So fun! I'm rooting for you and can't wait to read your final book.
I wrote my nonfiction book this year with a 10 and 13-year old in my house. I definitely had to carve out time away from them. Weekends were a big writing time for me. I am grateful that I have a separate writing space.
Are you using Scrivener? I love it to bits for non-fiction. I love it even more after working on revisions on the Word doc my editor sent me. SO SLOW to find the bits I wanted to work on!
Hi there. Brand new to SubStack and this is my first ever comment. Kate, you're the lucky winner! 😃
Great post and really encouraging. I've been working on my first novel (on and off) for 7 years. Thank you for these words in particular: "I won’t worry about those writing days that are mostly thinking and planning, when the word count doesn’t rise. That’s writing, too."
Excited to explore, discover and participate in the community here on SubStack.
TK means "to come" in copyediting shorthand. It's means "I will fix this later whenever I figure out what needs to go here." It's not TC, I believe, because that stands for Table of Contents. Or, it's TK because it's easy to search for because few to no words in English have a T and a K next to each other. It's either one of the other or both, lol.
It means many things, depending on the context. Sometimes it mean, to me when I use it, "come back to this and figure out what's wrong." I might write "more description tk tk" or "what year is it? tk tk" Sometimes it's a placeholder for something that's not certain yet, like "turn to page TK to find out more."
Yes, journalistic shorthand and so valuable to let you keep going and not stop to fill in the blank when you're on a roll. I use it CONSTANTLY. So good to hear others do too.
Loved reading this! I now have a topic for my first book, finally :) I've been contemplating for years on how, what and when. The other day I told myself I don't need to make such a big deal out of writing my first book as it will not be my last one. What was holding me back was perfectionism. Finding the perfect topic, the perfect time to write the perfect book, but perfect doesn't exist. I need to get going and enjoy the ride. It's great to read from more experienced writers about their experiences. I am excited for more posts.
Good luck!!! Being older, I'm in the enviable position of being able to write every day pretty much when I choose. But I've been in your shoes, and it's not easy. But it's doable.
Outstanding and really inspirational piece. I have been sporadically working on my first novel for the past seven years. I truly appreciate what you said: "I won't worry about those writing days when the word count doesn't go up and the main focus is on planning and thinking. Additionally, you may play the game online at: https://geometrydash-lite.io if you're interested.
So encouraging...The bits of wisdom I have gained from reading your words have catapulted, well nudged me, to finally finishing my query~~~phew! Thanks~
Well, that IS good news that someday in the not too distant future, there will be a book out in the world with your name on it, and your words in it! I just wanted to ask, in regards to subscribing, there doesn't seem to be any information on how to cancel if you no longer want to subscribe. Is that possible, or when you subscribe, it is for the rest of your life? Sorry, I'm new to this!
I love the simplicity of this. I keep waiting for whole days and the perfect sentence. This post was so great to remind me that a couple of hours and TK works too.
Thanks for the inspiration and motivation to keep writing... I’ve been working on a book for some time and feel disheartened at the thought of knowing what to do when the manuscript is finally ‘done’. How to get someone to read it? How to find an agent? A publisher? It’s all so overwhelming so thank you for your posts x
Great to hear the inside story, always. Writing with a kid in the house can be crazy--I remember coffee shops saved my sanity last book. But you're right, they do get used to mom working on her laptop and if you can get away with not having total quiet, it works. I do love Scrivener for those early draft organizing but I got hooked early on.
So fun! I'm rooting for you and can't wait to read your final book.
I wrote my nonfiction book this year with a 10 and 13-year old in my house. I definitely had to carve out time away from them. Weekends were a big writing time for me. I am grateful that I have a separate writing space.
Are you using Scrivener? I love it to bits for non-fiction. I love it even more after working on revisions on the Word doc my editor sent me. SO SLOW to find the bits I wanted to work on!
A new Scrivener user here and I've been loving it also for writing non-fiction. Makes it so much easier to piece things together.
Hi there. Brand new to SubStack and this is my first ever comment. Kate, you're the lucky winner! 😃
Great post and really encouraging. I've been working on my first novel (on and off) for 7 years. Thank you for these words in particular: "I won’t worry about those writing days that are mostly thinking and planning, when the word count doesn’t rise. That’s writing, too."
Excited to explore, discover and participate in the community here on SubStack.
Wonderful post! Thank you! One question: what is TK?
TK means "to come" in copyediting shorthand. It's means "I will fix this later whenever I figure out what needs to go here." It's not TC, I believe, because that stands for Table of Contents. Or, it's TK because it's easy to search for because few to no words in English have a T and a K next to each other. It's either one of the other or both, lol.
I also want to know this!
It’s journalism-talk for ‘to come’
Can you explain more what that means? Is it a spot that definitely needs more work, more explication, etc?
It means many things, depending on the context. Sometimes it mean, to me when I use it, "come back to this and figure out what's wrong." I might write "more description tk tk" or "what year is it? tk tk" Sometimes it's a placeholder for something that's not certain yet, like "turn to page TK to find out more."
Ah I didn't see Kate had answered above also - but it's really that simple, just code for 'to come' - so it might be 'quote from Bob TK' etc.
Yes, journalistic shorthand and so valuable to let you keep going and not stop to fill in the blank when you're on a roll. I use it CONSTANTLY. So good to hear others do too.
Loved reading this! I now have a topic for my first book, finally :) I've been contemplating for years on how, what and when. The other day I told myself I don't need to make such a big deal out of writing my first book as it will not be my last one. What was holding me back was perfectionism. Finding the perfect topic, the perfect time to write the perfect book, but perfect doesn't exist. I need to get going and enjoy the ride. It's great to read from more experienced writers about their experiences. I am excited for more posts.
Good luck!!! Being older, I'm in the enviable position of being able to write every day pretty much when I choose. But I've been in your shoes, and it's not easy. But it's doable.
Outstanding and really inspirational piece. I have been sporadically working on my first novel for the past seven years. I truly appreciate what you said: "I won't worry about those writing days when the word count doesn't go up and the main focus is on planning and thinking. Additionally, you may play the game online at: https://geometrydash-lite.io if you're interested.
So encouraging...The bits of wisdom I have gained from reading your words have catapulted, well nudged me, to finally finishing my query~~~phew! Thanks~
Thanks for that.
Well, that IS good news that someday in the not too distant future, there will be a book out in the world with your name on it, and your words in it! I just wanted to ask, in regards to subscribing, there doesn't seem to be any information on how to cancel if you no longer want to subscribe. Is that possible, or when you subscribe, it is for the rest of your life? Sorry, I'm new to this!
There should be a link at the bottom of every email that says "unsubscribe." Follow that and you can adjust as needed!
I love reading your notes!! Good luck!
I wrote my first book in bed each morning-6.30-7.30 before my teens were up, or my day job started. That beautiful quiet hour in the house!
Oh, Kate, you sweet summer child...I’m rooting for you. And we’re agency sisters, by the way.
Thank you for the behind-the-scenes look!
I love the simplicity of this. I keep waiting for whole days and the perfect sentence. This post was so great to remind me that a couple of hours and TK works too.
Thanks for the inspiration and motivation to keep writing... I’ve been working on a book for some time and feel disheartened at the thought of knowing what to do when the manuscript is finally ‘done’. How to get someone to read it? How to find an agent? A publisher? It’s all so overwhelming so thank you for your posts x
Great to hear the inside story, always. Writing with a kid in the house can be crazy--I remember coffee shops saved my sanity last book. But you're right, they do get used to mom working on her laptop and if you can get away with not having total quiet, it works. I do love Scrivener for those early draft organizing but I got hooked early on.