Scribe carries mono-line animation ready fonts that are a perfect pick when you need to animate handwritten text. Select desired font, enter font size, fill in the text and hit the button - you'll get a shape layer that contains all the letters.
Quickly adjust the writing evolution by going to Effects tab and changing the "End" value. Even more, tweak the Stroke size to get the font look that suits you best. As these fonts are presented as shape paths, you can easily add other generators, like "Repeater", "Gradient Fill", "Offset Paths" and such.