Wednesday, April 28, 2010

In Which I Hand-Write

Does anyone else have terrible handwriting?

Because I do, straight up.

It's one of the reasons I don't hand-write anything (that and it's painful). Every once in awhile (a while? who the heck knows?!) my handwriting will come out all nice and pretty and girly. But mostly it's chicken scratch.



my handwriting looks like drunken cuneiform compared to this



This normally isn't an issue because, like I said, I don't hand-write.

But I do hand edit. Both my stuff and other's stuff. When I know I'm going to edit someone else's stuff I try to write carefully. But when it's my stuff there are plenty of times where I write something (and I'm sure it's something genius and fantastic) and then later, when I go look at it, I have no idea what it says.

Luckily I have a good memory, so even if I can't read my comment I can usually re-read the section and come to the same conclusion. The chicken scratch itself serves as a memory marker for me.

Anyone else have this problem? What's your solution (besides just writing more carefully. Because who wants to do that?)

29 comments:

Michelle Scott said...

I listened to a children's author once say that he forbid all of his writing students to write their first drafts on their computer. He claimed that it was impossible to write well on a computer. I so disagree! If I didn't have a computer, I'd probably never write.

Terri Tiffany said...

I try never to write by hand. I can't read it seconds after writing it! Computer all the way!

Summer Frey said...

This probably isn't helpful at all, because I have extremely neat handwriting. I've been told my handwriting looks like a computer font. :-) The only reason it's so neat, though, is because for the majority of the time I've been writing, it's all been by hand, and I actually put effort into shaping my handwriting how I wanted.

Summer Frey said...

PS: Don't judge my handwriting from the card I sent w/ your prize package. It's been a lot harder for me to write normally since my wrist surgery. :-) A big old wrist brace can do that.

Sarah Ahiers said...

Michelle - what as ass. Who is he to decide who can write well with which medium. I certainly don't tell him that his first draft should be with quill and ink

Terri - yeah i hear that!

Summer - yeah if i worked at it, it would probably get better. But i'm, you know, lazy. Also if your handwriting was even remotely legible then it was better than man and i was impressed

Unknown said...

I've noticed my handwriting changes drastically, depending on what kind of mood I'm in.

My son is in the third grade and is learning cursive. Often when he asks me how a letter is supposed to look (cursive capital Q) I have no idea since I've been doing my own hodge-podge of style for so long!

Jaydee Morgan said...

It's best if I stick to writing on the computer. Once I get going, my handwriting is near impossible to decipher.

Rebecca T. said...

I have nice handwriting, but when I'm in a hurry it gets sloppier and sloppier (is that a word? It doesn't look right.)

Anyhoo. But I do virtually all of my writing on the computer, because I can type nearly as fast as my brain, but can't even come close whilst handwriting, so I always end up forgetting that great phrase by the time it comes out.

Pete's sake, I'm so far behind on y'all's blogs! You're gonna think I don't love you anymore

Southpaw said...

Print. My handwriting starts out nice and then it degrades so I try to print, but somehow I end up switching to handwriting, which degrades….

Austin Gorton said...

I'm pretty sure you don't write in cursive, right? Cuz cursive sucks. I remember hating learning it in grade school and my teacher was all like "you need to learn this for when you're an adult".

Yeah, well, guess what, lady? I'm an adult and I don't write in cursive! I barely remember it! And I'm not in the minority. Mwa-ha-ha!

Ahem. Sorry, rant over.

My handwriting is by no means neat and tidy, but at least it's legible, so I can't complain. Mrs. Teebore thinks I have better handwriting than her, but I question that assertion.

Stark Raving Zen said...

I hate my handwriting and I hate to hand write anything! In fact, after using the keyboard for so many years I hate to even write cards for fear of battling the handwriting! When I frame a photograph of mine, if giving it to a friend as a gift or something, I practice writing my signature 100 times before I write it on the photograph. 9 times out of 10 I ruin the thing with my god-awful scrawl. It wasn't always this way. I blame the advent of the computer. When I was in grade school I loved my handwriting.

Hannah said...

I prursive or curint?? I don't have a problem reading my own handwriting...unless, it's a dream I jotted down through crusty eyelids in the middle of the night.

I love handwriting.

NO PAIN NO GAIN!

Suck it up!

Austin Gorton said...

Um, no pain, no gain? More like, no pain, LOTS of gain: the gain of not being in pain...

Mia Hayson said...

Love handwriting stuff but my writing neatness largely depends on my mood too.

I'm ok with the, um, pain. But I guess I've learnt to suck it up. I'm a student so most of my notes have to be written fast during lectures. Also, exams are 3 hours of non-stop writing.

