First, we don't have to practice ancient copybooks. Deng Tuo said that primary school students should practice calligraphy from the basic strokes of regular script, and they can't come to Liu Gongquan, Yan Zhenqing. Although we are not primary school students, most of us didn't practice calligraphy seriously when we were young. This opinion is still worthy of reference.
If you are practicing calligraphy, you can start with a brush. If you are short of time and energy, you just want to write beautifully and directly with a hard pen. There are some hard-pen copybooks on the market, but most of them are not of high quality. You should choose carefully and ask knowledgeable friends for advice, but the key is to look pleasing to your eye. If you choose, you should practice hard, like a primary school student, copying first and then copying together. At most a dozen words at a time, breaking the analysis structure and strokes, don't be greedy for more. It is especially important to note that as long as the copybook is of good quality, don't think about writing your own style for the time being, and write it wholeheartedly like "like", which is called "entering the post". After you practice the post skillfully, you can slowly figure out your own style, that is, "posting". Treat the post as carefully as your wife, and don't slip it. Chairman Mao's words are also honestly posted.
second, what posts to choose.
If you never practiced calligraphy as a child, you'd better start with regular script, such as copybook, and regular script on the computer will do. Use a pen to sketch and sketch, and when you write, you feel that your hands are smooth (that is, you can write with your hands handy, and you can't ignore them), and then put on a post with a calligraphy flavor. When I was a child, my teacher forced me to practice regular script. At first, I felt very rigid, and now I have benefited a lot.
I don't have much experience in choosing hard-pen copybooks, and you have to look at them yourself. Brush can be talked about. You have to consider your own needs. If you work in an office or something, you will write more official documents, so choose beautiful copybooks, such as Zhao Mengfu's running script (recommended "Xing Xing Poetry"); If writing is not your main job, but you need to write well, for example, if you are a teacher, you can practice Wang Xizhi's running script, such as the preface to the holy teachings; If you do something related to art, or want to write "handsome" words, practicality is not the first consideration, then practice cursive script. Sun Guoting's Book Score is a good choice; If you usually like to write articles and pursue the charm of literati, then Mi Xiangyang is the best. His Shu Su Tie and Tiaoxi Poem Tie are all excellent works of literati's running script, and they feel elegant and almost immortal after practice. Dong Qichang is also good, but his book is not strong, and beginners may be stingy. It is best to practice others' books after they have a certain foundation.
In addition, if you are interested, you can also practice seal script and capital letters. If you just practice calligraphy, it is unnecessary. Yan Liu can write in big letters, but I don't think it is as important for hard writing as running script. If you practice calligraphy, you should pay attention to the order. It is best to practice all these and lay a good foundation. That will take time.
All these things should be practiced slowly. It is especially important to be single-minded and not change posts. At least, you can practice until you can recite them. It may take more than ten or even decades to practice them perfectly, but you will benefit from it if you write carefully, so you don't have to be intimidated by it.
third, talk about methods. I can only read my own handwriting, not a calligrapher, so all I talk about is wild fox Zen, and it is very good to have a good person to follow.
First of all, always read the copybook, take it with you, and try to figure it out if you have nothing to do. If you only read it when writing, the pen or brush in your hand will dry up after hanging for a long time, and you will feel cramped and unable to observe it carefully.
Then, when writing, you should have a well-thought-out plan. Always reading one stroke is a big taboo, and scribbling at a glance is called "copying posts", which is a big taboo. Huang Tingjian said that if you close your eyes, you can see the word reappearing in front of your eyes before you can start writing. If you don't have that much time, you should read and write one stroke at a time, and then read and write one word at a time, and gradually practice until you read and write one line at a time, and the stroke structure of the word is kept in mind. I think this is really difficult to do when I am practicing calligraphy. I am always dishonest and impatient, so I waste a lot of time. Don't learn from me. Take your time. One word a day is 36 words a year. Although there are many Chinese characters, there are many similarities in structural radicals, so you can draw inferences slowly.
Then, if you practice Chinese calligraphy, you'd better not choose a tablet at the beginning. You'd better choose one with ink color and the best original. Learn from the master's ink and pen. Some writing rules are not visible in the tablet.
Finally, you can read the theory of reading, you don't have to get anything, but it's good to cultivate your sentiment. If it can arouse your interest in practicing calligraphy, it will be the best, then you will definitely make rapid progress. You don't have to read the ancient books. The ancient books may not be easy to understand (for non-professionals, of course), and secondly, they are not systematic and rational. Some people sometimes pretend to talk nonsense (of course, modern people also have it, but they are easy to judge). I recommend the book "Learning to Learn Books", which has a detailed narrative and basically no nonsense. The old gentleman Qigong likes it very much, and he also specially wrote the title. Of course, you can also read the theories of the great calligraphers mentioned above, if you have time.