Shows / Gifted Underachievers
Gifted Underachievers
A podcast for midlevel creatives with delusional ambitions
giftedunderachievers.substack.com
Episodes
Gifted UnderachieversCreatives Make Good Vampires
A recent road trip by Gifted Underachiever Pat led her to some thoughts on how far we can go in using other people in our art. Can we base characters or story…
Gifted UnderachieversDelusional Goal Update
Waaaayyyy back the Gifted Underachievers stated their delusional goals for the next three to five years. Let’s see how things are going. Pat: Win the Booker…
Gifted UnderachieversIs Halloween the most creative holiday?
Halloween can be the black licorice of holidays: Not everybody loves it but those who do, really, really love it. And for many of them, it’s all the creativity…
Gifted UnderachieversHow NOT To Do Guerrilla Marketing
Originally aired in August 2024 and back by popular demand… Pat and James begin using low-cost merch to drive high-value social media marketing (Hint: “Can you…
Gifted UnderachieversDoes Creative Adjacent Work Harm Our Creative Work?
Many creatives engage in creative-adjacent work—editing, teaching, commissions, etc.—to make a living utilizing their respective creative skillset. Often, too…
Gifted UnderachieversElection Chat
This wee segment shares our consternation about election marketing by text and the need for fundraising in our so-called modern democracies. Questions for…
Gifted UnderachieversDiscipline as Devotion
The concept of discipline is a frequent topic of conversation among creatives. And as often, people bring a lot of baggage and prescriptions around how…
Gifted UnderachieversAre You Ever Caught Up?
In creative and creative-adjacent work, we always seem to have more projects and deadlines than we have time for. The Gifted Underachievers talk about how this…
Gifted UnderachieversListener Profile: Book Club Podcast
Today, we’re profiling a terrific podcast by Carly Jackson and cohost Christy Lynn, the Book Club Podcast. If you like smart, in-depth analysis of stories…
Gifted UnderachieversPlatform Building: Clickbait vs Meaning
In an attention-based economy, how do creatives honorably and effectively build an audience, platform, and artistic presence without resorting to…
Gifted UnderachieversNavigating Low-Inspiration Cycles
Gifted Underachiever James Buchanan has just come through an extended period of overwork and is also dealing with a major life event, the death of a parent…
Gifted UnderachieversOnline Ads for Creatives
Did you know that you can advertise your creative work online? You alone, by yourself, without spending big bucks or lots of time? In this short segment…
Gifted UnderachieversThe How & Why of Contracts for Creatives
If you engage in creative-adjacent work or perform, submit, or sell creative services or pieces of any kind, you likely need a contract. As Pat says, contracts…
Gifted UnderachieversFlow Hygiene: A Debrief
In a recent segment, Prepping for Crunch Time, we discussed ways to prepare for a period of intensive work, whether you’re an understudy called up to play the…
Gifted UnderachieversCase Study: Marketing an Online Course
As part of her pension project, Pat has been teaching courses online at the Editorial Arts Academy…
Gifted UnderachieversOpportunities & Compromise: Two Perspectives
James floats out a scenario for consideration: * You’re a midlevel creative * You get your “big break”--an opportunity that could transform your career * They…
Gifted UnderachieversCase Study: Prepping for Crunch Time
Pat is an expert all-nighter puller. In fact, James says that when it comes to understanding how to prepare for an intensive period of work, there’s none…
Gifted UnderachieversListener Profile: Chris Bujold, Robot Dreams and Suburban Nightmares
Today, we’re profiling a wonderful project by Chris Bujold. Robot Dreams and Suburban Nightmares is “a cinematic coming-of age memoir told through the films…
Gifted UnderachieversCreative Flow Into Fall
August can be crazy. Crazy busy. Crazy fun. Crazy social. Crazy vacation time. And all that crazy can throw us out of our creative flow. Pat and James are…
Gifted UnderachieversThe Stench of Sycophancy in Publishing
If you’ve been around writers, agents, and publishers for a while, you will be aware that ass-kissing, pandering, and sycophancy (call it what you will) are a…
Gifted UnderachieversHonour Your Creative Work
It’s easy to get mired down in the BS that comes with working in a creative field, whether it’s publishing, the TV and film industry, visual arts, crafts…
Gifted UnderachieversHow to Escape Someone Else’s Dysfunction Trap!
