More than one writer has found themselves too busy blurbing other people’s books to write their own...but things might be shifting.

The New York Times said recently that “blurbing” (supporting another artist’s work by writing praise they can quote) may not be all it’s cracked up to be. And even more recently, Simon & Schuster’s US imprint announced an end to the ancient practice of forcing writers to ask colleagues and strangers to endorse their books.

In this short segment, we discuss the practice and some of its pitfalls and drawbacks.

Questions for Listeners:

(Hop on over to the segment web page to leave us your answers.)

* Do you take ‘blurbs’ into account when consuming other people’s art, books, films?

* If you’re a bookseller, do you take blurbs into account when ordering titles?

* Have you ever asked a colleague or mentor for a blurb?

* If yes, how did it go?

Segment Links:

Simon & Schuster’s US imprint no longer wants blurbs (The Guardian): https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jan/31/simon-schuster-us-imprint-authors-blurbs-books

Anthony Horowitz on blurbing (The Guardian): https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2012/may/11/cover-blurb-book-recommendation

How to ask for a blurb (YouTube short):https://youtube.com/shorts/QVzzhzl_n4I?feature=shared

New York Times pieces on blurbing: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/books/review/simon-and-schuster-blurbs-books.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/09/opinion/books-authors-blurb.html

Asking for artist recommendation letters: https://www.gyst-ink.com/letters-of-recommendation

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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 the GU Clubhouse had a doorbell, it would sound like a court musician trumpeting in the king, or a superhero landing on a roof, or … well, we don’t really know. We’ve got content to create, dammit!

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 is a bear.

James is a porpoise.

What the heck does that mean?

Pat and James are talking about our respective chronotypes, how you can find yours, and what it means to us as creatives. The Gifted Underachievers also discuss:

* Social media influences are assholes.

* Snooze button forgiveness.

* Our creative routines.

* Routine switching.

* Sleeping when stressed and our sizzler cringe reel.

* The synchronicity of paid creative work and developing our creative skills.

* How much time pressure is too much? Just enough?

* Are hyper goal-oriented people just dopamine addicts wasting their time on too much low-value stuff?

* Why do jobby jobs have so many meetings and how to get out of them.

* Cooking versus features editing.

And, of course, more MAGA (MILF Alliance for Gonad Awareness).

Questions for Listeners:

* What is your chronotype? Does it impact your creative life?

* Do you fight your chronotype or feel pretty much in alignment?

* What is your daily routine? Is it working?

Segment Links:

How to Sleep Better by Knowing Your Chronotype

How to Schedule Your Day as a Creative

Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! This post is public so feel free to share it.

If you aren’t already a subscriber, we’d love to have you in the GU Clubhouse! No spam, unsubscribe any time.

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

Here at Gifted Underachievers we were delighted to have special guest Miriam Ruff on the show. Miriam walked us through (and demonstrated) how to brew the perfect cup of tea—in this case, Scottish Breakfast Tea—while we discussed her life as a full-time wordsmith, including:

* How Miriam learned to say yes to the right things

* How you can know what the right things are

* Writing and publishing a book as a way to ‘pay it forward’

* How paid and personal creative work are different versions of the same thing

* Being a shameless marketer

* What grocery-store tea is actually made of

* How to start a novel by getting what you need into your wheelhouse first

* How to work around a chronic health condition by finding creative ways for everyone to get what they want

* The value of re-evaluating

And much, much more. After this invigorating conversation we were inspired on many fronts. One of these was to drink better tea, drink it more often, and evaluate how the right cuppa can meet our needs all through the day.

p.s. You might be surprised at how many days of annual leave Miriam takes!

Miriam’s Links:

Website: https://www.bumbershootwriting.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miriam-ruff-b4430019/

Twitter (X): @ruffmiriam

Books:

Tea-Sing Your Taste Buds

https://bumbershootwriting.com/tea-sing-your-taste-buds-how-to-find-and-drink-proper-cup-of-tea/

The first 10 people who send Miriam a review get a free sample pack of high-quality tea!

Sinking Your Teeth into Proper Dental Care: https://bumbershootwriting.com/sinking-your-teeth-into-proper-dental-care/

No charge; released as a public service to inform people about the importance of dental care.

