Gifted Underachievers

Unbelievably, John Irving has yet another book out (at 408 pages a novella for him) despite his stay at the Gifted Underachiever club house. Nevertheless, we drop in on Pat and James as they discuss their plans for preparing John Irving for the holidays. Question for Listeners: How many books does he have in him? For Further Exploration: John Irving on Obsessions Thanks for listening to Gifted Und...

For a full year, your Gifted Underachievers applied for grants to fund our creative projects. Were we good at it? Not really. Did we enjoy it? A hard no. Did we have any success? Sort of. Dobes did qualify for a grant, but the funding body ran out of money before they got to her name. In other words, they said yes to the project but no money changed hands. Our takeaway? It’s a tricky system to nav...

In this segment, Gifted Underachiever James Buchanan explains the concept of functional fixedness, talks about how it can impair our ability to produce meaningful creative work, and suggests a few solutions. Questions for Listeners: * Do you care if Mary Roach gets a blurb from Bill Bryson? * If yes, why? If not, why not? * What’s your own way of overcoming functional fixedness? For Further Explor...

In this segment, Gifted Underachiever Dobes christens the actions of the devilish duo—evil twins, if you will—that can hold back the creation of a work-in-progress “the Hard-Easy Effect.” One evil twin is Procrastination—specifically, the kind of procrastination born from the mistaken idea that there’s not enough time to do any meaningful work on the project today because it will be hard to get in...

Pat provides a very solid 7-part marketing starter kit for creatives to continuously market ourselves and our works. The pieces are: * Understanding Budget & ROI. * Road Testing. * Network & Community. * Get Uncomfortable. * Minimum Viable Product * Observe, Analyze & Pivot. * Identify & Connect with Audience. The intent is to understand these seven elements, employ them, then as you learn, feed w...

One thing that can get in the way of creativity is that we can rationalize about our failures and thus never improve. Maybe we think “what I’ve done is good enough, and better than most.” When the rejection comes, you make it about the problems around the sale or with the gatekeeper, rather than the quality of your art. Or the opposite might be true. Maybe your art IS good but you can’t recognize...

Proving that silliness can trample any topic, Pat and James fall apart while discussing farmers’ markets…so much so that Pat’s mic cannot pick up her laughter. Lots of silly fun and then a nice memory shared by Pat. Question for Listeners: * What is your strangest farmers’ or flea market find? For Further Exploration (And Just for Fun): Business Time: Flight of the Conchords Thanks for listening t...

While working on a project, James is reading stories by well-known authors to see how they’ve handled similar topics—a bit of exploration to find inspiration. The Gifted Underachievers wonder: is this wise? Is it valid, or is it too close to stealing? What are the risks? When balanced against the rewards, are they worth it? How do we find inspiration and new ideas anyway? We go to prolific creativ...

In the act of sending out a short story to yet more literary journals. Gifted Underachiever James is hit by the thought, “Why bother?” Is this the first sign of a burgeoning nihilism? Sort of, but not really. In fact, it is James feeling like literary magazines are becoming a pointless exercise. He’s met mostly by rejection, often from young people at a college MFA program. But even when the hoped...

Here in the Gifted Underachiever clubhouse, we rarely disagree. But if we were to engage in conflict, James knows how to get out of it. He has come across a resource advising the use of 7 simple phrases to help one regain control of a conversation—specifically, a conversation with a creative client or collaborator on a particular project. Hope you enjoy this spirited discussion of why these 7 phra...

Under the category of “overcoming self-doubt and imposter syndrome,” James suggests that the Gifted Underachievers start a “kindness file,” aka an “artistic wins journal.” He and Pat discuss whether this idea has merit, propose some names and formats for the concept that aren’t quite so douchey, and decide that yes, it just might be worth trying. Questions for Listeners: * Do you have a box, journ...

Pat and James display key BBC mystery expertise when discussing Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, Scottish criminal law, and a few more embarrassing (and humorous) thoughts on Death by Misadventure. Question for Listeners: * Who is your favorite: Poirot or Marple? Perhaps Vera? Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! This post is public so feel free to share it. If you’re not already a subscribe...

