Understand their meaning. But to really practice, we should start from the radical, because this is the basis of a word, and then practice the whole word after the radical can write. . . Only by practicing the characters well and reaching a certain foundation (which is recognized by everyone) can we begin the flowing connection similar to calligraphy.
In addition, when writing radicals, words or paragraphs, we must first understand their stroke order. Knowing their stroke order will get twice the result with half the effort. Down is how to practice well and make it pleasing to the eye.
I have to say that the stroke order of some running scripts is different from that of block letters, so we must pay attention to it.
As for cursive writing, it is not recommended to practice because you have no certain attainments. Otherwise, it is really a ghost book, and few people can understand it, because calligraphers' cursive works are all accompanied by regular script or official script explanations.