Gifted Underachievers

Of late, here in the GU Clubhouse we’ve noticed a pattern with two components: 1. People buying creative services for ‘vanity’ projects (NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT). 2. Creatives achieving VERY high-volume production to compete for this demand while maintaining that they do not subcontract—it's all their work. This pattern raises the question: How do these high-volume creatives do that? In this segme...

While still important, traditional media and even social media are no longer the guarantee of success for translating eyeballs into sales. Having a big platform or getting covered by big media does not mean your art will sell. This opens up opportunities for those of us with more modest platforms and/or marketing budgets to demonstrate to gatekeepers that we do have an audience. Questions for List...

Over the last year, we have been lucky enough to welcome several Gifted Achievers into the GU clubhouse—guests from many creative disciplines willing to talk about how they ideate, create, and share their work. In interviews of about an hour, we focus on questions of capacity (how to build a sustainable creative life), money (how to get paid for our work), and audience (how to identify, connect, a...

For most creative fields, learning the craft takes years of consistent practice and study. Maybe you’ve put in the time and effort, but how do you know if your current work is at a professional standard? Whether you’re a writer, artist, comedian, actor, dancer, or other creative worker, is there a chance that you are overestimating (or underestimating!) your capabilities? In the GU Clubhouse, Pat...

Since the late 1960s, Michael Palin has kept a journal cataloguing his experiences, thoughts, encounters, anxieties, and projects. James has found these journals addictive for a multitude of reasons, primarily for the insights they give into a successful creative life, and his emotions as they relate to his creative work. In this segment, Pat and James explore one quote that exposes Palin’s misgiv...

Embarrassment, a bit of trouble…has anything really changed with Gifted Underachiever James Buchanan since he was in second grade? Questions for Listeners: (Hop on over to our segment web page to leave a comment.) * Got any embarrassing childhood moments? * Care to share? For Further Exploration: Doctor Mike Most Embarrassing Moments Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! This post is publ...

Pat and James explore whether consistency in creative work is overrated. Does some inconsistency give time for more and deeper reflection? Should we consider creative work like farming, where productive work includes more than just sowing seeds? The dynamic underachieving duo also coin the term: auto iteration asphyxiation. Questions for Listeners: (Hop on over to the segment web page to leave a c...

Here in the Gifted Underachievers Clubhouse we’re thinking about creative workers and how they make money. To earn money from your work, you need an audience, a buyer, a someone who thinks it's worth spending their money on. Not just your mom! So you’ve hit the point where your work is professionally adept...you’re no longer a novice, the stuff you’re creating is both original and technically soun...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

Pat and James explore the question of whether art can still drive cultural or social change in ways that improve people’s lives. The answer seems to be yes, but what James calls “the old tricks” don’t work anymore. Artists who want to influence other people have to find a new way forward. In the end, although the Gifted Underachievers realize that how people get their art has changed a tremendous...

Writing can be a cruel mistress (and as Pat learns from former journalist James, journalism is the cruelest field of all). Both Gifted Underachievers have pulled themselves back from the brink of despair, poverty, and the “Q” word (QUITTING) at least once as they pursue their creative and financial goals. In this segment, we talk about what led to our creative nadir(s) and what it took to get back...

Do we need trigger warnings for people who want to see a show, read a book, listen to a song, enter a gallery, or encounter art in a public space, but are worried about its effect on them? “Art, generally speaking, is supposed to be triggering.” Thus speaks James Buchanan, writer and cohost of Gifted Underachievers. In this short piece, we share our respective positions on trigger warnings for cre...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

If you had unlimited funds, how would you approach your current creative project(s)? What if you had “midlevel” funds? No funds? This is the question posed to Pat by a very helpful grant administrator in a debrief call. Your gifted underachievers discuss the value of feedback, how creatives can improve their grant applications, how to make your project memorable and easy to discuss among grant jur...

We’re in the Clubhouse, minding our business, talking about goals for the fiscal year—which is hilarious in itself, as there is no fiscal aspect to the Gifted Underachievers kingdom. James gets a good idea, then Pat gets one, then we’re off to the races. Before you know it, we’re presenting an award at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Questions for Listeners: (Hop on over to our segm...

In this segment, your Gifted Underachievers talk about discovering themselves as writers, fumbling around, experimenting, and trying different things, then the a-ha time when each of us realized…we had found our own unique creative style. Question for Listeners: Hop on over to the segment web page to leave a reply! * Do you know when you went from being so-so at your art to having a style or voice...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

Summer is upon us, and here in the Gifted Underachiever Clubhouse we’re falling under the Seasonal Affective Disorder Delusion—worrying about wasting the days stuck inside, while simultaneously worrying about not getting enough done on our creative projects. Join us to talk about how to wring the most out of each season of the year by saying no to delusional thinking and yes to intentional plannin...

James has been looking for fiction that reflects his own experience in modern North America—his years as a single dad, his struggles to establish a career while looking after his family and trying to have a life. He’d love to read stories that explore this territory, but…there’s a problem. Not much is being published in that area, it seems. His experience is nothing like the lives reflected in ear...

Every midlevel creative has encountered a situation where they’re not sure if they can do the thing they’re trying to do. Sometimes you get offered a new or bigger role in a project, one that requires skills you’re not sure you have. In this segment, the gifted underachievers discuss their personal approach to this type of situation and offer listeners some hard-earned advice. Questions for Listen...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com