BootsnAll Travel Community

Question:
As my girlfriend and I drive around the US and I attempt to keep myself writing, I've been wondering what a lot of other people use when they're travelling and attempting to write at the same time.

Personally, I can't afford the pocket pc or laptop and think the latter is too heavy, napkins would drive me nuts, and there's no way I can just leave it all til I return home. Thus I'm left with the notebook but I find it hard to keep articles and whatnot arranged.

Thus the question begs:

What do you use to write on the road?

Choices:
Laptop computer
Palm or pocket pc
Notebook
Napkins and train schedules
Nothing, I just remember it and write at home

 

The internet is the saviour. I use two free email accounts, type in stuff and send it from one account to another.

I also use the files/briefcase, call it what you will (space) provided by some email service provides such as yahoo. I can even upload digital pics to this e-briefcase. It is just swell.

I discovered this last year and have been using this method ever since. and above all, it is free (well just the hours spent at the internet cafes)

Happy writing

Great question.

Funny, on Christmas, people get me fancy leather bound travel journals...mainly because they are labeled "travel journals" in the store. But for me, those are usually too bulky to carry around.

When I'm on the road, I always carry a little 3" x 5" memopad and a pen. When I'm on a roll, I write like every 10 minutes, writing down EVERYTHING, in case a trivial event becomes more significant in a "bigger picture" that I will later on discover.

The key to this is to travel with people who don't mind you stopping again and again and again to jot down notes.

I used to write out complete sentences, but lately, I learned to just make bullet points of interesting things, or ways of wording, or pop-culture references, etc.

When I get home, I transcribe these notes onto computer, which takes a while, but at least it's archived somehow. Plus, the process of transcription takes me all back.

Notes are always good when you end up writing a story for a publication, even if the story doesn't involve a recent trip.

e.

http://www.theglobaltrip.com

[This message was edited by eeyartee on 29 June 2003 at 12:44.]

e,

how much time during your travels would you say you devout to note taking/writing? percentage wise.

I guess the real questions are, what comes first: trip or writing? Does your need/want to take notes and write about topies dampen your actual experiences?

Thanks,
Casey

Good question, good question.

Well, the reason why I started just doing bullet points instead of complete sentences is the fact that the writing I felt, DID inhibit the experience of travel. In my bullet points, I just jot down the phrases that come to mind so that I can figure out the sentence later; sort of like a shorthand that only I can understand.

I try to take notes in the downtime; while waiting for food, or waiting on a line...and of course, while I'm on the toilet. At night before I turn in, I catch up on the whole day, so that the current days' notes don't take up time from taking notes the next day.

I guess it really depends on how much time you have, and what kind of trip you're on.

It's funny you should ask me this question today; this morning I landed a weekly travelogue column gig on Lycos, and now perhaps the writing might have to come before the travel. Although, the writing is about the travel, so I'll have to find a balance.

e.

http://www.theglobaltrip.com

I always jot down thoughts and notes, more bullet-style - they can always be expanded into narrative later, if need-be. Whenever I get an idea, I jot it down (because you are not going to remember later - I think that's a law of writing). Conversations, I always try to get down too, as best I can; they make for interesting reading.

I'm going to mention AlphaSmartsp again... if you drive a lot, they're very easy to use in the car, as they're small and battery-powered. ONe person can drive, the other can type, take dictation, whatever.

Keeping a wee notepad in your pocket is another good idea. When you're walking around or if you just had a chat with someone, you can always stop for a minute or 2 and jot down notes. Always do it as close to the time as possible - memories like that fade quickly, since on the road there's always something new coming in for you to experience and pay attention to!

Cheers, Anthony - Eurail Blog.com
And yes, this marmoset still can be bribed with pints.

