No more scribbling: 10 surefire tips to improve your handwriting

Nowadays, we increasingly use notebooks, tablets and smartphones to make our notes, especially after we are out of school. The result is that more and more people are having horrible letters and having trouble finding the best way to improve handwriting.

The practice of handwriting is fundamental, and so is the use of a handwriting notebook. However, there are a few tricks to increasing the quality of your writing. Take a piece of paper and a pen and write it down:

1. Know how to choose the pen

There are different options on the market, but you should select the one that best fits your writing style. In this regard, there is no magic formula: it can be anything from an ordinary ballpoint pen to a “NASA” pen, as long as it delivers the idea you want to convey on paper. It may take some testing until you find the perfect pen.

2. How to hold the pen

Writing needs to be natural, so you must learn to hold the pen without much physical effort. Ideally, you should hold it tight enough so that it does not slip off the letter path, but that this firmness is “soft”. If you tighten it too much, the tips of your nails will turn white, and you are basically doing it wrong.

3. Heating

If you are rusty in the art of handwriting, you may need to warm up to relearn the necessary movements. In this case, you can start by drawing circles and ripples, ending with letter repetitions until you get the practice.

4. Choose the best paper position

At school we often learn that we have to hold the notebook or paper upright at the time of writing, but that doesn't work for many people. So how about looking for the best position for you? See which direction you usually write best, turn the notebook over and be happy!

5. Direction and alignment

Write a paragraph normally and then identify the problems. A lot of people tend to have the most inclined handwriting, and that's not a problem as long as tilting doesn't get in the way of reading. If it is too sharp, you can try the above option (changing the position of the paper) or training straighter letters. The same can be done with paragraph alignment: ideally they should be symmetrical and aligned.

6. Spacing

After writing a paragraph, analyze the spacing. It is ideal that between each word fits the letter “o”, as illustrated. Larger or smaller spaces indicate a lack of mastery of writing. It is also important that the letters of each word are not too close together for readability.

7. Font Size

Another precious tip is to be aware of the size of the letters: the uppercase should be the same size as the lowercase. Also, you need to train to create an ideal size, especially when writing in notebooks. Using half the space between one line and the other can be a starting path. Remember that very small letters also hinder reading.

8. Pressure

Another point to consider in your writing is the amount of ink left in the words. Ideally, the stroke has the same intensity throughout the text. It is common, however, that we start writing by pressing the pen more and end up with it barely touching the paper. Train hard, even with different intensities, to get to that writing that suits you best.

9. Correct Bodybuilding

Most people use the wrist and finger muscles to do their writing, but they get fatigued more easily. Ideal writing is done through forearm and shoulder movements, with the hand just a pen holder. At first, this exercise may seem difficult and generate even uglier letters, but this type of writing uses muscles that get tired less easily and can sustain writing longer and with higher quality - especially after you get into the habit.

10. Train in the air

The above may be difficult to implement, but there is a trick to improving muscles: write in the air! Do you know when you play an imaginary guitar? So the principle is the same with writing: You use your finger like a pen to write words in the air and work the arm and shoulder muscles.

This agenda was Matthews Santos' suggestion. Thank you, Matthews! I hope these tips serve you as much as they did for me. And feel free to come up with ideas whenever you want. The opinion of our readers is very important to us!