The Creative Way (with Annie Ridout)

Articles

If I can succeed on Substack, so can you

3 days ago | annieridout.substack.com | Annie Ridout

It’s 2008, I’ve just completed my English degree and I’m living in Hackney, working in a pub. Laid out on the bar is a selection of newspapers, including a local Hackney paper I write for, and the chef is out of the kitchen, sat on a bar stool, reading it. He looks up at me: you’re not a bad writer, you know. I know this chef. We share friends.
Will I lose friends if I stop drinking?

4 days ago | annieridout.substack.com | Annie Ridout

In March 2020, as we heard rumours of the first lockdown and people began stockpiling loo roll, I went to my local Tesco and bought a load of tinned fruit and vegetables, plus several mini bottles of Prosecco. The rations many of us collected ended up being quite unnecessary, as shops remained open throughout the pandemic, and so I never did get round to eating the tinned carrots. But I definitely drank the Prosecco.
The Writer: Poorna Bell, author and journalist

1 week ago | annieridout.substack.com | Annie Ridout |Poorna Bell

I first came across Poorna Bell some years ago at an event in east London. She was part of a panel talk, speaking candidly about the subject of her debut book - Chase the Rainbow - which retraces the life she shared with her late husband, Rob. I’ve followed her ever since and I wanted to ask Poorna more about her life, as a writer, as she publishes her latest novel, This is Fine (Penguin, 2025) about a child-free woman who steps in to help her wayward teenage niece. Here’s our interview.
How it feels to be 40

1 week ago | annieridout.substack.com | Annie Ridout

I see a ledge slightly above my head, off to the left, and that is 40. It is dark grey, maybe metal, and therefore solid. It is something to reach for. Meanwhile, the 30s are soluble and the past decade - my 30s - has seen me dissolving in a body of water that is like a huge water tank. I appreciate that this metaphor might be confusing or difficult to visualise, and so I will also try to give some background and clearer descriptors. When I entered my 30s, I had a one-year-old daughter.
Tricking the Substack system is not a solid strategy

1 week ago | annieridout.substack.com | Annie Ridout

When I first joined Substack, someone who had a lot of subscribers already and was earning good money from it told me that if they went a while without posting, they lost less paid subscribers. They were laughing, as they said it. I felt a bit sad that this had become a strategy: just don’t remind people that you exist and they will forget to stop supporting you. It’s complicated, isn’t it? But on the whole, I think we want our writing to gain us new paid subscribers, rather than make them leave.
A sensual start to the week

1 week ago | annieridout.substack.com | Annie Ridout

My daughter asked me a lovely question, recently. She said: what are your favourite things for each of the senses? I enjoyed answering her question, and hearing her answers, and I thought I’d share an idea for engaging each of the senses, and invite you to think about this question, too. Wherever I am, I search for the sky. I watch the sun rise and the sun set, and observe the shapes of the clouds. I love how the sky becomes illuminated before a rainstorm.
AI: go all in, or boycott?

2 weeks ago | annieridout.substack.com | Annie Ridout

There is a lot of scaremongering content surrounding the rise of AI. Every few days, I come across articles with disturbing statistics (that I won’t share, because I’m not here to scare you). It really highlights our negativity bias and tendency to let fear layer up. Sometimes, I get sucked into those articles and find myself panicking. And then, I think: is this helping? Is this productive? Is this going to give me ideas for innovating? And the answers are no, no and no.
The dreaded plateau on Substack

2 weeks ago | annieridout.substack.com | Annie Ridout

Housekeeping: If you’d like less emails in your inbox, and to access these Substack pieces through the website or app, head here: substack.com/settings, scroll down to ‘notifications’ and under ‘newsletter delivery’ select ‘prefer app’. I told you about the time I lost 31 paid Substack subscribers over a short space of time and how I felt like a proper failure but then, decided to make a change. It was fun, making the change, but it didn’t work.
I used to be successful.

2 weeks ago | annieridout.substack.com | Annie Ridout

I have thousands of photos stored on my phone and every now and again, I scroll back through them. Usually, with my kids. Usually, looking for photos of my kids. But occasionally, I’ll find one of me. Often, it’s a professional one. Taken by someone else, because it’s linked to an event I spoke at, or a launch I did. Sometimes, I think: lookhow thick and shiny my hair used to be; look how toned my arms and legs were; look how clear my skin was; look how happy I look.
The problem with Substack

2 weeks ago | annieridout.substack.com | Annie Ridout

When I was writing The Freelance Mumback in 2018, several prominent Instagrammers said the secret to success was, perhaps frustratingly, just making good content and if people like it, you’re off. There was no secret sauce; no hashtag to turn a failing Instagram account into a thriving one, no amount of mentions or cross promotion that would guarantee you a fast-growing, high-engagement account. And then, when I joined Substack two years ago, similar messages abounded. Just write from the heart.