Lately I've been writing a lot in paper notepads and I've favored pens over pencils. I don't remember where I heard this idea originally, but there's something about using a pen which makes you grow a bit more comfortable with accepting that errors and mistakes will always happen but you can take action later on to correct those mistakes. With a pencil you often erase your mistakes and pretend they never happened. You're a flawed human, not a flawless writing machine. Expecting perfection from yourself at all times is very limiting. It's better to fill up a notebook with a mix of good ideas and mistakes than to leave it blank.
Author of the post here, I use pencil because it's easier for me. Pens work fine (and I've used pens some days) but I mostly use pencil because I prefer pencil. I have a mechanical pencil that I've been getting a lot of mileage out of.
Depends on what you do. I've been glad to use pencil in the past, since it is water resistant compared to pen. Useful when you spill coffee on your notebook, or leave your hiking journal in the rain like me ...
Fair point! All tools have their uses, go with whatever works best for your situation.
I reach for a light mechanical pencil when I need to sketch a diagram or visualization since I tend to be terrible at estimating how much space will be taken up.
The article recommended Field Notes are water-proof as well, if weather conditions are a concern.
Or just change pens. You can find permanant markers in a fine tip, artist pens are sometimes waterproof once dry, and different pens are more/less waterproof - though it has been a while since I tested standard pens, and a ball point (or mechanical pencil) is much cheaper than the waterproof options.
I'd think that the bigger problem when leaving a journal in the rain is trying to keep the pages from sticking together as it dries. Probably a lesser problem with the coffee unless you have a major spill.