There’s more than one type of nostalgia around art. Art media coverage seems to highlight the Old Masters, people who haven’t made art in a long time—heck, they haven’t even breathed in centuries! Their work gets a disproportionate amount of arts coverage not because art critics are nostalgic for an earlier time, and not because their art is awesome (although it is), but because of the giant sums...

Right now, Pat sees creative work as often being underappreciated (unless it sells well). She encounters many creatives who are struggling to find an audience, produce consistently, and make a living with their art. She’d like to see more accessible local community-building spaces and support for artists, both public and individual. She’d like to see easier and more transparent access to studio sp...

There’s really not much to say other than Pat and James get very giggly while talking about boxes, Pat’s potential transformation during her upcoming trip to Europe, and the fun of being a misanthrope. Questions for Listeners Nope. Not going down that road! For Further Exploration Nobody should be exploring these boxes. Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! This post is public so feel fre...

Some creative projects burst into our minds with many, many moving parts. We might have a vision so grand that we toil for days, weeks, months, even years to fully realize it before unleashing it into the world. But overly detailed visions carry some risks—maybe our skill isn’t up to the task, maybe the complexity makes it harder for our audience to understand what we created. Then there’s the oth...

A brief discussion of autumnal sartorial choices segues into a new segment: Theatre Talk with Gifted Underachievers! In this fun, somewhat farcical, and relatively informative exploration of the delights that are community theatre, Pat and James dig into exactly how is ‘Godot’ pronounced; the big Norwegian himself, Ibsen; what is so fun about local theatre, are the great plays perhaps a bit dated,...

We’ve been inviting some guests to be interviewed on the Gifted Underachiever podcast, but not everyone has responded with a yay or a nay. James proposes a revenge system so inefficient that it would become a full-time job, and Pat agrees that his approach is actually 100% on brand for your GU hosts. Questions for Listeners: * Have we invited you to be interviewed on the podcast? * Who would YOU l...

In August, 2024, the Gifted Underachievers began a one-year Grant Experiment. The goal was to find out if we could get grants to help offset the cost of some of our most important work—creating new stuff. We had spreadsheets, we had lists, we had references, we had projects. We had hopes, we had dreams, and naturally, we had delusions. In this segment, we give a summary of our successes and failur...

All types of organizations around the world are wrestling with AI: how to use it, how not to use it, and how to establish balanced policies to govern its use and prevent abuse. The intrepid Gifted Underachievers wade into this relatively new world to discuss their own use of AI, their self-imposed limits, and the personal AI policies they live and work by. Questions for Listeners: Hop on over to t...

In this short segment, the Gifted Underachievers discuss their own hands and come up with a title for James’s memoir. Questions for Listeners: (Hop on over to the segment web page to leave a comment.) * How many fingers do YOU have on each hand? * Do you believe James’s claim of a two-pad spread? For Further Exploration: The Family with Six Fingers: Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! T...

Large and even huge media platforms (New York Times and mass audience podcasts) do not necessarily translate into increased sales for creatives. Yes, they are great, but we must be aware that there is a real difference between a ‘big breakthrough’ approach versus a ‘building toward a tipping point’ approach. The former is rare while the latter is within our reach by taking a long view to building...

Pat has reached a higher plane of existence: she is unbothered by the more than 6,000 unread emails clogging her inbox. How? Why? Well, as with most things, Pat has a system. Opening with a song—a duet a la Deux Fleurs —the Gifted Underachievers hash out how email can eat at our capacity while discussing the solutions they employ to keep it from mostly (I mean, Pat has 6,000 unread emails) getting...

Here in the Gifted Underachievers Clubhouse, our discussions of the creative life sometimes extend beyond topics like capacity, money, and audience to bigger questions, like “What’s a Caesar?” Pat initiates James to the mysteries of this bracing drink, then things (as usual) go downhill... Questions for Listeners: * Have you tried a Caesar? * Did you like it? Canadian foodie Glen with Friends debu...

Pat’s lolling on the GU lounge chair, ignoring emails. Why? BECAUSE IT’S AUGUST, she’s got a case of ennui, and fascism is in the air. Meanwhile, James has removed his kimono and privacy piece, and Pat can hardly bear to look. Questions for Listeners (Hop on over to our Substack page to leave a comment.) * What’s your August been like? * Is Z a code letter for Zero in your world? * Would you like...