As creatives we often rely on others for a great many things. As people with creative adjacent careers, we also rely on others for a great many things. Ergo…
Gifted UnderachieversContest Update: Narrative Sends James a Nice Note
It could be worse. Or so thinks James after receiving a relatively thoughtful letter from narrative to let him know he was not a finalist in their short…
Gifted UnderachieversListener Profile: Beyond Craft by Joe Ponepinto
Joe Ponepinto’s current project is a fascinating Substack publication called Beyond Craft. Learn how and why Joe created this world, the challenges, the…
Gifted UnderachieversThe Fabulous Amber Petty!
In this special episode of Gifted Underachievers, we are absolutely delighted to welcome Gifted Achiever Amber Petty to the GU Clubhouse. Amber is a…
Gifted UnderachieversGifted Achiever Richard Kelly Kemick
An Underachieving Note: We’ve underachieved again. Summer is waning and\or peaking depending on whether you are going back to school or not. And we are, well…
Gifted UnderachieversAre AI Hallucinations Taking Down Creatives?
There are lots of accusations of AI use in the arts—especially writing—based on both human detection and AI detection apps. So many creatives are worried that…
Gifted UnderachieversDiversifying Your Market Across Borders
If you sell your creative work or provide creative-adjacent services online, you’ve already made decisions about your market—ranging from the language and…
Gifted UnderachieversWho Are We Without Our Captives? (Silly)
In this disturbing short segment, the Gifted Underachievers discuss the basement of their Clubhouse, now free of any captured creative folk. Who should we nab…
Gifted UnderachieversAre You Heading Where You Want to Go?
What meaning do you get from your life as a creative? · Who are you now? · What have you done? · Are you heading where you want to go? The Gifted…
Gifted UnderachieversDoes Creative Detritus Imprison Us?
Pat’s aggressively white office has way too much paper and other artifacts of her creative work. James does the exact same thing. In fact, he will find himself…
Gifted UnderachieversIntroducing Listener Profiles
The Gifted Underachievers are really proud of their listeners and feel that it’s time they share the spotlight with them. If you’d like to get some more…
Gifted UnderachieversYour CEO Meeting: A Case Study
Dobes (Pat Dobie) is one of the most organized gifted underachievers in history. She has a huge whiteboard and a well-stocked supply of dry erase markers. What…
Gifted UnderachieversYour Network Signals Who You Are
The Gifted Underachievers discuss the pros and cons of referring or outsourcing some of their creative-adjacent work to other professionals, especially aspects…
Gifted UnderachieversThe Fuel That Powers Artistic Glory: Cheese
“A day without cheese is a day without sunshine,” says Dobes. James claims, “It’s the enzymes.” Here in the Gifted Underachievers Clubhouse, we agree that the…
Gifted UnderachieversTipping Point Acts: Steps Up the Ladder
Sure, big breaks are great, but careers and talent are built over time, one project after another. In this segment, the Gifted Underachievers conclude that the…
Gifted UnderachieversSpace Overhaul for Creative Optimization
Our environments interact with us every minute of every day. Working in a cluttered, dusty, and disorganized space WILL reduce both your clarity and your…
Gifted UnderachieversPSA: It's Tick Season, Folks!
You knew ticks could give you Lyme disease...but did you know they could actually damage some of your more dangly bits of organs? Have you heard of the…
Gifted UnderachieversImmersive Creative Careers: Social or Antisocial?
All creatives have immersive careers. We live in our own minds for long periods of time. We need to go to our office/home/studio wherever and just be on our…
Gifted UnderachieversDo You Suffer from Time Zone Insensitivity?