It's like running, if you train hard enough you can go the full distance ;~)

Lola Sharp said...

I love writing by hand. There is nothing lovelier than receiving a hand-written letter. It is such a dying art, which saddens me.

My penmanship is pretty decent, as is my husband's, but my daughter's is AWFUL. (She's 14, and her writing is UGLY and illegible.)

I think a lot of young people are raised not he computer, and have less handwriting experience. Y'all were raised on emailing.

Talli Roland said...

I have terrible handwriting. I actually missed the school-bus in primary school because the teacher made me stay behind to practise the letter Q.

Unknown said...

I used to have decent handwriting, but then-- and I think most people would relate to this phenom-- I started typing as fast as I can think. How many people can write as fast as they can think? I know my hand thinks it's supposed to, and the result is an unreadable scribble. Even to me.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I'd say I have decent handwriting, but I tend to print everything. It doesn't really flow, but at least I can read it.

Laura S. said...

I hand print! My cursive is illegible. My printing, which is really a combo of printing and cursive, is okay. But I never ever ever just write in cursive. I always start writing by hand, but once I get writing so fast that it's nearly illegible, I switch to the computer!

I'm super envious of those who seemed born writing beautiful cursive!

Karen Jones Gowen said...

Ugh, I hate my handwriting. I hate my hair. I hate my nose. That thing on my chin. My clothes. My messy house. I hate dandelions in my flower beds. Oh wait, what were we talking about again?

Unknown said...

I prefer printing ... but it sometimes still looks like a mess. At least, chicken scratches are in a straight line.

I have another problem (?). If I don't pay attention to what I'm doing, I reverse letters all over the place.

Sarah Ahiers said...

Janel - yeah mine's pretty hodgepodge too

Jaydee - Ha! Me too!

Sonshine - yeah that is another reason why i don't handwrite. Too slow.
And we know you've been busy ;-)

Southpaw - mine tends to get better for a bit before it degrades. Like a calm before the storm or something

Teebore - i think there's a bit of cursive thrown in, but it's my own made-up version.
Yeah, why the hell are kids even learning cursive? i mean, i can understand learning how to read it, but who cares about anything else?

Zen - ugh, my signature is so bad, you can maybe make out an S and an A in my whole name. That is all.

Palindrome - no you suck it up!

Teebore - ZING!

Mia - hmm, you know i never had any troubles writing notes in college. Weird. Though i did tend to memorize almost everything so maybe i didn't actually write many notes

Lola - a handwritten letter from me would most likely be offensive to the eyes

Talli - Ha! You could do "O" but not "Q" eh?

Elle - yes i agree. my typing, though ridden with typos, is super speedy. And spell check fixes most the errors

Alex - i have no problem with the flowing except when i handwrite. Then i'm too busy thinking about how uncomfortable and slow i am

Laura - that is true. I mean, who decided that they get nice handwriting?

Sarah Ahiers said...

KarenG - Ha! I feel the same way often. Except my nose. I think it's pretty good

Kay - ahh yes, that is indeed a troublesome problem. I do that when typing, because some fingers are faster than others

Melissa Sarno said...

I usually hand-edit when I'm reading other people's work, but I recently received a 5 page handwritten critique from someone and it took me a long time to decipher their handwriting. I'm talking...hours. I still appreciate the feedback. Someone taking the time to read your work is a blessing. But, I now believe that typing it out is the way to go :-)

Creepy Query Girl said...

A monk school teacher from a rival school once told me that I was a 'selective perfectionist' based on my hand writing. (i was the book keeper during a basketball match and he was beside me) I realised it's true. My handwriting can be very 'MW font-like' when I try. lol.

Sarah Ahiers said...

Melissa - ugh, no thanks. I mean, the crit was helpful i'm sure but deciphering is not something i want to add to my already busy schedule

Creepy - Ha! That's awesome!

Kittie Howard said...

I've been away from the computer for a bit so am relaxing with your lovely posts. My handwriting is fine, love to write an occasional letter in cursive. But I couldn't write my stories if I had to do so by hand as my fingers fly faster over the keyboard than I could ever write. I there's a place for the computer and for cursive writing. I edit 'scratchy' in cursive and can read my shorthand, tho no one else can.

Anonymous said...

I've got godawful handwriting. At least I can read it, even when it's at its worst. And, actually, I do still write longhand sometimes, especially on long drives.

What? I can totally write while driving. Just it makes my handwriting worse than normal. Hey, *you* try telling your muse when she's supposed to show up.

:)

Sarah Ahiers said...

Kittie - yeah i'm definitely a faters typer than a writer

Simon - Ha! Maybe writing while driving would make my handwriting better

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