TK: The Journalism Trick to Beat Writer's Block
13 Jul 2026
The habit: writing around what you don't know yet
TK is a method borrowed from journalism, meaning "to come." Writers use it as a placeholder when they're not sure what to say yet — a stand-in for a stat, a name, a quote, or any detail that isn't ready when the rest of the sentence is.
The logic is simple: dropping in a TK lets a writer keep the full picture down before returning to fill in finer details, avoiding constant stopping and starting. Instead of getting stuck mid-paragraph hunting for a number or fact, you write past it and move on.
Why TK works as a TODO list
Beyond keeping momentum, TK also functions as a built-in TODO checklist available in any text editor. Because it's an unusual character combination, it's easy to search for later — no special tool required, just a find command in whatever document you're already using.
That searchability is part of the appeal. One cited data point: an online dictionary suggests there are over 7,000 words containing the string "tc." (It's worth noting this figure references "tc," not "tk" — the report doesn't explain why this particular string was cited in an article about the term "TK," so the connection is unclear as presented.)
Why founders should care
For early-stage founders drafting pitch decks, investor updates, or internal memos, a placeholder habit like TK could plausibly help maintain writing speed — you get the argument or narrative down first, then circle back for the missing figure, quote, or metric rather than losing momentum mid-draft.
It may also serve as a lightweight way to track unfinished sections across shared documents, since a marker like TK is easy to search for without adding new tools to a workflow.
That said, the practice comes with real caveats founders should weigh:
- Unfinished drafts risk. Relying on placeholder markers like TK could lead to documents that never get finished if the "to come" details are never revisited.
- Team unfamiliarity. Team members unfamiliar with the TK convention may misunderstand or overlook these placeholders in shared documents, especially in fast-moving startups where docs get passed around quickly.
What's still unclear
The report doesn't specify which newsrooms or writers originated or popularized TK, nor does it offer data on how widely the convention is used outside journalism or how it stacks up against other placeholder techniques. There's also no information on which text editors natively support searching for "TK" as a TODO marker — so founders adopting this would likely be relying on standard find/search functions rather than any purpose-built feature.
Given the absence of adoption data, this is best treated as an informal writing habit rather than a proven productivity system — worth trying for a faster first draft, but not a substitute for a real task-tracking process once documents move toward final review.