I have writer profiles on both Facebook and Instagram.
I used to have Twitter but evacuated that platform after You-Know-Who took it over and it became a hate-filled place. It’s a shame because I’d had some very pleasant years when I actually met really nice people in actual person at local ‘Tweet-ups’.
I toyed with Threads for a while but couldn’t really see the point. I’m pretty sure my Instagram posts are shared there automatically but I never look to check.
I like Instagram and the pretty grid of photoes but I don’t have many followers. And a lot of the things I follow seem vacuous and self-indulgent, a carefully-curated ‘country life’ style that’s not really for someone like me. I’m from a rural working class background in south Somerset and can spot a London luvvie fake a mile off.
It’s my Maddie Grigg Facebook page where the feedback magic seems to happen.
And why does this matter? Because I need to spread the word now I have an indie-published novel out. (Plashy Fen, in case you missed it.) And it’s good to engage with my reader base where they hang out and have a conversation.
This week, I was astonished when a picture and a story about a cute charity shop purchase hit more than one hundred ‘likes’ on my Facebook page and generated some warm-hearted comments.
It’s still going up.
Have I been targeted by good natured bots? I don’t think so, but who knows the vagaries of algorithms and what jumps out at Facebook users as they scroll past all the rubbish adverts on their feed.
Anyway, I’m reproducing the words and picture below. If you’re reading this, maybe you can tell me how I can keep up this engagement, because I’m darned if I know how to do it.
I saw this in a charity shop window in Ilminster and bought it for someone as a Christmas gift – but then decided to keep it myself. 
Well, it is so sweet and reminds me of a vase we used to have at home when I was growing up.
It was an interesting morning in the town – just a mile or so from the farm where I was born and brought up. I saw an older woman in the most fantastic outfit, which included trousers in a leopard skin print. I commented on her fabulous ensemble and she promptly returned the compliment with a smile.
I then saw a couple of older ladies chatting outside the wonderful Ilminster Emporium (which used to be Dyers’ drapery and clothing shop, and still has the Pretty Polly parrot I remember from childhood). Anyway, they both looked very pretty in pink and I politely interrupted their conversation to compliment them on their incredible coats.
We then began rabbiting on and they told me they were 85 and had known each other since they were very small children. I asked them if they were brought up around Ilminster and they both were. So when I said I was too, they asked my family name. Turns out they remembered my late aunties and my mum. It it was just lovely. Sometimes you just have to stop and talk to people at random. It’s good for the soul.
And the rabbit jug will always remind me of a cheerful day.
#charity #charityshopfinds #rabbit #somerset #china
If you have ideas on how I can follow this Facebook post, please let me know. In the meantime, have a good week.
Love, Maddie x
