and thus get cramps and pain from prolonged writing.  Rather than holding it in the traditional "leaning" style where the pen/pencil basically sits on the stretch between your forefinger and thumb, try placing it in the nook between your fore- and middle fingers.  It takes some getting used to, but once you can write properly with it then it really does help to loosen up and relax the muscles in your hand.

[lordcooper]

Unless you specifically and unavoidably need to write legible cursive for work, what's the point?  You can probably get by easily enough by typing everything and spend that extra time doing something fun and/or productive.

[Ogdibus]

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[Thecard]

So, I have horrible handwriting. I always have. I also write incredibly slowly, at least half the speed of most people. It's probably because I have unsteady hands. The upside is that I type very quickly and with brilliant precision.

I never learned to write cursive, either. I was taught some sort of print-cursive hybrid in primary school, but never how to write in full cursive. This doesn't help my sloppy lettering.

My two questions are:

1: How in the holy hell do I learn full cursive, or how to revert to printing legibly (I try both constantly, neither works)?
2: How do I write neatly?

I had the same problem you have.  I think.
But no, practice is not the only way out.  No matter how much I practiced, my writing never got better.  And as great as typing is, it can't replace handwriting unless you carry around a computer with you.
For me, turns out I'm left-handed.  But maybe that was just me.  Still, give it a couple tries.  You never know unless you try.

[Dutchling]

I have the exact opposite problem as you. Which sucks, because I haven't quite figured how to code in cursive handwriting.

[Levi]

My two questions are:

1: How in the holy hell do I learn full cursive, or how to revert to printing legibly (I try both constantly, neither works)?
2: How do I write neatly?

Heh, I got sent to a special school for "challenged" kids when I was young for a bit because of my poor handwriting(and printing) was so bad.  It didn't help a bit.  Not sure if this helps, but here is my view:

1)  Nobody needs to learn cursive these days.  Nobody will ever make you write it outside of maybe high school & elementary school and nobody outside of those two places will ever want to read it.  The only thing you need to write in cursive is your name, and even that you can get away with just scribbling.

2)  Some people just can't without spending forever writing extremely slowly.  My hands are very shaky and lack dexterity.  I'm like you in that I can touch type quite quickly but was never able to get the hang of writing legibly.  It hasn't really affected me though, as most people prefer to read typed text over written text anyway, and I can read my own handwriting just fine.