David Given Schwarm

1. Stay relaxed!
2. Don’t grip the writing instrument too tightly.
3. Don’t press too hard.
4. Always have a pad of paper, blotter, or other flat surface under the paper. Do not write with a sheet of paper directly on a desk surface.
5. Write from the wrist or elbow instead of the fingers.
6. Don’t use fine point pens or mechanical pencils.
7. Use a medium ball point pen, felt tip marker, or fountain pen with a medium to heavy nib.
8. Consistency is key—all letters should be uniform in shape and size.
9. All letters should have the same slight amount of slanting.
10. Write more slowly than you usually do.
11. Write a little larger than you usually do.
12. Space your letters out a bit more.
13. Avoid sharp angles.
14. Think smooth, not spiky.
15. Use slightly curved instead of straight lines.
16. Make arched letters convex, not concave.
17. Make letters with circles more open and loopy.
18. Don’t lift your pen off the page when forming a letter, except for t and x, and when dotting your i and j.
19. Use a very tiny circle to dot any i or j and for commas, periods, exclamation points, and question marks.
20. Add slight flourishes to all letters with tails.
21. Add a slight hook to all letters that end on a downstroke.
22. Double back more on letters that require that movement.
23. Printing instead of using cursive may be easier.
24. Don’t use block capitals.
25. Don’t exchange any letters that should be lowercase for capitals.