📱 Trying TikTok… Send Help (and Luck)

By Tibbi Ann Hardix

Well… I’ve done it. I finally downloaded TikTok.

If you hear a distant scream drifting through the hills of West Virginia, that’s probably just me trying to figure out which button does what. I’m convinced this app was built by a committee of caffeinated teenagers with faster thumbs than I’ll ever have.

But here I am — jumping in anyway.

I keep seeing authors talking about “building a platform" and “showing your face on video,” and meanwhile I’m over here trying to figure out how to keep my camera from flipping to the ceiling every time I hit record. If TikTok gave out participation ribbons, I’d proudly pin one to my shirt.

But I also know something important: stories deserve to be shared.

And if TikTok is where readers are hanging out, then I want to meet them there — even if I trip over my own shadow on the way in.

So, wish me luck as I fumble through my very first TikTok:

a little spooky, a little sweet, a little Appalachian, and absolutely full of “I have no idea what I’m doing.”

If you see me pop up on your For You Page, feel free to say hi…

or send instructions…

or maybe a survival kit.

Either way, thanks for cheering me on as I try something new.

Here’s to learning, laughing at myself, and sharing stories in every corner of the internet — even the ones that terrify me more than the ghosts in my books.

Stay spooky, friends.

— Tibbi Ann Hardix