Elisa Doucette is a writer, editor, and entrepreneur who has worked for over two decades creating compelling content and writing for various businesses and publications. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Forbes, Yahoo! Small Business, The Shine Network, HuffPost, and Brazen Careerist among others. Her short stories and essays have been published in numerous literary magazines and websites. Two of her columns have been syndicated (The Single Slice on MaineToday and Shattering Glass on Forbes.com) and she semi-regularly writes here and on Medium.
She also volunteers as the programme curator for TEDxAberdeen, working with a cracker-jack group of people to bring a new TEDx event to Scotland in July 2021 (COVID guidance and restrictions obviously considered). Previously, Elisa served as the writer-in-residence at The Birds Bay in Petra on the island of Lesvos in Greece and at the Captain Nickels Inn in Searsport, Maine, U.S., led multiple Writers Nights at The Cult of Coffee in Aberdeen, Scotland, U.K., and worked from the Knack Factory in Portland, Maine, U.S., as a resident hobo writer.
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What You’ll Learn This Week:
- What it takes to write a great pitch for CYC’s site
- The top three things that have influenced Elisa’s view on editorial processes
- Some of the biggest no-nos in pitching, straight from the editors at CYC
- Why it matters to have a “give a shit” factor in your pitch
- The key ideas that Elisa is looking for in a piece for CYC
Mentioned in This Episode (Links and Resources!):
- “Write For Us Here at CYC”
- Ramsay Lewis’ piece “What Cycling Across Canada Taught Me About Writing”
- Spiderman image on “Content Might Be King, but Context Is Queen”
- “What Would It Look Like If I Started Replying to Queries and Pitches With GIFs?”
You Can Find More of Elisa and Her Writing On:
- Her Medium website, @elisadoucette
- Twitter, @elisadoucette
Shareable Quotes From This Episode:
- What stands out most in a great pitch? @elisadoucette says, “You need a ‘give a shit’ factor. Show us you put effort into [the pitch for] your piece and that you’ll put effort into the editorial process.” #WritersRoughDrafts
- “I don’t think editing, publishing, and writing should be a gatekeeping world where people are told they’re not good enough.”—@elisadoucette on #WritersRoughDrafts
- @elisadoucette on pitching her @craftcontent: “I want to know why this idea is unique, why you’re the best person to write it, and why this is going to resonate with our audience.”
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