I was looking at the lovely handwriting of a lady at a doctor's office who was filling out a form while seated next to me. It occurred to me that handwriting is the ultimate creative expression - all of us do it every day in one way or another. Most of us take it for granted and don't even think that others may gain an impression of us based upon our handwriting. Some people believe we can even change our lives by changing our handwriting! A powerful tool indeed!
As someone with a fetish for pens (Waterman rollerball is my personal favorite and I am mourning the recently loss of my tortoise shell colored pen! *sigh* I aspire to having a vintage pen collection some day.), I often haunt online websites about pens and penmanship. I thought I'd share some of my favorites as I believe pens can change the way you write.
I often joke that I passed the state bar (to become an attorney) on my first try because of my good penmanship! While everyone else in the room was scrawling and writing fast, I concentrated on writing with clear, even strokes. I figured that after struggling to read hundreds of illegible exams, if an reader saw mine and it was easy to read and the points were laid out clearly, they would be more inclined to give me a good score! In fact, in law school often the only comment on an exam would be about my neat and legible handwriting! I took note of this fact and before I went to take the bar exam I purchased dozens of different pens until I found the perfect combination of tip width, ink flow, and handling that matched with my handwriting to make writing easiest for me.
When I entered the world of crafts I always followed up meetings with handwritten thank you notes. Those notes, that stood out from the crowd of email and computer generated letters, helped me to develop relationships that exist to this day. Many of the people I wrote to commented to me that most people never bothered to follow up at all, so my handwritten note was a welcome sight.
A few sites for you to peruse: (and if these links
don't work, just search for "handwriting" on google and see what you
find!)
Explanation of handwriting analysis: http://www.handwriting.150m.com/
12 rules for good cursive writing: http://users.argonet.co.uk/users/quilljar/rules.html
Help for Lefties: http://www.peterson-handwriting.com/Early%20Childhood/Lefthandedchild.html
Handwriting Worksheet maker: http://www.handwritingworksheets.com/
Free printable worksheets to practice over: http://www.learningpage.com/free_pages/menu_basics/alpha_dnealian.html
Learn Calligraphy Online: http://www.studioarts.net/calligraphy/lesson.htm
Another fun writing site: http://paperpenalia.com/handwriting.htm
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