Journal Drills

It's safe to say you have problem when you can't read something you wrote in your journal. I had this problem for years, I'm ashamed to say 😅.

I've enjoyed handwriting in my journals over the years but naturally my handwriting isn't the prettiest. And as my journaling practice grew into a tool I use for reflection, it became very apparent that I needed to learn write in a more legible way.

Nowadays my notebooks are definitely legible and my handwriting is generally pleasing to read. I attribute this to intentional practice and using a fountain pen.

I won't discuss the fountain pen here but I want to share the quick practice methods I use to keep my handwriting legible.

ABCs

Basketball players use drills like layups to stay sharp on their fundamentals so that they can excel in a game. For me, my handwriting layups drills are the ABCs.

Since the notebook that I use has 27 dots per row, I have a dedicated space for each letter of the alphabet. I'll write lower and upper case letters each on their own row. And I also practice writing numbers, cursive letters and Greek letters to keep my handwriting sharp.

Pangrams

Pangrams are short sentences, phrases or collection of words that contain every letter of the alphabet. You can look up different ones on the internet or even come up with your own.

My go-to pangram is: The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog.

Every letter of the English alphabet is there to practice my letters. Similar to the ABCs, I'll practice writing this in lowercase, uppercase and even cursive.

My name

The last quick method I use is simply writing and signing my name. When was the last time you really practice this?

Whenever I stop to just write or sign my name for practice, I'm instantly inspired to maintain legible handwriting. I think it's because I don't want to associate bad handwriting with my name lol.