Write Now: A Complete Self-teaching Program for Better Handwriting (Paperback)

~ (Author), (Author) "These letters are presented at 9 mm body height to help you focus on the letter shapes, tool hold, and hand movements before moving to..." (more)
Key Phrases: cursive italic, basic italic, italic handwriting, Early Roman, Early Greek, Rustic Uncial (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Poor handwriting is a common failing. This book teaches italic handwriting, an attractive, simple script which, with practice, becomes a neat, legible hand. A history of the changes in letter forms over the ages is outlined. The text is hand-lettered rather than typeset, showing the simplicity and elegance of basic, cursive, and edged-pen italic. Pages with sloped and spaced lines may be copied for practice. After this slight book, a course such as the authors teach will appeal. This item can be recommended to anyone who wants improved handwriting, as well as to teachers and adult literacy tutors to instill neat writing along with reading. A caveat to purchasers: the advice "do write in this work book" will be taken by some as an invitation to deface library copies.
- William A. Donovan, Chicago P.L.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"It is a joy that my four sons can communicate legibly thanks to italic." -- Kay Fujita, Teacher

"Italic handwriting is legible and handsome...I recommend Write Now – the book to use. Long live legibility!" -- Paul O. Jacobs, MD

"Just this week, I received a message from an RN at our hospital that my handwriting was beautiful and legible." -- Janet M. Madill, MD

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Continuing Education Pr. Portland State University; First Edition (stated) edition (November 19, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0876780893
• ISBN-13: 978-0876780893
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #90,652 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

121 of 123 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars improve your penmanship by learning and doing, December 28, 1999

By	www.ikonpen.com (Ireland) - See all my reviews

This book covers basic handwriting through to the cursive writing style. The first style (the authors refer to this as 'edged italic') is the most basic form of italic handwriting and is generally thought to children to help them improve their handwriting. Now before you stop reading this review, let me state that any adult can gain from this book. In particular, it is this reviewers opinion that if you use pens in any form of writing capacity, you should definitely read these books: there are pages on pen styles, writing positions and inter-page notes on writing/alphabet history. The book starts with an introduction to the formation of scriptive letters. Of importance is the use of typographic terms such as X height, descenders, ascenders etc. and how these are relevant to improving your handwriting. As mentioned, this is a 'how to' book and you can follow along with the examples, whilst learning new techniques. Information for left-handers, italic nib users and anybody wishing to learn more about the styles of writing that are currently thought, can do no better than this book. On the downside you have to 'wade' through extraneous information (page notes) on a page to locate what it was you were interested in on the previous page. A pet peeve of mine- writing books should be an exercise in linear thought, most are not, but if this doesn't bother you well and good, and, in truth, because its a read and learn book, its 'liveable with'. Most people's handwriting will improve after some self tutoring with this book. If you have already mastered the art of good cursive writing and are familiar with the theory behind it, you may be set to take a couple of lessons from book two, the more comprehensive; 'Italic Letters' by the same authors.

57 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's Never Too Late to Change Your Handwriting, April 24, 2003

By A Customer

Like so many others, I learned the standard "ball and stick" print style of handwriting and progressed to the "looped" cursive style when I was in grade school--and I got very high marks in penmanship. By high school I could write fastest in cursive, but I was taking notes so fast it became illegible. Somehow I made it through graduate school taking notes fast and figuring out what I wrote later. Ever since then, I've chosen the computer over handwriting as much as possible. (Not to mention the "looped" cursive isn't very masculine.)

Enter "Write Now". What a great book! "Write Now" teaches a style of handwriting called Italic (meaning "from Italy"). My first thought was that this was some "new" style and couldn't be as good as the "basics" I was taught. Turns out, what I was taught is the "new" style (19th century) and Italic is the more traditional (16th century). It is the style that was used by Leonardo Da Vinci and Michaelangelo.

Italic focuses on efficiency, ergonomics, legibility, and speed. It easily transitions from print to cursive to calligraphy with little change in the way you write the characters. "Write Now" is broken into three sections: 1) Basic Italic (print) 2) Cursive Italic and 3) Edged Pen Italic (calligraphy). With good explanations and illustrations, it is a pleasure to learn a new style of handwriting.

"Write Now" is geared towards adults (or teens) and presents a "cartoon's guide" to the history of handwriting throughout--a good reference even if you don't want to improve your handwriting. The author's are veteran educators and have produced an entire series of books on Italic handwriting to take kids from kindergarten through grade school. They are also in very high demand for in-house hospital seminars to those who most desparately need handwriting help--doctors. :-)

I recommend this book highly. My handwriting has already improved. I actually look for reasons throughout the day to use my new skills. If you're like me, don't pass this one up.

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Self Improvement Book Ever Purchased, June 2, 2002

By	Sherryl Bailey (Roseburg, OR USA) - See all my reviews

I am a teacher and we were examining this handwriting system for adoption in our school. I purchased the book to learn it myself. In about a week with about 15 min. practice per day I completely changed my style. I am very pleased with the results of my own "retraining" as well as those of my 5th grade students using the school version of this program. Kudos to both of the authors for developing a straightfoward, interesting approach to improving handwriting. You won't be disappointed!