Imagine this: you’ve walked 15 km over multiple hours with a pack that is at least 50 pounds, you took the time to scan your site, pick the perfect place to pitch your tent or hammock, got some lake water boiling, freshened up, and finally, you excitedly pull out your notebook, set your only pencil between the faint blue lines—and the graphite tip snaps. You can try to use your pocket knife to widdle a new point, but you’re now taking even more time from writing. Maybe you don’t set yourself to write immediately even though you try because you’re just exhausted and can’t set your mind to writing, and place it in your hammock with you and you fall asleep—only to wake up to a thunder crack and the bottom of your hammock and your notebook soaked from rain. That last one happened to me, and it definitely put a damper (ba-dum-tiss) on the trip. Of course you’ll have to adapt to any situation you find yourself in, but though it may be annoying to have to walk a few blocks back your apartment to grab more paper, it will be impossible to carry absolutely everything you might normally use in the urban landscape as you’re carrying everything on your back into the backcountry. While everyone’s preferences are different, below I’ll talk about what has worked for me.
When it comes to notebooks, size does matter. I’m not just talking about the weight you may be carrying on your back either. Having gone through several different notebooks in my time, I often find the size of the page slightly alters how I write. Smaller notebooks can mean writing shorter poems or at least shorter lines, for example. It feels as if having a smaller physical space to write tricks your brain into having brevity. When I go camping I tend to take two notebooks: a “field” book and a “site” book. The field book is smaller and therefore more portable, more likely to fit in the small, front pouch of my backpack. Once I return to the family campsite, I transpose the first draft of a poem into the “site” book. This allows me to not only to edit, but reformat lines in a larger notebook with more space. If you’re at a location where you are able to bring along a laptop or some other device that allows you to type or dictate digitally, I find that type-writing has an entirely different feel to it than manually writing. When writing with a pen or pencil, you are physically slowed by how fast you can write, meaning that sentences come out slower regardless of how fast they are formulating in your mind. This forces you to slow down your train of thought and focus more on individual words upon first writing them down. In comparison, most people I know can type a lot faster than they can write, meaning that the words and thoughts come out quicker onto the page, more well-formulated or not. There’s also more speed because it is much easier to backspace than to strike out or erase something, and not to mention easier access to other research materials. Some people write exclusively and some people type exclusively, but having used both I’d say both have their pros and cons. For the sake of the topic at hand, it’s less likely you’ll have or even want access to a computer the farther you get into nature. I’ve personally found that my best nature writing happens when I’ve had to write it down manually first and then transpose it to a laptop. This forces me to really re-analyze my choice of diction, imagery, metaphors, etc. and edit the words I originally wrote down. This drives me to write draft after draft and with each subsequent draft I write, the more polished the final version will be while still having a physical copy of the most emotionally raw version to return to.
So if you are starting your piece by writing manually, you typically have the choice of either pens or pencils, and like the writing vs. typing debate, it’s really a matter of preference. I usually take both some pens and pencils along with my notebook to be on the safe side. Pens write darker, smoother, and don’t also need an eraser and sharpener. Then again, you can’t erase pen, and there’s always the risk of you running out of ink. If your pen breaks, it can lead to a mess on your clothes or backpack that’s not easily cleaned up and you’re out a writing utensil. I try to bring at least three pens (a black, blue and red one to highlight different things) with me. If you prefer pencils, there’s less chance of inky messes, and if you do snap your pencil, you get two pencils. However, I often find that pencil fades, and it’s lighter shade of writing means that you’ll have to pull out the lantern earlier. Also, there’s nothing more annoying than getting into the throes of writing to have your pencil tip break, going for the sharpener, and spilling pencil shavings everywhere. Of course, pencil shavings could make some quick tinder in a pinch. I try to bring pencils, a large eraser, and a sharpener as well as the three pens, keeping me covered for all eventualities. I’ve personally come to the conclusion that I’d rather take the extra weight than be without. Returning to The Soaked Notebook Incident of 2019, one thing that could have helped my situation is if I placed the notebook in the Ziploc freezer baggie I’d originally placed all my writing things in. This has an added benefit if you find yourself canoeing or kayaking to a writing destination, especially if you blow air into the baggie to help it float in case you tip.
While I haven’t given you the definitive answer to what are the best methods of “writing in the field” it’s good to be aware of the pros and cons of each of your options. Finding your preferences it just a matter of experience.