Categories
Life Writing

A Writer’s TikTok | I SPY, IN JULY

Ever wonder what us weirdo authors end up posting on TikTok? Well, here’s your answer….

I’ve put a snapshot of the highlight videos from my @christygracescarletpen TikTok account.

>>Check all about my first book – KIDNAPPED Entanglement >>>here

If you want to see more, you can look me up and scroll through them 😀
If you want to read my book, head to the link >>>here for the KIDNAPPED Entanglement eBook, OR get the paperback direct from me for the cheapest price!

Don’t forget to check back every night this month for another video – there are some pretty fun things coming!


See You in the Adventures!
Christy Grace

Categories
Life Writing

TikTok Pros and Cons

There’s been a lot of talk about shutting down or banning TikTok in a few countries. Love or hate, believe the conspiracies or not, there’s just something fun about the app!

Like so many people around my age, I was against to start with!!!! I claimed that I would never do videos… ever! Then, (like everyone on TikTok) I got hooked! I started watching funny videos, then found myself making them. And guess what… It was really fun!

I stopped a while back, because I got really busy and didn’t have the time, but it was actually pretty enjoyable to be silly and film myself miming to classic move and tv quotes.
But it’s not all sunshine and roses. I found that there were pros and cons in using TikTok. Specifically, as a writer…

TikTok cgsp writer social media

Pros:

  • It’s a fun way to connect with all kinds of people
  • You can express yourself and your weirdness
  • I got to see what other people were up to
  • You can mime to your fav songs or quotes (I’m partial to the quotes)
  • I get a chance to create my own content too (not just the quote fest!)
  • You can show your personality in another way/avenue

Cons:

  • Sometimes, you don’t reach many people (unless you have millions of followers…)
  • It can be pretty time consuming
  • Some “trends” (the popular videos for you TikTok newbies) suck – they just aren’t fun
  • It can be hard to be found by the audience you want in the beginning
  • The content cant be played on any other format (like Youtube) due to copyright issues

Like it or loathe it, TikTok is going to be here for a while. When I get a bit more time on my hands, who knows? Maybe I’ll start doing them again!

If you want to check out MY TikTok account – my profile is @christygracesp or head to the link >>>here


See You in the Adventures!
Christy Grace

Categories
Life

Wasting Time on Social Media

More and more, our lives are online. Especially right now with being in lockdown and trying to stop the spread of something which is dangerous to everyone.

During this time, i’ve found myself going down rabbit holes, getting hooked into a cycle and a loop of Social Media blackouts. When I come too, it’s been two hours, and i’ve not moved or done anything productive except learnt how someone made a pizza at home during their own lockdown experience.

My favourite Social Media ‘vice’ right now is TikTok, and before you close down this post thinking ‘this isn’t a post for me, i’m not 18 years old’ you can keep reading – because news flash, TikTok has so many ages on it. My favourite is the old grandmas and grandpas dancing with their grandkids, but a lot of the content on there, is by millennials, people in their 50s, you name it – they’ve got it.

I watch for the humorous or inspiring content, not the teeny boppers in midriff tops and yoga pants shaking their rump in one video, then complaining about being objectified in the next. But, i’ve found that recently while I have limited structure at home, i’ve been sucked into this online world more and more. Where once, I had vowed never to post a video myself, I posted one of my dog. Then the next vow to never be in one myself, and I posted a few of me… it’s a slippery slope people!

Regardless of where you’re getting lost right now – be it online, or puzzles, or perhaps painting (which is something fun i’ve been getting back into), we seem to have a lot more free time to spend on things that we otherwise wouldn’t have.
I can’t help but think that this sudden interest in sitting on Instagram or TikTok all day long, is because I have some of those ‘isolation feels’ – because it’s easier to get sucked into an imaginary world, or a fantasy world, than face the real one.

I’m excited to explore more things to do, have more time to spend on stuff I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to, but I want to be careful with WHAT I am putting my focus into. Spending five ours on TikTok is NOT going to write my book, or post these amusing antidotes for you guys!

How are you spending your free time? Are you getting lost down the rabbit hole of Social Media too? I’d LOVE to know, so comment with your pass time right now!
In the meantime…


See You in the Adventures!
Christy Grace 

Categories
Life

21st Century Message in a Bottle

Is TikTok just for teenagers?

I’m not a teenager – let’s just start this off with that fact right now… but, i’ve found myself dragged into the recent phenomenon that is TikTok, where I realised something – it’s not just for teenagers!!

There are so many people, old, young and in between, who are on TikTok!! Okay, i’ll admit – I don’t watch ‘trends’, I tend to end up with the videos of someone yelling at turkey’s outside their window so they gobble back, or a dancing ferret… however, there was one video I saw recently which managed to get my writer/curiosity senses tingling.

I think I remember in the back of my mind hearing about leaving a USB with a random note on it for a stranger, but this was the first time (in a long time anyway) where I had actually seen it in practice! A guy on TikTok found a USB (not unlike the one Evelyn Carmichael was after in the Hannah Carmichael Chronicles) and when he plugged it into his computer at home, it was called ‘YOU FOUND ME’ with a special message in a document.

Even though he didn’t show WHAT the doc said in the first video, it sparked my interest, and my thoughts of what I would put on the USB….

I’d like to think it would be something profound (like a quote about prosperity, finding what was once lost or some other thing along those lines), or even sales worthy (like a free copy of the Hannah Carmichael Chronicles PART ONE…

What message would you put on a USB? Would it be like having a ‘message in a bottle’ after being stranded on a desert island? A modern day version, helping people find their way in this crazy world.. Or maybe it would be your phone number????

Let me know what YOU would want it to say, and what you would put on it in the comments, or on the CGSP Facebook page!


See You in the Adventures!
Christy Grace