I read so many positive comments about using a tablet for writing, that I recently also bought one. I found it quite difficult to use, especially to find the area, where to write the character. I was thinking to make myself a foil, which only leaves the area free, where to write in or to mark this area with a color marker. I don't know, whether this is really a good idea. Might be some of the users of a Bamboo tablet can give me some hint, how they are using it and how they overcame the initial problems. Would be very much appreciated.
Thanks!

I was very skeptical when I first started using one, but the trick was to just keep using it. Eventually it'll feel natural and you'll notice the area on the writing tablet where you Skritter on will be worn down a bit. I think the best advice is to keep practicing with it.

One comment I would say is to make sure that you are using the tablet in "pen" mode, not "mouse" mode, that doesn't work very well at all!

It took me a short time to get used to using the pen and tablet, but once used to it, it becomes easy to hover the mouse a few mm's over the tablet so it can be used as a mouse to move the pointer round the screen.

As said before, keep practicing and it becomes easier and it is worth it!

Yes; did you make sure to configure it properly, according to this guide?
http://www.skritter.com/wacoms/settings

In your configuration, there are also options to change the area of the screen which it maps to. You can then make it map to whatever area you want, which will change the area of the pad that you need to write in.

Thanks for your advise, now, it's getting better.

I've also found it helpful to adjust the zoom of the webpage to adjust the window size to a comfortable writing size.

If anyone is unaware, you can zoom in/out of any webpage by holding the key and using the scroll wheel on your mouse, or the +- keys.

That should work for most browsers and platforms, much like copy paste with C and V

I've used the 250 pixel canvas size since it was available. I can't imagine writing characters any bigger than that.