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[Fortport]

I'm nearly seventeen years old, and my print writing is -average- at best. When I try my best, it's great. It's legible, and neat, but sometimes I have these recurring problems I've had ever since the first grade. Sometimes I write letters that are smaller than the others, for example, I can write a lower-case T, and have it as short as a lower-case A, or sometimes my I's are never the same height. Whenever I write quickly, but not quickly enough for it to be just scratch, it's, again, legible, but it could be better.

Even after writing all these years, I struggle with cursive, and can't even write its alphabet by memory. I don't want to have to sign my signature on something with my embarrassing penmanship, as an adult, some time later in my life. Where do I start?

[Levi]

To be honest, I wouldn't worry to much about it.  My handwriting (and printing) is god-awful as well and it never really hurt anything I did.  Half the time I just scribble at random for my signatures, and its never been an issue.      I even got sent to a special school for mentally challenged kids to get help with my handwriting.

I don't even remember any of the cursive letters that aren't in my name.

Most people like to see stuff typed anyway these days.

[Sir Finkus]

I haven't used cursive (outside my signature) since 3rd grade.  It isn't a particularly important life skill these days as far as I can tell.

[Metruption]

Just learn the cursive letters for the first two letters of your name and then scribble for abit. Nobody will notice.

[lordcooper]

If you don't have neat handwriting by now, you never will.  Luckily we live in the information age and PCs exist, so it doesn't really matter in the slightest.

[Slayerhero90]

Heheh. I've never seen neat and handwriting put together before. It just doesn't work that way.

[Mullet Master]

I know a large number of financially successful people - doctors , lawyers, and engineers - who all have terrible handwriting. There's a long standing joke in the US about how all doctors have bad handwriting.

There's one advantage to cursive. If you are taking notes in a classroom setting, it is faster and you can write more stuff down. But, even when I went to college (years ago now) most college classes had notes & slides available electronically and the importance of fast note taking was greatly diminished.

Personally, I never spent much time with cursive outside of 3rd grade, and I don't regret the decision.

[Akura]

My handwriting is pretty bad, too. I haven't used cursive, outside of my signature, in years either.

I think I've forgotten how to write a few of the letters...
But yeah, I agree with Mullet on the advantage of taking notes. I don't know why, but that sounds like it might be right.

[Darkmere]

Agree with the rest. 99% of the time when you're handwriting something it will be for your own personal use, like a grocery list or class notes. If you're typing up a resume or TPS report for someone else... well you'll be typing it, so yeah. I'd say just get your signature roughly uniform and don't worry about anything else.

[Vector]

I personally think it's worth the time to develop clear, beautiful handwriting.  I'll add, though, that in my particular discipline taking notes by hand is the standard practice, so it's nontrivially relevant to my life.  When you're trading sets of notes, you've got a much better bargaining chip if your handwriting is good.  It's also useful for all kinds of crafts projects.

I also get a lot of attention for my handwriting from prospective suitors, so there's that, too.  It's really nice to be able to write hand-written letters to people, especially folks from the older generation or significant others.  It's more personal.  You can read a person's feelings from the way they write.

If you decide you want to change your writing, just practice a lot... practice the little things you've said you have trouble with on their own, not just whole words, and not just while you've got an assignment.  Basically, it's the same thing as deciding anything else is important: you have to take the time and care.

[Fortport]

I personally think it's worth the time to develop clear, beautiful handwriting.  I'll add, though, that in my particular discipline taking notes by hand is the standard practice, so it's nontrivially relevant to my life.  When you're trading sets of notes, you've got a much better bargaining chip if your handwriting is good.  It's also useful for all kinds of crafts projects.

I agree!

I also get a lot of attention for my handwriting from prospective suitors, so there's that, too.  It's really nice to be able to write hand-written letters to people, especially folks from the older generation or significant others.  It's more personal.  You can read a person's feelings from the way they write.

If you decide you want to change your writing, just practice a lot... practice the little things you've said you have trouble with on their own, not just whole words, and not just while you've got an assignment.  Basically, it's the same thing as deciding anything else is important: you have to take the time and care.

I understand. Thank you.

But, it's the same thing my relatives have all told me, about practicing.. I just can't find the time. Maybe I'm just not meant to be a talented writer, but my grandparents, and my mother, and some of my ancestors all had beautiful handwriting. It's just something I wanted to carry on.

(Some were also talented artists. I have an artistic piece from one of my older ancestors, from 1899. And I can't help but say I'm a little jealous of that talent.)

[Vector]

Well, uh...

I don't know what you're looking for, then?  Magical pills you can take to gain skills without working at them?  If you want to be good at something, then you have to sacrifice for it.

[Fortport]

Well, uh...

I don't know what you're looking for, then?  Magical pills you can take to gain skills without working at them?  If you want to be good at something, then you have to sacrifice for it.

I know that. 

Don't misunderstand. 

Drawing is something I'm already decent at though, but I admit I'm only a novice.

As for handwriting, I will have to seriously practice, until I'm content with my own skill. Thanks for the advice.

[nenjin]

I have pretty terrible hand writing, even when trying. Being a lefty doesn't help either. Letters are usually not uniformly sized. I make mistakes, even by my standards, and make messy corrections. Without a guide lines, a line dips or the size of the letters gets steadily bigger or the kerning is inconsistent. I can't draw a passably straight line to save my life.

Which is weird, because I'm artistic and have done plenty of work I'm plenty proud of. But there's something about handwriting, be it for something professional or something for entertainment (I like to make a lot of maps for table top gaming, and I like to put old timey writing on them, if for no one else's enjoyment than my own) where it never looks "comfortable." I can write super, super tiny or the equivalent of 16 point font, and it still looks rushed.

What I'm getting at is, as was said above, if you don't have good handwriting by now, by all means don't stop practicing or even doing it because you enjoy it. I still do a lot of hand writing because I enjoy calligraphy and really excellent hand lettering. But chances are your style isn't about skill or practice, it's about how your hand works and how your brain processes things. Like I said, I've done plenty of art and even tried my hand at forgery with some reasonable success. But when it comes to my own handwriting, it still looks like crap in my eyes. You can retrain that for sure, but you're doing it while working against what are now ingrained patterns.

Some advice: learn to gauge the tension in your hand as you write. I remember as a kid getting aching cramps in my hand from cursive practice. A lot of my problems with writing today still come from how I've learned to hold a pencil or pen over the years. Maybe your grip is too tight and it results in jerky pen strokes. Maybe your grip is too loose and your pen slips on you. Maybe instead of thinking about each line of a letter and "putting them together" (as I tend to when I'm writing in non-cursive), you need to establish flow. Or maybe instead of always trying to flow through a line, you need to be more deliberate and go slower with each letter.

[SewingPin]

Well, it depends on where you want to use it. Beautiful handwriting may/may not work on women Also, as stated by others, it realy depends on how your brain works with your hand. There are some things you cannot compensate for. For me it is when using cursive, I for the love of all that is holy cannot write a straight line. EVERTHING is a curve. I am starting to develop a fairly fancy style thanks to that. However it is SLOW as hell. I suggest getting an actual dip or fountain pen for practice. If I want to write fast though, I use script. It is more readable for everyone. Other things, such as steadiness of your hand and precision of the motion can be improved through exercise.