Other Links of Interest

Migraine World Summit (begins March 20, 2025): https://migraineworldsummit.com/

Upton Tea Imports: https://www.uptontea.com/srsltid=AfmBOorG01RkDdWeZSKQufC17xnu7GfzUXWBhmq9oK5OdhUNX9a2UK4j

Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! This post is public so feel free to share it.

If you aren’t already a subscriber, we’d love to have you in the GU Clubhouse! No spam, unsubscribe any time.

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

Many of us begin our creative careers as young adults. We might have received praise for our work and (more rarely) been encouraged to make a career out of it. That positive feedback might have led us to hope or believe that we’d soon be able to earn money through our creative work. Not just earn money, but make a living.

Pop! That’s the sound you hear when the world doesn’t immediately respond with affirmation that you’ve chosen the right path. After the pop! comes the long silence. As the years go by, you might wonder if you’ll ever make a living from your work.

This then becomes a hinge moment. Some of us quit to do something that earns us a living (whether or not they find it more fulfilling). Those of us who don’t quit, who push through and make the commitment to keep creating for years or decades, have a moment of realization: it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to take a ridiculous amount of work.

How do you navigate this mindset shift? In the words of a friend of musician Caleb Cordes: “You can’t beat yourself up for not winning the lottery.”

Bonus: Here in the GU Clubhouse, we begin to conceptualize our next experiment: How to build out your personal capacity to do and achieve more.

Questions for Listeners:

(Hop on over to the segment web page to leave us your answers.)

* Is admitting defeat underrated?

* Did you go through a mindset shift where you recognized how hard this is but pushed ahead anyway?

* What could get you to quit and do something else?

Links of Interest:

The Creative Independent: Caleb Cordes Interview with Tyler Bussey

https://thecreativeindependent.com/people/musician-caleb-cordes-sinai-vessel-on-money-and-creative-work/

Tyler Bussey on Substack — TYTY Industries

Sinai Vessel/Caleb Cordes

Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! This post is public so feel free to share it.

If you aren’t already a subscriber, we’d love to have you in the GU Clubhouse! No spam, unsubscribe any time.

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

In this thrilling update, Pat is stripped of pretensions that she can write a viable grant application on her own, and James gets an email from Yaddo.

More importantly, the heretofore hidden value of grant writing (hidden to us chumps in the GU clubhouse, that is) is revealed.

Questions for Listeners:

(Hop on over to the segment web page to leave us your answers.)

* Have you ever asked for help with a grant application?

* What happened next?

* We're thinking about putting our completed grant applications on the GU website and paywalling access. Do you have any thoughts, questions, concerns? Maybe just the successful ones?

Segment Links:

Marian Hebb grant website: https://www.acfoundation.ca/2024/12/09/access-copyright-foundation-marian-hebb-research-grant-applications-deadline-february-15-2025/

How to write an Inquiry Question:

The Artist’s Guide to Grant Writing by Gigi Rosenberg:

https://gigirosenberg.com/the-artists-guide-to-grant-writing

Writers who helped Pat (also future guests on GU!!!):

Richard Kelly Kemick—https://richardkemick.com

Nadja M Lubiw-Hazard—https://www.nmlhazard.com/

Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! This post is public so feel free to share it.

If you aren’t already a subscriber, we’d love to have you in the GU Clubhouse! No spam, unsubscribe any time.

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

Without our delusional imaginations, we here at Gifted Underachievers would be bereft of John Irving’s pretend company. We wouldn’t need gas masks or hazmat suits. And our lives would be just that little bit less interesting.

Questions for Listeners:

(Hop on over to the segment web page to leave us your answers.)

* Given the current tension between Canada and the US, where do you imagine the GU Clubhouse to be? [Keeping in mind that John Irving moved from New England to Ontario in 2015 and become a Canadian citizen in 2019.]

* If you didn’t say “Canada, obviously,” give yourself a demerit. These will be tallied at the end of each calendar year.

* Do you have any running gags that crack you up? Let us know, we’d love to hear.

Segment Links:

Tooting Too Much? 3 Secret Ways How to Cook Beans + Stop Gas & Bloating

Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! This post is public so feel free to share it.

If you aren’t already a subscriber, we’d love to have you in the GU Clubhouse! No spam, unsubscribe any time.

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