And to save a bit of effort, rather than typing “- [ ]” you can also press Cmd-Enter or Ctrl-Enter which automatically makes a dash, and then the 2nd time, automatically makes the task format. And then a 3rd time, toggles between checked and unchecked.
As for the “tp_today” template, maybe someone already knows, but what plugin are you using that is expecting “tp_today” and “tp_tomorrow”? I’m not familiar with that template notation.