I keep a 3"x5" memo pad in my pocket at all times. They're as much for bus schedules, people/bar/restaurant names, and foreign vocabulary as for observations, odd thoughts, sketches, and stories. Scribbling quick notes or parts of notes is an easy matter without making the trip suffer. Then, whenever I have a block of time on a bus, or before I go to sleep, I record it all in longer, more narrative form in a travel journal. Mind you, I'm usually several days behind on the journal and usually finish it off at home, but the process gives it all a little more structure, brings out details and meaning that I often don't conciously catch when in the moment, and as ERT said, going back over it all really takes you back; It's amazing how much clearer you see someone's face as you read about in your notes about some quirky thing they did.

I suppose I can get away with this system because I'm not doing it all for a magazine, but for imagined membership with the ghosts of past travellers I read about, who did similarly. My hat's off to those who have a regular deadline for writing. Maybe someday I'll find out what that's like. One good thing about this system is that I've gotten into some great converations with locals who see me jotting notes. A perfect stranger leaned across a table in a corwded bar once and said, "What are you, the next John Grisham?!" We talked and bought each other drinks 'til about 2am. Others have really gotten into teaching me things because they realized that I might actually remember.

I think that for some it is a detraction from the travel experience to take notes or write regularly. I also think this is what sets the travel writer apart, it takes a different mindset to want to record your adventures and share them accurately. Travel writers are certainly a different animal than straight travelers, or even travel photographers.

_____________________
Unusual travel suggestions are dancing lessons from [the gods].

I feel pretty conflicted on this point. I want to travel write, but only based on experiences that have landed in my lap (so to speak). Does seeking out these "writable experiences" degrade the story that is written? Does it become false in some way? Perhaps just forced? Is it truly a travel narrative if the story is aggresively sought instead of stumbled upon?

Any thoughts on this?

I recently read a slew of Tim Cahill stories, which were definitely compelling and funny and all that jazz, but I often felt like they were forced. Perhaps it was that I knew he was going into these advetures to gain a story, but it all seemed a little fake to me.

Casey

Seems like a large gray area to me, I mean, how do we define when a story is aggressively sought after or simply stumbled upon?

I imagine that it might be common for a writer to embark on a journey with a story in mind only to be caught by a completely different reslult. The initial drive would be from seeking out a story but the final result is something stumbled upon.

I can really see where you're coming from though, what happens when small events are blown out of proportion for the sake of a good story? How much of the published writing out there has been written to sell rather than to relate a true tale? Any time money is involved then perspectives are going to get skewed.

_____________________
Unusual travel suggestions are dancing lessons from [the gods].

Wow, good question Menudio. Ambulance chasing for travel writers?

I think the only time a story would become false in this way is if the writer tried to hide his approach behind a "there I was, minding my own business, when..." screen, or removed himself completely form the story and made it seem like the events were natural. Otherwise, I'd say that there are plenty of good stories waiting to be pursued, so long as you don't make up your mind how they will end before they even begin. That's liable to give you a boring story, fiction, or a story about how your story didn't pan out.

I imagine that forced stories take more skill to tell well, making the organic kind better meat for writing (or whatever the medium) - Geraldo Rivera opening up Al Capone's secret vault on live television counts as forced.

Sometimes the voices in my head look up and say, "there's a story there" and this can make me pay more attention to certain details. Sometimes, near the end of a trip, they will long for one more good bit of adventure or coincidence, and this longing can attract strange people. None of my voices say, "do this - you need another story."

Well, I don't go forcing my travel stories. Interesting stuff inevitably happens on the road.

Put it this way: a good travel story is the events of a journey with all the boring and irrelavant stuff edited out.

I try and take notes of EVERYTHING, no matter how trivial, in case, when looking back a trip, little trivial things actually lead up to a bigger event. The process of this build up IS the story.

I'll admit when I realize that I'm "in" a story as I'm away, I do things for the sake of plot twists to see what happens to me. The results aren't forced, they are natural. This also prevents fiction.

e.

http://www.theglobaltrip.com

I carry a journal with me and write about my day at the end of the day before I go to sleep.

Peace.