October 3: Honing Hancock

It's an unwritten rule in fame and celebrity that your name must not be legible when written on a postcard picture of yourself. When framed, a poster of you looking off into the distance must possess a black (or sometimes silver) scribble of ink. Only one letter of your name is supposed to be clear. It's usually the first letter of your first name and it's always at least four or five times bigger than the following dips and twirls of ink that represents your name. An autograph is a stamp of identity. It shows the fans that you're kind enough to stop and sign memorabilia, but due to its sloppy nature, it's clear you have somewhere more important to be.

As a child with fame and fortune in my dreams, I practiced my signature over and over again. There are seven letters in my first name and seven letters in my last name. The B was always the easiest. It was the rest of the name that tied my pen up. I didn't want someone to be able to tell what was written. I wanted them to know it was something with a B, but nothing else. Although I had that rule set aside, I didn't want my autograph to simply look like a B followed by scribbles.

After perfecting the first name, I contemplated including a middle initial before getting started on my last name. When I signed documents and forms, I would go back and forth before realizing the P should definitely be incorporating. After all, I was named after my deceased grandfather whom I had never met and it just felt right to include him in all of my glory.

I had my first name and my middle initial. Now it was time to end with a bang. Again, the R was the only letter that needed to be legible and the rest couldn't be a labyrinth of loops, dips, swirls, and twists. It had to look like it said something, but stay mysterious at the same time. Ps and Rs are very similar. The only difference is that an R has a little tail. This fit nicely with the layout of my autograph because the tops of both letters looked good so close to each other.

Years have gone by since I took up my project to perfect my signature. I have the general idea down and with every check I sign, it gets fine tuned a bit more. With every car insurance form I fill out, the letters glide more fluidly into the next. My autograph has slowly evolved into the perfect signature. Now, who wants to hire me to be famous for them?