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1 week ago | 
annieridout.substack.com | Annie Ridout
I launched a new course last week. A three-month bumper course that covers everything I’ve been teaching in terms of building a career as a freelance writer and creative entrepreneur, over the past year and a half. And no one signed up. There was one person who seemed interested. I responded to their email and then I didn’t hear anything again. I don’t chase people. Instead, I continue to mention the course from time-to-time, trusting that if someone is going to sign up, they will.
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1 week ago | 
annieridout.substack.com | Annie Ridout
I said it as a joke:My husband side-eyed me while dipping poppadoms in spiced mango chutney at our local Indian restaurant and looked both worried and intrigued.
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2 weeks ago | 
annieridout.substack.com | Annie Ridout
When I got my first book deal, I was extremely excited. I went up The News Building to the 4th Estate offices to sign my contract with a view over London. It felt swanky and I felt special. The process of writing the book was quite wonderful, too. I had a three-year-old in nursery and one-year-old at home, so I found a childminder to look after my younger child two half days a week. I’d march to a cafe, set up my laptop and write.
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3 weeks ago | 
annieridout.substack.com | Annie Ridout
I tend to leap before I look. I’ve probably said that before. An idea lands and I dive straight into it - if it feels really right - before letting doubt step in my way. That’s how I launched my first online course, in 2019. At the time, I was working two days a week for a business that I part owned (long story that I’ll probably never tell) and it wasn’t going so well.
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1 month ago | 
annieridout.substack.com | Annie Ridout
I will turn 40 this year. I feel awkward saying that because people often think I’m 40+ already. I don’t know if it’s my long flowing dresses and Birkenstocks, the ‘smile lines’ around my eyes or the fact that I still wash my face with Dove soap like a teenager. But, judgements - and following awkwardness - aside (Oh my God, are you not even 40??), I’m looking forward to my 40th.
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1 month ago | 
annieridout.substack.com | Annie Ridout
I’m in Ireland for the Easter holidays, in Dingle, near the tiny farm where my grandma was born and raised, and I can see the lightly-rippling salt water in the Bay of Dingle from the holiday home we’ve rented. The sun shines consistently through our five days here - a rarity - and glistens and sparkles on the sea that looks more like a lake, because there are no crashing waves or crunchy foam.
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1 month ago | 
annieridout.substack.com | Annie Ridout
Quick note: for my creative business emails, you can sign up here (they are completely free to read) but most of my essays here are now behind a paywall. For just £3.50/month or £35/year, you can access all the essays, including the archive. I’m grateful to those who support my writing, thank you. I’ve become multilingual in love languages. I know that my husband loves it when I bake granola or hand him a cup of tea or make plans to see people he likes, and so I try to do this fairly often.
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1 month ago | 
annieridout.substack.com | Annie Ridout
I’m eight years old and home is my sanctuary. We live in a terraced house on a road in north London with a nice garden that has a gate at the end leading out to a communal green space we call The Hundred Acre Woods, although it’s probably less than one acre. There, we meet with our neighbours’ children and swing on the swing, tend to the rabbits and try to sell bags of soil to each other. I go to school and I have a best friend and three other close friends.
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1 month ago | 
annieridout.substack.com | Annie Ridout
Back in 2015, I started an Instagram account to share the daily articles I was publishing on my digital magazine. It was easy, because I would use the main photo from the article or interview, and I’d pinch the standfirst to use as a caption. I’d get a few likes here and there but although the articles that were going out were getting lots of views, the Instagram posts were pretty lazy and so they rarely took off. Nothing went viral, because: why would it?
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2 months ago | 
annieridout.substack.com | Annie Ridout
It’s Monday morning, 6am, and I’ve woken with a knotted stomach. This is strange, as I usually start the week feeling buoyant and hopeful. I’m self-employed, working from home, earning a good living doing creative work. I have designed a career that truly gives me a quite magical work-life balance. A balance I never thought would be possible. And yet, it’s Monday and I have this sense of doom. It feels like I’m back in an office job I don’t want to be doing.