Travel and Writing

Going on vacation doesn’t have to mean taking a vacation from writing.  I am going on a road trip to the American Southwest soon.  Between the Grand Canyon and staying with my husband’s family, I can’t promise that I’ll get any writing done.  But leaving it at home guarantees no writing.

Two weeks.  One car.  Four thousand plus miles.  What is the best way to pack the writing?

Unless I’m writing a blog post or other short piece, I write the old way.  Pen and paper.

I can see it now.  Leaves of ink scribbles blowing across the plateaus until being impaled on cacti needles.  So not happening.

What stays at home:

Original manuscript papers

Notes

Story folders

Hard electronic files (such as on a laptop)

Flash drives

What comes:

Messenger bag/zipped tote

To contain all the writing materials.  Must have a good shoulder strap that can go across my body.  I’ll probably take the one I use for attending my writers’ group.

Two cheap spiral notebooks

I will rip the pages out, so no sense in using anything more expensive.  One notebook will be completely blank.  This will be good for new things, notes, or whatever.  The second will have a page where I write the last line or two of my works in progress.  I will use those lines as a starting point for continuing.

Few crappy pens

Ones I may have gotten for free that I won’t care about losing.

One good writing pen

This is an extra fine point (.5 mm) black pen.  Currently, I’m using a Bic Atlantis Exact.  It has a cushioned grip without being bulky.  And it clicks.  No tops to lose.  All pens will go into a zip bag.

Laptop

Mainly, this will be used for research, writing blogs, managing pictures, and checking my trip spreadsheet.

Writing in a notebook eliminates the need for a hard writing surface.  Bringing my lap desk would take too much room and could be awkward.  Plus, I could lose it.  Yes, I could lose my notebooks as well or leave them in a hotel room.  Why not write on the laptop and save to the cloud?

I expect my internet connection to be inconsistent.  That’s if I even have the internet at some points during the trip.  Cell service in parts of Arizona might be dodgy or nil.  And hotel wifi may only work in the lobby.  Then, there’s tapping on a tiny laptop keyboard without swiping the touchpad.  Pen and paper are safer.

My overland adventure could focus my mind on my paper adventure and allow me to return with pages of writing brilliance.  Or maybe give me fodder for stories both current and future.  The only certainty is my excitement for exploring places unknown to me.  Where it goes from there will be captured in ink.