Blog – Page 32 – Charles Daly

TK

T.K is journalism speak for ‘to come.’*

Next time you’re stuck just insert this handy abbreviation and move on. In nonfiction it can stand in for facts and stats you can look up later, thus avoiding the ‘black hole’ of internet research. For fiction writers, TK relieves the burden of having to find the mot juste.

He had this TK tendency of laboring over a single word he would end up deleting later anyway.

As with the entire first draft , TK is just for you.

*‘K’ is for ‘come’ because ‘TK’ doesn’t appear anywhere in the English language (besides the Atkins Diet) so it won’t cause confusion and is easily searchable.

Writing with Dysentery

What’s the one aspect of your craft you know you could do no matter what? Forget about your muse and your flow and consider the nitty gritty. What’s something you know you could get done even if you were soiling your trousers with a fever of 103°?

Figure this out when you’re in good shape (you won’t be able to when you’re not,) put it on a 3×5, and get some work out of your sick days and your lost weekends.

Have a Playlist

Here’s how some greats have done it:

Hunter S. Thompson wrote Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to a live version of “sympathy for the devil” on repeat. Stephen King is a metal guy*. David Foster Wallace mentions writing to Pink Floyd and Nirvana in his book length interview Although of Course you end up Becoming Yourself. He kept a poster of Alainis Morisette on his bedroom wall. Art of Manliness founder, Brett McKay puts on the manly film scores from Gladiator and Braveheart.

*King on writing