Reading this really makes you realise how much the art of handwriting has declined. There is always calligraphy, but few practise this and even then only as a hobby. Of course, it is still taught in schools, however the style is somewhat simplified to connecting print letters with lines, rather than the art form which it should be treated as.
If you are interested in improving your handwriting, both speed and legibility-wise, I encourage you to read this book, and practise using one of the vertical copy-books that you can find on this site.

I am only 24 years old, but I can clearly remember as a young kid copying page after page of cursive letters. What a pain that was, especially considering my writing never improved. If only my teachers had read this book.

The author teaches the upright style instead of the slanted style you oft see in older books. Contrary to many, this choice is not made based on personal preferences but is based on rational analysis of time taken to write and optimal posture for spinal health, etc. that would probably be hard to argue for anyone.

You might think that a skill such as pensmanship is useless in this day and age, but it seems to me that that is a mistake. If you ever have kids or mentor a child, you will be glad you can teach him the correct way to write, more so, the hand eye coordination required to write legibly is of the utmost importance in drawing and the arts. If you have ever tried to learn how to draw you will know how important confidence of stroke and repeatability is important, this is the first step towards that and it seems ridiculous to me to think you could master drawing without even being able to write clearly. Most drawing exercises that practice confidence of stroke are a bore, such as making 10 strokes in every direction on top of each other. Seems a much better use of time to acquire those skills and learn how to write a the same time.

Learn this skill and send your mother a letter.