Grant Experiment Update: the Agony of Bread Loaf

Gifted Underachievers · Jun 4, 2026 · 16m

Throughout his life, James has driven past the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference campus in Ripton, Vermont, hundreds of times if not a thousand. Often, he speeds by as the writers’ conference is happening knowing he’d been rejected once more.

That he has this connection to the campus is galling. But there are lessons to be learned from each failure and a discussion of why Bread Loaf and similar creative conferences and/or residencies matter.

Question for Listeners:

How do you get over a gutting rejection?

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Here in the GU Clubhouse, we’ve gleaned and gathered…