Relearning handwriting
In implementing my GTD system I have found Merlin Mann’s hipster PDA to be immensely valuable. Aside from jotting down notes to drop into my in basket for processing I’m also stoked on the idea of having custom printed index cards function as business cards, preferably with pertinent notes jotted down below my name.
As a born-again pen and paper man I have run into a few difficulties, however. Chief among these is the horrible state of my handwriting in the year 2005. For many years I took some sort of joy in neglecting this skill as I insisted on doing as much as possible through the familiar QWERTY and for a time the unfamiliar DVORAK, Graffiti, and T9 digital interfaces. The problem finally reached a head today when I was processing some notes and had to place the note in a time line between the previous and later one just to try to figure out what the heck it said.
After some time invested in exploring the various handwriting schools, reading more discussion on home schooling sites than any childless man should have to, and briefly considering just doing engineer printing exercises from an old drafting textbook, I came upon the Getty-Dubay method of italic handwriting.
Barbara Getty and Inga Dubay developed their modern style of handwriting upon the style commonly used in Italy during the 15th and 16th centuries. They focused on legibility and economy, eliminating the loopiness that is so widespread in the classic Palmer method and it’s bastard children. Also the cursive is designed to closely match regular manuscript as much as possible, looking very much like joined printing, which is where most people tend to muddle toward when they become frustrated with making 2s for Qs.
Perhaps more important than all other considerations is that Getty and Dubay have published a comprehensive workbook for adults, which readers claim rapidly improves thier writing in a span measured in weeks. They also have a proven track record of reforming professionals into legible writers with italic handwriting.
The book is on order, I’ll check back in when I have some results to show.
January 21st, 2005 at 05:34
Seriously, you have to let me know how this works out. I’ve stopped taking notes in class because they’re not legible enough to read afterwards. I should have listened to my grade 2 teacher.
January 21st, 2005 at 07:48
I’m surprised that you aren’t considering bypassing traditional script and moving straight into shorthand.
I sat beside an elderly lady in one of my undergrad psych classes (ok, she was probably 40) and I always marvelled at how much she enjoyed the classes and seemed to catch every detail while I struggled just to scribble my terse notes. She was a legal secretary for most of her career and had mastered shorthand. Of course I couldn’t read a single thing that she wrote to be able to judge her quality but she spent at least 1/10 of the time that I did writing.
Two skills that I’m going to make sure that my child has: typing and shorthand.
January 27th, 2005 at 14:19
One more comment to consider: my printing quality increases depending of my stylus - a fine 2H pencil is far superior to any pen i know.
And shorthand is something i’ve considered myself. Does this mean we’re forming a handwriter’s annonymous?