In this episode, Katie speaks with Lucy Beckley, a writer, poet, and creative writing facilitator based in Cornwall, about creativity, motherhood, and defiant hope. 

“We don’t always get what we’re expecting when we pay attention. But often, we find something just as beautiful.” - Lucy Beckley

Lucy holds an MA in Professional Writing from Falmouth University and a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching Creative Writing from Cambridge University. Her poetry has been shortlisted for multiple awards, including the Benjamin Zephaniah Future Writers Competition, and she runs workshops, retreats, and creative spaces that invite others into the joy and magic of writing.

We cover:

- How becoming a mother sparked Lucy’s decision to take her writing more seriously

- Why writing often happens "in the seams" of daily life and how to honour that

- Creating space to write as a form of resistance and healing

- The powerful practice of metaphorically “emptying your pockets” before writing

- How co-writing sessions and creative communities can combat the loneliness of writing

- Lucy’s Small Acts of Attention cards and the magic of playful prompts

- Embracing liminal spaces, the present moment, and the everyday poetry of life

- The role of writers in cultivating “defiant hope” in a noisy world

This conversation with Lucy is a gentle reminder that creativity doesn’t require grand gestures or perfect conditions; it thrives in the small moments, the quiet observations, and the spaces we carve out for ourselves.

Whether you’re writing in the margins of your day, capturing ‘flapping thought ribbons’, or simply noticing the light through your window, you’re engaging in a deeply human, hopeful act. Lucy’s words invite us to slow down, pay attention, and honour the magic in what might otherwise go unseen. In a world that often feels chaotic and overwhelming, this kind of intentional noticing and the creative expression that flows from it is a radical, defiant kind of hope.

More from Lucy:

Website: www.lucybeckley.com

Instagram: @lucybeckley

LinkedIn: Lucy Beckley | LinkedIn

X: Profile / X

Substack: https://lucybeckley.substack.com/

More from Katie:

Instagram: @katietreggiden.1

Website: https://katietreggiden.com/

Blue Health Coaching: https://makingdesigncircular.org/

Nature-inspired poetry: https://brackishbykatietreggiden.substack.com/t/poetry

Resources mentioned:

Books:

Small Acts of Attention Cards – a creative prompt tool for writers of all levels:

Professional Writing MA

Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching Creative Writing

Anaïs Nin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ana%C3%AFs_Nin and Bio — The Anaïs Nin Foundation

Trying with Emma Barnett

On Connection by Kae Tempest (this is an affiliate link)

Matrescence by Lucy Jones (this is an affiliate link)

Everyday Wonder by Sophie Howarth (this is an affiliate link)

Instructions for Life by Mary Oliver, Poet

What next?

If all this talk of defiant hope has got you wondering where you can find some, I have something for you. Cultivating Hope is my three-part mini-course and it’s the three steps I move through whenever I start to feel despair tugging at my edges.

You will move out of ‘fight, flight or freeze’ mode and into a calm and connected state, reconnect with nature, and find aligned actions that you can take now to keep you to remind you that you can make a difference.

In the current climate, hope is an act of defiance, and it’s one I hope you’ll take with me.

Click here to find out more here

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