Don't forget how to write
Update your
handwriting skills
with a fountain pen
The generation of children in gradeschool today may not learn cursive writing.
Cursive writing is already an option in many school districts, replaced with keyboard techniques.
For centuries, learning to link letters together in a cursive style gave a writer a way of writing more quickly, personally, and formally.
Today thank-you notes have declined as a required courtesy in about the same percentage as cursive writing has declined in importance and use.
But, still, if you have to write a thank-you note, cursive is usually expected. And if you haven't written by hand in a while, you might not like what you see when you sit down with that pretty card.
The right pen
Longhand fans say a fountain pen is just the ticket to perk up your style.
It won't make your handwriting into calligraphy but it could make it a bit better.
Todd Carver of Seattle's World Lux says you should avoid rollerball pens, which require excessive pressure to get ink to flow.
A fountain pen makes you slow down just a little and makes your writing more legible. Slowing down makes you more conscious of your letters and their shapes, says Molly Suber Thorpe, author of Modern Calligraphy.
You can find good fountain pens at a price of $5 to $500 but the right equipment won't solve all the problems. You also have to practice, say authorities quoted in USA Today. Handwriting can be changeable, so you can consciously change your style. First figure out what you want your style to be.
The next step is repetition. Choose a couple of words, your name for example, and write them over and over. Add a few words and practice more.
