Having trouble with my handwriting

Mine never was wonderful, and always sloped every which way, but since I retired and seldom write anything down any more it’s got much worse, it also doesn’t help that I have arthritis in my hands and fingers as well

Maggiemaybe like you, I had handwriting lessons at school. We used Osmiroid fountain pens, filled from an ink pot fitted in the school desk. In those days my handwriting was excellent - and was remarked upon at my first job interview. What has happened since I do not know; like the OP, I can't seem to even write a birthday card without an awful illegible scrawl developing. I bought a fountain pen to attempt to improve the situation, but it hasn't worked. I blame lack of use, too, as emails are my method of communication now.

Mine has definitely got worse, lack of practice and a touch of arthritis in my hands. Write myself lists or notes on the calendar and then cannot make head or tail of them - perhaps it's my eyes and not my hands!

I was going to say, too, that it depends a lot on what you are using to write with. It doesn't even have to be a fountain pen.

My handwriting has also always been terrible - my mother, whose beautiful boilerplate handwriting stayed immaculate well into her 90s - complained several times to my teachers who just said "It'll come". (It never did)

I find that even some Biros help me to write more evenly and neatly. It's odd but there seems to be no explaining the difference - it might be a cheap ball-point that writes well, suits the angle and the way you hold the pen and has a consistent ink flow whereas an expensive one might just not suit at all.

So find a pen that makes your handwriting look good and stick with it. When the results are pleasing it could even be an incentive to take more care over your work.

Writing on lined paper or drawing pencil lines with a ruler to guide you might help, too.

I find my handwriting improves considerably when using a fountain pen.

I think it is all part of the aging process - just another loss.

I am left handed so I was in trouble at school as my handwriting sloped. Apart from shopping lists and cards I don’t seem to write much now.

My handwriting is also terrible. I think am more legible if I use black ink though I can't see why that would make a difference. I type if I have to write anything at length which is thankfully not very often.

I could have added, IMO my handwriting (autocorrect just changed that to ‘handwringing!’ 😂) certainly wasn’t helped by having learnt plain ‘round’ cursive until I was 9, but a different school from 9-11 insisted on old-fashioned ‘loopy’, and then the first year of senior school thought it’d be a good idea to get us all doing italic, with italic pens….

Not altogether surprising that my handwriting never really recovered.

My mother kept her beautiful handwriting through old age.

Mine is not good, it `wobbles` and even my signature is not as it used to be but is better than my friends handwriting which is so bad that it is unreadable, she used to be a gp

I did buy myself a decent fountain pen which improves the look a bit but I too definitely need more actual practice with the pen

I was taught at school to write in italics and my handwriting used to be very neat, but that’s not so now. I’m the designated writer at our weekly quiz - everyone else claims their writing is worse! - but I jot down the answers in capitals these days. Ditto any shopping lists.

I am making a bit of an effort right now though. I’m filling in a grandparent’s journal in triplicate for the DGS. Most of it I’m completing on the laptop, printing out and sticking in, but I am writing in it too, as a GN friend of mine once commented that future generations might like to see how we actually wrote.

Whiff

Jaxjacky good suggestion but unfortunately it wouldn't work for me. My disability means I can't always form the words or they make sense in my head but what comes out my mouth is jumbled up and can't pronounce some words . I have a rare hereditary neurological condition only had my diagnosis in 2022 aged 63. Thanks to my new neurologist who had my whole genome genetically tested. But better late than never. Thanks to a support group of people with the same condition my whole life makes sense . I am not weird and alone with this but have HPX. My neurologist had never had a patient with it and I got to a top neurological hospital.

Well that shows it is never too late to get a proper diagnosis, great that it has been positive for you.

My handwriting is awful and it always has been. It made my time at school very miserable as no matter what I did I'd get into trouble about my writing. One funny moment was when I was learning shorthand, I had to show the teacher my shorthand and then transcribed into longhand, not sure why it wasn't typed on that occasion. Well the teacher looked at it and said my shorthand was perfect but she had no idea if I had transcribed it correctly as she couldn't read my writing.

I'm the same as Cabbie 21 if I write with cheap ballpoint pens .
I usually write shopping lists in pencil .
I still send cards and write them with a good quality fountain pen .
I tend to doodle and sketch and I think that doing so preserves motor skills .

Jaxjacky good suggestion but unfortunately it wouldn't work for me. My disability means I can't always form the words or they make sense in my head but what comes out my mouth is jumbled up and can't pronounce some words . I have a rare hereditary neurological condition only had my diagnosis in 2022 aged 63. Thanks to my new neurologist who had my whole genome genetically tested. But better late than never. Thanks to a support group of people with the same condition my whole life makes sense . I am not weird and alone with this but have HPX. My neurologist had never had a patient with it and I got to a top neurological hospital.

Btw, my handwriting is appalling and ‘swiping’ up the page of my hard copy newspaper doesn’t work either 🙂

I could not write very well after breaking my arm. However I can do it well now if I write slowly.

Ah, sorry MOnica it must be very frustrating.

The problem Jaxjacky is that I cannot cope with such a tiny screen, it holds so little text and to understand text I need context and there is no room for any.

MOnica and Whiff you can dictate into some mobiles I think.

My handwriting improves if I use a good quality ball point pen rather than a cheap or free one. If I were to use a fountain pen , my writing would be good. Most things I write are lists: shopping lists, reminders, To Do lists.

I have execrable handwriting, and always have had as I have dyspraxia. However I find myself writing all the time. Not sustained writing, but shopping lists, to do lists, noting down phone numbers, all sorts of things.

I loathe mobile phones. Not in the technical sense, but my dyspraxia makes them difficult to operate and I find the screen far to small to use for any practical purpose. It can only contain about a sentence of text at a time and I just cannot hack it.

Witzend

My handwriting was never much cop (homework often produced teachers’ comments such as ‘Writing must improve!’), but like you, in somewhat later life I was no longer handwriting anything much except birthday cards and shopping lists.

However, at 50-something I started doing OU courses - the sort with handwritten exams at the end! I did wonder how on earth I was going to manage to write 4 legible essays in 3 hours. I literally had to practise writing - reasonably legibly - at length.
And for quite a while my hand did positively ache with the unaccustomed effort!

All credit to you for making the effort. The sense of achievement must have been worth the aching hand.

My handwriting was never much cop (homework often produced teachers’ comments such as ‘Writing must improve!’), but like you, in somewhat later life I was no longer handwriting anything much except birthday cards and shopping lists.

However, at 50-something I started doing OU courses - the sort with handwritten exams at the end! I did wonder how on earth I was going to manage to write 4 legible essays in 3 hours. I literally had to practise writing - reasonably legibly - at length.
And for quite a while my hand did positively ache with the unaccustomed effort!

Just remembered, on holiday, my friend and I joined in quiz night and I wrote down the answers. When we swapped with the next table for marking, the chap leaned across and asked if I was a Doctor? My writing that night must’ve been really bad!