I have admired French cursive for a really long time, all the way back when I was learning French as a teenager and had a French pen pal. French cursive handwriting is really precise and consistent. My current handwriting is an inconsistent mix of print and cursive, and that probably will not change for my day to day writing. I wanted to learn French cursive so I would have a more formal cursive when I need it.
Another reason for learning French cursive is that it looks similar to the letterforms of English Roundhand. If I understand correctly, English Roundhand was derived from French Ronde, which looks like the precursor of French cursive. I hope that through learning French cursive, I will become more familiar with the shapes of English Roundhand. I think one of the reasons I have a lot of trouble with calligraphy majuscules (upper case letters) is because I am not familiar with them. French cursive is also straight, so I can practice without worrying about the slant.
Practicing French cursive also requires practicing on French rule paper, called séyès paper. The paper is has multiple lines that helps with determining the height of ascenders and descenders. The single height seemed a bit too small for learning, so I decided to double it.
The minuscules were fairly easy. It did take some practice before I was able to write them at the standard size.
Upper case letters will definitely give me some trouble since I am not as familiar with them. But for now, I think I am pretty comfortable with the lower case letters and can immediately write them when needed.
