Why Is My Handwriting So Bad? (7 Ways To Fix It Fast)

How often do you sit back trying to decipher what you actually wrote? When you’re in a rush to remember something you tend to quickly scribble the words down but there are moments when you’re not so busy and yet your handwriting still looks like chicken scratches.

By now you must be wondering, why is my handwriting so bad? A few reasons could include not being taught correctly, incorrectly holding the pen, or simply a lack of practice since we tend to type on a computer more often than we write with a pen. Other conditions, such as dyslexia, will drastically impact the way you write.

There are many factors to explore in detail and solutions to improve your handwriting that will give you hope in life. You don’t need to aim for perfection, but you can definitely make your writing more legible.

Here’s everything we know and more about bad handwriting and how to fix it easily.

Reasons Why You Have Bad Handwriting

1. You Haven’t Been Taught Correctly

It’s highly possible that when you were a kid, you weren’t given enough time to form the shapes of alphabets and structures of words correctly which would have impacted the way you write today.

If your m looks like an n, you’ve definitely got a problem here. It’s not really your fault, but you can definitely change the way you write at any age with just a few tricks that can be learned and implemented.

2. You Might Be Lazy

I get it. We all have our moments where writing something down as quickly as possible is all we want to do, and to be honest, who cares how it’s written?

But making sure you write something that is neat and will not be misunderstood by others will benefit you in the long run.

Imagine if there’s an important work-related message that needs to be passed down to your workers, but they can’t even figure out what’s written and end up doing the opposite of what you wanted.

As tempting as it is to just scribble the words down, it’s best to take the time to put in the effort to make sure your handwriting is legible.

3. You Don’t Know How To Hold A Pen

Another factor that could be contributing to the way you write by hand is not correctly holding the pen. This could mean holding the pen in a grip or by the top of the pen.

Most people tend to slant the pen so that the bottom of the pen sits between your thumb and forefinger, allowing for light strokes of the pen. Many artists tend to hold a pen this way so that they have more freedom of movement while sketching.

4. Lack of Practice

Most desk jobs nowadays require you to work on a computer and you will find yourself typing an email or document rather than handwriting them.

There are also apps these days that allow us to digitally track and schedule our tasks compared to writing them by hand.

This will make sense for your handwriting to be bad since there’s an obvious lack of practice.

Even artists need to do warm-ups with rough sketches and messy lines to get the hang off it again.

5. You’re Writing Too Fast

If there’s any better way to make more mistakes and for your handwriting to look bad is simply by going too fast in situations where there’s really no need to rush and write anyhow.

When you have a fast pace, it’s difficult to correctly form words and letters.

You will notice your words either slanting up, letters too close together, some words bigger than the others, or words that overlap other words.

The faster you write, the more chance of your words looking like scribbles rather than properly formed sentences.

Tip: practice forcing yourself to write more slowly while paying attention to how you form the letters!

6. Dyslexic

Though Dyslexia affects reading it may have an impact on the way you handwrite but dysgraphia is linked to many cases of difficulty holding a pen, sloppy writing, and omitting words.

If you’d like to know more about dysgraphia, you can read the full symptom list in order to get checked out

7. You Might Have Carpal Tunnel

Having pain in your hands and fingers can contribute to how you write and especially how you hold a pen. Conditions such as these are hard to work around but they can be managed with certain treatments.

It would be best to take things slow and don’t push yourself. At the end of the day, your health is more important than how neat your writing is.

Take it easy and practice a little each day without overdoing it.

Tips To Improve Your Handwriting

Now that you know the reasons why you may have bad handwriting, the good news is that there are plenty of ways to improve it in just a few ways.

Go Slow

Writing fast will lead to bad writing. You don’t have enough time to correctly form the letters or pay attention to structure and sizing.

This may be a bit weird at first but practice going slowing while writing each word. This will give you time to notice changes and how to maintain your letters in a sentence.

Practice More Often

Any skill needs to be practiced similar to drawing and painting. With writing, the more often you practice, the better you will become at it. 

If you’re the kind of person who normally types each day, take a few minutes throughout the day to journal about something. This way you’ll always be handwriting things. 

You can also practice from the start to relearn the shape of words. 

Use Graph Paper

Different kinds of papers will impact the way you write.

For example, it’s hard to keep words and sentences straight when you’re writing on blank paper. With lined paper, we can either write our words too close or go over the lines.

However, with graph paper, you’ll be able to maintain your forms since there are blocks to help make sure your letters fit in each block.

Many study grams tend to use graph paper since your writing looks much neater.

Experiment with the types of paper and eventually, you’ll find the one you love.

Pay Attention To Size, Spacing, and Form of Letters

If you consciously pay attention to these three things, your handwriting will definitely improve in no time. These three factors are crucial in the beginning stages to make sure your writing can stay consistent and neat throughout.

Use practice sheets to trace over letters whether that’s cursive or not. Choose a type of font you’d like to learn as well but opt for the easiest.

Use The Correct Size Pen

Certain types of pens can determine how your writing turns out. Too thin or too big pens can make your handwriting messy. Find a pen that you will live to use whether that’s a ballpoint pen or gel pen.

Be Conscious of How You Write

As we’ve mentioned before, you want to ensure that you’re paying attention to how you write.

No matter how tempting it is to scribble something down, take the time to form each word correctly. Look at the weak spots and work on those.

If you notice that you p looks like and o, then rework those letters until you see an improvement.

Practice making sure your words and sentences stay in the lines and be wary of the space between each word stays consistent.

Look For Inspiration

There will be moments where we become frustrated at our progress which is normal for just about everyone.

Browse the popular Instagram study accounts and use these neat handwriting images to motivate you to keep trying to achieve that level.

You also come across beautiful fonts and hand lettering quotes that will make you reach for your brush pens!

Inspiration can be found everywhere and using it as a tool to motivate yourself will increase your resistance to giving up.

Ways To Fake Neat Handwriting In A Journal

If you’re looking for a quick break from learning how to hand-lettering or speed up that process of making your bullet journal look beautiful, then try some of these tips.

Stamps

Stamping is a new hobby that has really made me more interested in creating fun pieces for my bullet journal.

There are so many different designs and font sizes to try depending on what you need it for.

If you need a full bullet journal tutorial that shows you step by step how a spread is created using stamps, do check out this one:

Stencils

Writing large letters can be a challenge and it’s quite likely you will make a mistake or it may not turn out as you wanted. That’s why Stencils are fantastic for making sure the letters come out near perfect!

Stickers

I’ve come across a few stickers of alphabets in different fonts that can be used in a journal.

If you’re constantly creating a daily log or weekly spread, then you’ll also find stickers for each day of the week like ‘Monday’.

This will save you loads of time from having to write this every single day of the year but if you want to make sure your journal stays consistent in terms of theme and ascetic appeal, then I suggest investing in a few of these stickers.

Print Outs

These are especially great if you want a specific type of fancy font but feel like you don’t have the necessary skills to handwrite it yourself.

All you need to do is type out your paragraph or what you need to say in a Word document or Notepad and print it out. You can do this for diary entries or to simply print out motivational quotes graphics for your journal.

Conclusion

Having bad handwriting is not the end of the world, and the good news? It can be fixed with regular practice and the determination to fix it.

If you implement a few of the handwriting techniques above, eventually you’ll be able to create a routine that will allow you to fix or improve your handwriting.

The goal here isn’t to become an Instagram inspiration but rather to write in a way that is legible and easy to read (for others and yourself).

Like anything else in life, handwriting is a process, so enjoy the art of learning and practicing. Eventually, you will be happy to see the improvement you’ve made with consistent effort.