What is Reddit's opinion of Write Now The Getty-Dubay Program for Handwriting Success?

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I’ve been trying to learn italic, since it didn’t seem so intimidating. Has been good so far using the Write Now book. Italic can be very nice looking, too.

It depends what exactly you’re going for; what you think “good” handwriting is. I’ve been working through the Write Now! book that shows how to write in legible italic. It starts with print, then goes to cursive italic, and finally edged-pen cursive. I like italic - it’s not as intimidating as Spencerian, etc., but when done right it looks so nice. You can also, once you get going with the basic shapes, tweak it to become your own.

Get a cheap legal pad and start practicing. I found that a cheaper one with rougher paper slows down my pen and makes it easier to control, which was critical for me while trying to learn the letterforms. Find a word or phrase you like to write and just wrote it over and over again, then switch to a different word or phrase. For me, just focusing on the sound of the pen going over the paper was soothing, and before I knew it, I’d filled a whole page or more.

Focus on using as little pressure as possible to hold your pen or pencil. It’s easy to get a death grip on it when learning something new and trying your best, but that’ll stress your hand and be reflected in your writing. This was easier for me when using a fountain pen, since it doesn’t really require any pressure to write. But you can certainly use any pen or pencil to get started.

Learn to use your whole hand or wrist to draw out the letters, rather than moving just your fingers. It makes my writing less cramped and more “free.” Depending on how you learned to write in school, this might be a hard habit to break.

Take your time, go slow. If you don’t like your current handwriting, you’ll have to go slow so as not to let your old style and muscle memory creep back into your practicing.

Try to write as much as you can every day. Look for opportunities to takes notes on paper instead of using your phone or computer. Start a bullet journal or a diary and so on. Have fun!

I appreciate that you appreciate cursive and more aesthetic handwriting. However, honestly I think it's not very legible and would not want to have to read lots of it. It's much more legible than many people's cursive, I can read it, but I do have to scan over some words and use context to figure them out. But most of your letters are quite collapsed or incompletely formed. You could definitely invest more time in developing better technique and have a lifetime of beautiful, legible cursive, if you want, and with practice be just as fast at it. I always recommend checking out a script called cursive italic, which I think is best learned from this book. I did this and have no regrets.

Does anyone read existing comments on a thread at all before commenting?? 99% of the comments here are duplicates. Use the upvote button, people. SMH

Something I that hasn't actually been said yet is that, yes, you could indeed make it more legible especially because a lot of people don't know how to read cursive well. Things to look out for:

• c vs e vs i can be confusing due to collapsed shaped - make your counters (the parts of the letter that enclose a space) more defined.
• the v could be seen as an "r" in some styles of cursive, you can make the v more v-like.
• loops are generally harder to read than lines, try making straight up and down lines for the "h", "d", instead of loops.
• a more consistent slant and letter spacing would help too

My real answer though is to learn cursive italic, it's awesome.

Take a look at italic handwriting. You might love it! Do a google image search for "italic handwriting examples" to get some sense for it. To actually learn it, here's the book I recommend to beginners on it. Italic handwriting is IMO the best form of modern handwriting because it's beautiful, legible, and easy to write.

Your handwriting is a very neatly written form of what is called "ball and stick" handwriting, which is what is taught in elementary school. It's time for a more sophisticated script!

This is the book I'm talking about. https://www.amazon.com/Write-Getty-Dubay-Program-Handwriting-Success/dp/0982776225/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=N9NIQM8HHYJJ&keywords=write+now&qid=1641087587&sprefix=write+now%2Caps%2C172&sr=8-1

I don't know if it's any better or worse than the one RR0925 linked.

I did the exercises in this book Write Now The Getty-Dubay Program for Handwriting Success and practiced them a lot to improve my handwriting. Every few years it degrades again and I work through the exercises again. It teaches you how to write using an italic style, which is a lot easier to do neatly than cursive.

I think the most important thing is I found the practice really fun. I got pretty pens and copied out various bits of text I liked using the new skill. You have to practice quite a bit to get better. I think of it like weightlifting for the fingers, in that you have to build up the muscle memory of the better writing. Good luck. It's annoying when you can't read your own writing.

A few years ago I made improving my handwriting my New Year's Resolution. I practiced with the Getty Dubay method and the results were not only improved legibility but also letterforms that were unique from the traditional looped cursive. No loops here!

This: Write Now The Getty-Dubay Program for Handwriting Success https://www.amazon.com/dp/0982776225/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_4K99CNPCPVXBT709A6ZB

As many have said your writing is perfectly legible, which is what functionally matters. I think the question is just, do you want it to also be attractive? My handwriting was pretty similar to yours a few years ago and I decided to change it, so I looked around online for handwriting techniques and options, and I found one I really liked called cursive italic (book link). My handwriting looks like this now. It's just a matter of whether or not you care enough to put in the work to refine it. IMO it's worth it, because it's a life-long skill and writing is enjoyable now, and it makes a positive impression on people too.

I used Write Now by Barbara Getty and found it very helpful.

Ok, some pointers.

Ditch the ballpoint. It's not doing you any favors. Get a pen that will write under its own weight, a rollerball, fineliner or fountain pen.

Get one that is comfortable for your hand when it comes to weight balance and thickness of the grip.

Google "handwriting tripod grip". https://www.theschoolrun.com/video-the-dynamic-tripod-grasp-for-better-handwriting

See the image with the 12345 numbers.

Hold the pen that way. Dont squeeze it to death, just hold it.

Find a style of handwriting/printing you like. This is not meant as an insult but since you are pretty much starting from scratch here, maybe try some of the free kids worksheets. (Edit: good book linked to below they will teach a very legible script and has practice sheets)

You've learned writing at an age where your fine motor skills were not quite ready for it, but this is the muscle memory you've built for the letter shapes.. it's found to take a while to change the muscle memory but if you stick with it it is very doable.

This book has a great reputation for teaching good letter shapes while not sacrificing speed of writing too much once you've got some practice.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0982776225/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_imm_t1_0dQwFb222R03K

(Posting to find some links and images , still editing! On mobile.)

Edit - if you have issues with fine/gross motor skills in general, Google dyspraxia?

I'm using this to improve my print:

https://www.amazon.com/Write-Now-Getty-Dubay-Program-Handwriting/dp/0982776225

I've worked through it every night for a week and already seen a lot of improvement.