Practice without training wheels + 3 a's

Fold the top margin to the back so that your line to write on is directly under the line you already wrote and are going to repeat - only without the guidelines.

Try to maintain the same spacing of each word so that they are the same length.

Hopefully, it will be easy to maintain the slant even without the guide lines.

After you do one line, refold the paper so that you have a new line to write on .

Repeat each line as many times as you feel like it.

Then move down to the following lines.

PAY ATTENTION TO THIS:

as you keep folding down the paper, it will have so many folds that it will be crazy bouncy.

Each time to fold down, you will have to fold in the opposite direction to make the paper lay flat.

Or you can cut the line off.

BUT YOU MUST do something to make the paper lay flat.

You can not write on a bouncy surface.

It will not work.

Sorry -- this is tedious - but you really need to have the line you are repeating right in front of your nose.

We wil not do a lot of this -- it is just to gauge when you are starting to develop some muscle memory.

Below, I wrote the words, repeating your line - and it was clearly too big and wide to feel comfortable. For me to write comfortably, it will be smaller.

So, I wrote comfortably - and you can see that it is about 75% smaller.

You can also see on this line, I penciled in a top guide line - because the blue lines were too far apart.

You may do that if you wish -- I do not know how your printed guidelines compare to notebook paper.

The point is that it is somewhat un-natural to write so large - unless you normally write really large.

But, it is like body building. If you do not lift weights - you will not build muscles.

The exact sizes are not critical - feel free to find sizes that work for you.

Be vigilant about keeping the spaces between the letters and within the letters complementary.

Below are 3 a's. Hopefully, you can see that the middle one is better looking than the other two.

We can discuss further.

When it comes to a-c-e-o - you will be creating some ovals that are similar.

Each has something unique to define it, but they need to complement each other.

You do not want a big, fat curve at the bottom.

That starts to look like an ugly blob - or - as some people call it

*a full diaper*

You do not like that flat top on the a -- so go ahead and let it curve gracefully.

Just keep a little more space at the top.

The inside of the a is called a *counter*

You do not want a droopy counter.

The Spencerian a is wider on the bottom - but it manages to be a graceful teardrop shape.

We can talk later about why that shape works in Spencerian.

But for business styles, we want that oval to not be droopy.

Some of the business a's do look very oval - and there is not slightly more weight on the top.

So -- down the road, you can relax into a more balanced oval.

But, if you just try for a balanced oval - you will sometimes err - and get a bottom heavy.

If you try for top heavy, you will get some top heavies, and if you err - it will only be to the point where you have top and bottom equal.

You probably won't go all the way to bottom heavy.

And we are trying to avoid bottom heavy.

All your work on copperplate was time well spent and it relates to business penmanship in many ways.

The main way it differs is that it is not CURSIVE.

CURSIVE is also called running hand - and it is meant to be a practical way to write efficiently with graceful curves.

Business hands are more organic than copperplate.

Copperplate is very geometric - so, it takes more work to make all the components super symmetrical.

Business hand allows for more natural, flowing rhythmic movement.

At your age, you are going to blend all the different things you have learned into something that pleases your eyes.

All your hard work is mostly stomping out your bad habits.

The fact that you are sneaking in some prettier letters while you are taking notes is wonderful.

That is what we want to happen.

You can't make the bad habits go away 100% of the time. They are stuck in your muscle memory.

But, you can consciously over-ride them.

It's like a scar. You can cover it with makeup, but, it's always going to be there.