Elisa Doucette, Author at Craft Your Content - Page 6 of 9

All posts by Elisa Doucette

Surviving Your Creative Hangover

As I lay on the couch in the pitch black room sipping soda water and mindlessly watching terrible television reruns, I wondered how I had landed myself here.

I’ve had hangovers in the past. As a girl who likes red wine from Trader Joe’s and delicious artisanal microbrew beers (sometimes over the course of a single night), the fuzzy headed dead-inside feeling of dehydration and alcohol withdrawal is certainly no stranger.

In fact, I used to joke that my hangovers were a result of too much blood entering my alcohol stream.

Since I’ve been so sick over the past year, I’ve cut back my crazy partying days a fair bit. I’m sure turning 35 and recognizing that I can’t drink like I used to, or – more appropriately – perhaps I don’t need to.

But this article isn’t about drinking and hangovers. Though, I’m guessing this New Year’s weekend many folks will be nursing themselves through some sluggish days as a result of excessive consumption.

This is about a totally different type of hangover that afflicts the artists and entrepreneurs of the world.Continue reading

Send It When You’ve Thought Yourself Stupid

We get a lot of inquiries and questions about the writing and editing process from clients and colleagues. Which works GREAT for the people asking the questions, not so much for the rest of you who could probably use the answers. Occasionally, we’ll be posting our responses here in Ask Us Anything. It’s your chance to pick our minds – for free! 

One of our first and favorite clients is Taylor Pearson, best-selling author of the book The End of Jobs and his own site, TaylorPearson.me. Taylor writes brilliant essays (ok, we’re biased) and they take some serious thought and time on his part.

So he asked us early on: “How do I know when a draft is ready to be sent to the editor?”

My response was simple:

Send it when you’ve thought yourself stupid.

Continue reading

A Word Journal May Be the Best-Kept Secret Weapon in Your Vocabulary Arsenal

“Plethora” is one of my favorite words.

I know what you’re thinking. What kind of random awkward human being has favorite words?

When I was a teenager, I knew that I was falling in love fast. Sure, with my adorable high school boyfriend, but also with the sexy and seductive allure of words and language.

See where the “random awkward human being” thing starts coming into play here?Continue reading

modern love submissions

The New York Times Modern Love Column Submission Tips and Lessons Learned

Updated April 3, 2020

Ever wished you knew EXACTLY how to crawl into an editor’s brain and figure out how to get to the top of their submissions pile?

As we were reviewing a recent draft of a submission for a client, to provide feedback and edits, I thought it might be a good idea to see what advice existed out there to help his submission get to the top of the queue.Continue reading