Friday by Friday

Katie is joined by Annie Ridout—poet, journalist for the nationals, non-fiction author of three books and a bestselling writer on Substack. Annie’s career has always run on more than one track: whether that’s as “the course lady” or as a poet—a creative thread since childhood that cracked open when she became a mother and started sharing her poems on Instagram, and now appears proudly in her multi-hyphenate email sign-off “author, journalist, poet”—soon to be updated to “poet, author, journalist”.

Annie runs a writers’ membership community, the Creative Way Collective, on Substack and an online magazine celebrating neurodivergent creatives, We Hyperfocus. Both are built on the same premise—that putting your creativity and what brings you joy at the heart of your business is a perfectly valid strategy. It’s a philosophy that emerged out a very different model—an automated, six-figure online course business that made money in her sleep but made her miserable. Given how many creatives have burnt out chasing the latter, you can see why her work appeals.

"If creativity is in the margins, and you want to bring it more centrally, I think there's something about remembering you are at the center of your work."

– Annie Ridout

In this episode, we explore…

How the art comes first and the business grows around it, not the other way round.

How audiences find and connect with the part of your work that’s most useful to them.

Having the confidence to change your mind—working fast and hard on what makes sense and stopping quickly when it stops making sense.

Spiritual tools as a way in, not an oracle, to quieten the noise long enough to hear the answer you already know.

Rejection, gatekeepers and building your own readership.

Resources mentioned during this episode:

Stag’s Leap by Sharon Olds

Raise Your SQ by Annie Ridout

Shy by Annie Ridout

The Freelance Mum by Annie Ridout

Annie Ridout

You can connect with Annie via the below:

Substack: annieridout.substack.com & thecreativewaycollective.substack.com

Website: wehyperfocus.com

IG: @annieridout

Katie Treggiden

Katie Treggiden (she/they) is a midlife AuDHD poet and narrative non-fiction author seeking wild wisdom for contemporary crises. You can find them at:

Substack: brackishbykatietreggiden.substack.com/

Insta: instagram.com/katietreggidenpoet

TikTok: tiktok.com/katietreggiden

Katie is joined by Chloé Eathorne — Cornish poet and sound artist, whose work moves between the page, the stage and the airwaves. Chloé produces The Wildflower Hour, a weekly radio show on Source FM and Sound Art Radio exploring art, nature, poetry and mental health, and recently completed an MA in Professional Writing at Falmouth University.

Chloé’s practice blends Kernewek, poetry and field recordings, drawing on the underbelly of Cornwall — the rust and resilience hidden behind its postcard image. Her work has appeared in Aspier, Cornish Modern Poetries and 26 Places in Cornwall / 26 Tyller Yn Kernow and she is a member of the Southbank Centre’s New Poets Collective.

“A handful of words can capture an entire philosophy”

– Chloé Eathorne

In this episode, we explore…

* How learning Cornish has changed how Chloé thinks about word order, emphasis and rhythm in her own English-language poems

* From festival stages to a stint on BBC Radio Cornwall, Chloé’s “poems on the spot” practice turns writing into a live, unrehearsed act of connection and terrifies Katie just thinking about it!

* The gap between the Cornwall sold in gift shops and the one people actually grow up in, and why writing honestly about that gap matters more than romanticising it

* Pushing back on the idea that performance poetry is somehow less legitimate than page poetry, and how reading a poem aloud changes it

* Applying for the things you don’t think you’ll get and putting yourself in the room even when you’re not chosen

Whether it’s a language she’s only just learning to speak or a landscape she’s spent a lifetime seeing beneath the surface of, Chloé’s poetry keeps returning to the idea that what’s hidden is exactly where the truth is.

“It's got a beauty, it isn't a fantasy language, it's this living language that more and more people are actively learning and speaking."

– Chloé Eathorne

Resources mentioned during this episode:

* Cornish Modern Poetries

* 26 Places in Cornwall / 26 Tyller yn Kernow

* Shine, Darling by Ella Frears

* Black Country by Liz Berry

* brokensleepbooks.com

* Ronald Duncan Stipends for South West Writing

* Emerging Poets in Residence programme at Cyprus Well

* Launceston Poetry Festival 2027 - The Charles Causley Trust

* poetryfoundation.org

* The Wildflower Hour on Source FM and Sound Art Radio

* Southbank Centre’s New Poets Collective

Friday by Friday 

Friday by Friday is a podcast and membership community ...for writers ready to move their creativity from the margins to the middle, one Friday at a time. 

Find out more: fridaybyfriday.substack.com/about  

Join us: fridaybyfriday.substack.com/subscribe 

Insta: instagram.com/fridayxfridayxfriday 

Chloé Eathorne

Chloé Eathorne (she/her) is a Cornish poet and sound artist, whose work moves between the page, the stage and the airwaves. You can find her at:

Substack: thewildflowerhour.substack.com

Website: https://thewildflowerhour.wixsite.com/eathornepoet

Insta: instagram.com/eathornepoet

Katie Treggiden

Katie Treggiden (she/they) is a midlife AuDHD poet and narrative non-fiction author seeking wild wisdom for contemporary crises. You can find her at:

Substack: brackishbykatietreggiden.substack.com/

Insta: instagram.com/katietreggidenpoet

TikTok: tiktok.com/@katietreggiden