Many creative folks work remotely and have video meetings with people from all over the world. Your Gifted Underachievers are two such people—James has many…
Gifted UnderachieversNietzsche on Loving Your Fate
Nietzsche said “Love your fate because your trials are necessary.” This isn’t nihilism—quite the contrary. There can be great meaning in welcoming your…
Gifted UnderachieversCase Study: Pitching for High-Value Projects
When James pitches for a ghostwriting gig, he needs to quickly present himself as a capable professional to clients for projects often worth $80k or more. Pat…
Gifted UnderachieversNewsflash: GU Launches Extraction Team in Response to $1B Academy Lawsuit
The Academy is relentless in their push to sue the Gifted Underachievers for $1B. They have won removal of the case to the International Tribunal for the Law…
Gifted UnderachieversOptimizing Your Creative-Adjacent Biz
After a period of offering two main services, James has focused on ghostwriting without distraction, with the goal of becoming one of the top 20 ghostwriters…
Gifted UnderachieversCritiquing Other Creatives
The Gifted Underachievers talk about how to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of a creative worker’s art. Are there guard rails that will help you deliver a…
Gifted UnderachieversWhat’s Your Personal Narrative as a Creative?
If you were to write a tagline for your internal narrative as a creative, what would it be? Pat and James talk about how they view their internal creative…
Gifted UnderachieversNewsflash: Academy Sues GU for $1B! (silly)
The Gifted Achievers have stepped in it now. The GU newsroom is reporting that the Academy is suing the Gifted Underachievers for $1B. This comes just weeks…
Gifted UnderachieversWhat is a Gifted Underachiever?
The vast majority of schools are structured to recognize, validate and reward people who thrive with a certain way of learning. As most gifted underachievers…
Gifted UnderachieversSustainable Creative-Adjacent Careers
If you’re like us, you’re doing more than your own creative work to keep the lights on at home. Here in the Gifted Underachiever Clubhouse, we provide services…
Gifted UnderachieversReleasing John Irving
It’s our 100th Episode, and to celebrate this momentous achievement we are letting go of someone very dear to our hearts: novelist John Irving. Join us live as…
Gifted UnderachieversCan Constraints Release Creative Flow
James is stuck. Pat has an idea: Try setting some constraints in your process or actual creative work to release creative flow. The key areas to place…
Gifted UnderachieversThe GU Bee Oscars for Below the Line Crew (silly)
It takes a village to make a movie, even a bad movie. But not everyone in that village gets the recognition they deserve. These are the people who comprise…
Gifted UnderachieversBritish Social Time (inane)
Further to last week’s difficulties with finding the clock, the Gifted Underachievers are puzzled about what British folk mean when they invite you for a meal…
Gifted UnderachieversGrant Experiment Update: the Agony of Bread Loaf
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…
Gifted UnderachieversGU Finds the Clock (silly)
The clock (aka the timer) is handy for a couple of loquacious idiots like the Gifted Underachievers. But where is the damn thing?! Questions for Listeners: No…
Gifted UnderachieversMetabolize Your World Through Art
In this segment, the Gifted Underachievers talk about one of the great benefits of being an artist in any field: making art forces you to pay attention, and…
Gifted UnderachieversHow do you define success?
In every creative field there are “top-tier” workers, aka A-listers, whose achievements are undeniable and well-earned. This milieu can seem like a closed…
Gifted UnderachieversGrant Experiment Update: Another Near Miss
Last year, the board of a prestigious Canadian arts grant recommended Pat for a grant, but then they ran out of money before her name came up on the approved…
Gifted UnderachieversJames' Pearl
Two years ago, James made a pearl. And he’s back at it, trying to bend the will of nature and time to his ‘creative’ whims. Questions for Listeners: * Any…
Gifted UnderachieversReset Your Creativity
In this segment, Pat brings up the issue of resetting our creative physiology via the five senses when we feel frazzled or just need to give the brain and body…