This week: Try "TK"

Cory Doctorow has published a great article, "Writing in the Age of Distraction." Though he's a science-fiction writer, his advice is good for us business writers as well. For example--

Researching isn't writing and vice-versa. When you come to a factual matter that you could google in a matter of seconds, don't. Don't give in and look up the length of the Brooklyn Bridge, the population of Rhode Island, or the distance to the Sun. That way lies distraction — an endless click-trance that will turn your 20 minutes of composing into a half-day's idyll through the web. Instead, do what journalists do: type "TK" where your fact should go, as in "The Brooklyn bridge, all TK feet of it, sailed into the air like a kite." "TK" appears in very few English words (the one I get tripped up on is "Atkins") so a quick search through your document for "TK" will tell you whether you have any fact-checking to do afterwards.

This week, take Doctorow's advice: draft without stopping to look anything up. When you come to a place where you need a fact, just type "TK." (I've been told it means "To Come," but with less common initial letters.) Your draft will be better as a result. Then when you revise, search for "TK" and get what you need. 

There are other good tips in the article too.

(Thanks to Lifehacker for the lead.)

Comments

[Roy Jacobsen]

I like the idea of leaving placeholders for the things you know you need to research, or flagging the information that needs a fact check.

But I struggle with my habit of trying to edit as I write. I have a hard time making myself forge ahead with the flow of my thoughts; I tend to look back at what I just wrote and then I start second-guessing myself. It's a matter of practice, I suppose.