
The Palmer Method of Business Writing - keehun
http://palmermethod.com/introductory/lesson-1/
======
ctoscano
This helped me enjoy writing in a notebook, increase my writing speed, and
take pride in my writing.

# What I did

I spent an afternoon reading through the first couple chapters and doing the
exercise and was surprised not only at the advertised benefits (ease in
writing, faster writing, prettier and more uniform writing), but also at how
much I learned about the mechanics of writing by doing the exercises.

As I was doing the exercises, as I positioned my elbows and paper and paid
attention to the position and easy grip of the pen, the mechanics of writing,
I thought about the mechanics of Star Craft. How the use of keyboard
shortcuts, control groups, and double tapping numbers to jump to pre-set
buildings or units drastically increases your actions per minute. I tried to
take that same idea to writing and it worked.

There are two basic movements, up-down and circles. Each letter is a variant
of the two. Even a circle is basically an up down motion with a more
pronounced finger movement. Drill those like you'd drill 5-s-z to make
zerglings, or whatever you use for larva inject.

# What I learned

I eventually figured out that the up-down motion is coming from your arm, not
your finger. The fingers are used for fine motion differentiating each letter.
The more regular the up-down motion, the more consistent your letters.

The big realization was that I could drastically increase my writing speed by
drilling the up-down motion. You should be able to do at least 3 up-down or
circles a second. Just do the drill to practice how it feels first, then the
writing will take less effort to do quickly and regularly. That is what the
drills are for.

# Why I think it was worth doing

I generally like the idea of doing things well. I used to be embarrassed about
my writing. Now it is rare that someone sees my writing without complementing
it. Writing has become a meditation for me. It helps me focus and slow down my
thoughts. When I'm writing on a keyboard I can write a lot faster, which helps
when I code, but I find the artificial constrain of writing on pen and paper
help me write better, shorter first drafts.

~~~
Outdoorsman
Agreed, especially on the points touched upon in your last paragraph...

So much of what I see on the Internet seems "dashed off",as if a gun were
being held to the writer's head...or, more realistically, as if a paycheck
might be withheld, if a deadline could not be met...

When I write a note for others with pencil and paper I write in block caps,
draftsman style...no one has ever come back to me and asked, "What did you
mean by that?"...

~~~
nickpsecurity
I agree. My own posts are even affected by it. In fairness, I often am
overburdening myself by juggling multiple things within narrow windows of
time. Yet, I think having to physically write each letter would reduce that.
The speed of keyboards and our on-screen feedback seem to encourage us to
focus on quantity more than quality.

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elviejo
My father has a beautiful handwriting he is an engineer and he goes out of his
way to write letters.

Unfortunately, some people that have received his letters perceive it as if he
is poor and doesn't own a computer.

My solution: give him beautiful and expensive letter head paper on which to
write. So that people don't make mistakes.

Beautiful handwriting is a dying art form.

PS: I'm sorry to say I didn't inherit that skill. and I have other more urgent
priorities to try to develop it now.

Right now I just want to touch type with high precision.

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lauritz
Love the Palmer Method.

A bit frustrating, though, that the website (as a modern-day adaptation of a
1915 book) seems to be specifically tailored to right-handed people only. But
then again, in 1915 pretty much everyone was forced to write with their right
hand.

~~~
jaskerr
Did it take much effort to adapt the method to writing left-handed? I'm always
leery of "writing methods", since so many fall down when attempted with the
left hand. (I'm not sure any method would work for me. I was taught to write
by right-handed teachers, so I'm an 'over-hand' lefty. I gave up cursive
writing in the 5th grade and have 'fast-printed' ever since.)

~~~
lauritz
I will concede that I haven't actually learned much of it yet, I've just
always thought it looks beautiful.

What I have tried so far (the arm movements, and copying some of the letters)
works with the left hand surprisingly well. They tell you to rest your arm
only on a point near the elbow and on the ring finger and pinky ("the wrist
should never touch the paper"). I managed not to smudge anything instinctively
using those instructions. Still, I'm not sure if I've got the posture exactly
right yet (and I'll probably be able to tell after I've written like this
extensively).

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bshimmin
Do they also do a Palmer reading method? I looked at this complete example -
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Palmer_M...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Palmer_Method_sample.jpg)
\- and, whilst very beautiful, I found it in no way easy to read. Perhaps the
rigorous consistency (derived from the drilling) means you get used to it
after a few pages, I don't know.

~~~
zzzmarcus
Interesting. Did you learn cursive in elementary school? I find the sample
really easy and pleasant to read. I wonder if it's a difference in experience
or just personal preference.

~~~
rcurry
I felt the same about that sample text - I'm used to writing in cursive, and
that sample was actually pretty easy on the eyes for me.

I think we're well on our way to a day when nobody writes by hand at all. It's
a shame, but at the same time kind of cool that I can just speak a keyword and
have my phone transcribe an email for me.

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desireco42
Ha, awesome to see nice writing being posted here.

I am working on my cursive, as well as have regular writing sessions (with
fountain pen and paper notebook). Palmer method is really helpful.

I would say check youtube for examples and suggestions how to improve your
writing.

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supdog
For an alternative that uses more consistent primatives, check out the Getty-
Dubay method: [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getty-
Dubay](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getty-Dubay)

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shizcakes
My Grandfather had this book. He also had the most beautiful day-to-day
penmanship of anyone I've ever met. He attributed it to this book :-)

~~~
eitally
Mine, too. He gifted me the book, along with one called something along the
lines of "learning how to write for left handed people". I browsed both books,
gleaned that if I followed the practices I could improve my handwriting, but
didn't care enough to actually do it.

My practical experience demonstrates that as long as _I_ can read my chicken
scratching, that's plenty. For stuff I want others to read, typical engineer
block print is perfectly ok.

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tomjen3
Is it really worth spending time to get a nicer handwritting? I mean the only
thing I write by hand is todo-lists and my signature.

Am I an exception?

~~~
lifeisstillgood
No, sales of pens and pencils are at lowest for a century according to
freakonomics podcast (2.6bn in pencil sales this year apparently)

~~~
jaysonelliot
I was just listening to that episode this morning. They said that pencil sales
had five years of consecutive decline — but sales of pens were actually
rising.

That's coming off of a huge upswing in 2012, when pencil sales increased by
6.8%.

Definitely not the lowest in a century, in fact, the industry is much higher
than it was fifty years ago simply due to population growth, even though per
capita use may be down.

~~~
lifeisstillgood
Cant trust anyone on HN these days:-)

My bad

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runn1ng
I... am not at all sure if this is some kind of satire, that's trying to prove
some kind of point, or not.

At first I thought it's Onion-style funny and waited for some kind of
"misogynistic" punchline, but it never came. So... I guess it's serious?

~~~
ghaff
Handwriting used to be taken very seriously and Palmer was generally adopted
as the default cursive method. I had handwriting classes (which, as I recall,
were my lowest marks) for a number of years in grade school.

Remember that secretaries were just about the only ones who typed. I don't
think I turned in a typed paper until senior year of high school.

