Archive - Annie Ridout

Coming back after rejection

Before - and alongside - success comes rejection. So, how do you keep going when it's knocked you to one side?

Aug 4 •

I'm shedding a skin

Snakes shed their skin two to four times a year. How often should we be 'shedding our skin' (out with the old, in with the new)?

Aug 1 •

July 2025

It actually happened.

I wrote poems and essays and shared them online, and now I'm going to have a book of poems and essays published. The Creative Way in action.

Jul 29 •

What raving taught me about friendship

The years I spent at raves and festivals informed how I choose to socialise, now. I don’t want to be part of a clique.

Jul 25 •

Do we actually need feedback?

Or, does the internet provide it for us?

Jul 22 •

The success timeline

If you're having a dip in confidence, or feel blocked with your writing/work, this exercise will help to lift you back up and out of it.

Jul 17 •

You make the ordinary feel cinematic

This was what someone said about my poetry. I used it as the subject line for an email to a publisher and now, it looks like a collection of my poems…

Jul 15 •

The Writer: Rosamund Dean, journalist and author

"I’m always baffled and surprised when something’s a success, failure feels more normal. Which is lucky because a big part of being a freelance writer…

Jul 11 •

and

A ceremony for letting go

Following a particularly challenging motherhood chapter, I decided to have a 'letting go' ceremony. Here's the story, what helped me through the hardest…

Jul 9 •

This matters more than a book deal

In light of the literary exposé in this weekend's Observer, revealing the real story behind The Salt Path, it feels increasingly important to nurture an…

Jul 7 •

The Writer: Anna Whitwham, author and lecturer

Anna Whitwham is the critically-acclaimed author of the novel Boxer Handsome and a more recent memoir, Soft Tissue Damage. Here, we talk about finding…

Jul 4 •

Writers need to be entrepreneurs.

It's always been this way.

Jul 2 •

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