I recently saw this TikTok by @libbychristensen where she used the acronym “GRWM” at the start of the video:
I had to look up the term because I wasn’t familiar with it. It stands for “Get Ready With Me.”
In the video, Libby, who is a workout freak and (I think) affiliate for Gymshark and Alani Nutrition, sets her clothes out on a bench (a workout outfit, of course). Then there are clips of her getting dressed in the outfit she had just laid out. She shows herself taking her watch off the charger so we can see that it’s 4:30am. And then she makes her morning shake. She turns off the lights in her house, starts her car, and shows her pre-workout (Alani, of course). And finally we see the Lifetime Fitness sign as she enters the gym to start her workout for the day.
This video made me think about how authors can do very similar videos showing themselves getting ready for a writing session or just letting viewers get to know more about them with a “day in the life of an author” theme. In TikTok I searched “GRWM author” and discovered I wasn’t the first to have this idea!
Here are a couple of the “author edition” #GRWM videos I found:
- Kristen Casey (@kristenwritesromance) posted this video that starts with her face on the screen and the text: “GRWM (Author Edition)”. She takes a sip of her coffee and pets her cat. She lays out her writing materials (notebooks, writing utensils, highlighter, etc.) and shows her computer. The document on the screen displays the cover page with the title: “False Flag”. And then we see her face again with “(…)” on the screen indicating…what now!? And the video ends. It’s kind of a funny way to show the struggle many writers go through when it comes time to sit down and write!
- Sam Maggs (@samwritesalot) posted this video using a background sound and she does a voiceover explaining what’s in the video.
She starts the video with this text on the screen:
“My morning as a full-time writer for video games and comics in Los Angeles.”
And in the voiceover she says: “This is what my mornings look like as a full time writer. Let’s go.”
She starts by taking off her wrist brace which she has to wear at night due to a repetitive motion injury from writing. Then she says hi to her dog and explains the medication the dog has to take in the morning. She shows all of her skin care bottles and then her morning mediations and makes a smoothie. She does a transition in the video changing from her pajamas to a tie dye Neopets outfit. And then she enters her office where she’s going to be writing all day.
Her tone is a bit sarcastic, but her video is authentic and funny. As of the time of this writing, this video has 54K views and 10K likes.
Then I searched “day in the life author” and found a couple lots more great examples. Here’s a good one to share:
- Casey Mcquiston (@caseymcquiston), author of One Last Stop, posted this video that starts with her holding her book to the screen so we see the cover. The text on the screen says:
“A day in my life as an author ‘Oh my God my book is about to come out’ promo edition.”
Casey does a voiceover explaining what we’re seeing in the video as she walks us through her getting a cup of coffee for her long day ahead, she also has a big bottle of water. Then she shows herself sitting at her desk answering emails and does a Zoom interview with Insider. She takes a quick dog break, then does a phone interview. She hops on the subway to pick up an outfit for an upcoming photoshoot. Then she goes into a bookstore where she’s doing a (massive) book preorder campaign and she signs 1,500 copies that are in stock. She signs for about 4-5 hours! Then she Ubers home.
At the time of this writing, Casey’s video has 122K views and almost 28K likes.
Okay, so that last one may be the life some of us would like to have (and don’t have quite yet), but we all have things in our daily routines that others will enjoy seeing. Show your pet(s), show what you drink in the morning or how you make it, show the craziness, show the reality, be you! That’s what people want to see anyway, even (especially!) if it isn’t glamorous.
For more tips, see this post on 19 ways to promote a book on TikTok.