“Sarah Rabkin is a superb editor. From smoothing sentences and transitions to providing clarity, insights, and inspiration, working with her is having an intimate conversation about a subject she cares about as much as I do.” —J. Parker Huber, author of A Wanderer All My Days: John Muir in New England
“Sarah Rabkin’s singular blend of insight, intelligence, compassion, and editorial expertise has made her an indispensable member of our editorial team.” —Irene Reti, Director, Oral History Program, UC Santa Cruz Library
“Sarah is equally comfortable editing psychology or geology, art history or biology. Her style of working reflects both a rigorous eye and a kind heart; she is an incisive yet gentle critic, able to bring out the writer’s voice without superimposing her own. She has an excellent sense of structure and organization as well as a fine sensibility for both elegance and precision at the level of the individual word. She never loses the forest for the trees, but also tends each individual tree with care. Also, she is funny. I could not have picked a better editor.” —Carol Morrison, Ph.D., Licensed Clinical Psychologist; Counselor, International House, UC Berkeley
“I can enthusiastically endorse Sarah Rabkin. We brought her a 70-page document written by a committee of seven with no prior agreement on verb tense and certainly no consistent point of view! Sarah was able to take the material and form a consistent, readable and useful document. We found her easy to work with, patient and highly skilled.” —Carol Whitehill, Member of the Board, Watsonville Wetlands Watch
“I have had the good fortune of teaching with Sarah as well as benefiting from her superb editing. Sarah currently edits my interdisciplinary environmental studies and policy work. A good editor flags errors and helps the writing flow better. A great editor does all that, of course, but also helps the writer’s voice emerge more faithfully and engagingly without ever imposing her own style. Sarah is that kind of great editor.” —Daniel Press, Olga T. Griswold Professor of Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz
“Some people loathe having their writing edited, whether from fear of harsh criticism, a reluctance to re-look, or just sheer stubbornness. But I always feel a huge sense of relief when handing a draft over to Sarah. Her feedback is thoughtful and compassionate, but definitely not timid. Sarah’s comments are relevant and usually provoke me to delve a bit deeper, producing a much finer piece of writing with more cohesion and flow. Her writing retreats allow for inner reflection, a safe space to hone one piece or a dozen, and one-and-one advice that’s full of care and challenge, a gem. I often wish I could do a lifelong independent study with Sarah, with her offering writing prompts and editing my work on a weekly basis!” —Katie Renz, writer
“Looking back through my completed projects, I noticed that many of my favorites have Sarah’s fingerprints on their pages. Her help has improved both specific pieces and my writing in general.” —Rylan Freshour, storyteller
“Sarah is a terrific editor, with a writer’s ear for what sounds right. She catches grammatical errors and awkward bits. But it is her help in the early stages—prior to me having something substantial for her to edit—that has been most essential. When I struggle with what exactly I want to say and how I might say it, Sarah is both sympathetic and strategic. She knows a great deal about writing—the process and the product. She reads intelligently and carefully and notices what’s missing, then asks probing questions at the right moment which deepen and clarify my thinking.” —Stephanie Pass, clinical psychologist and writer
“Sarah did an edit for my new book. She is a superb editor: comprehensive in her intellectual grasp, astute in her insights and corrections, and elegant in her suggested use of alternative language.” —Craig Schindler, J.D., Ph.D; President, Project Victory; Executive Coach; Co-Author, The Great Turning
“Sarah not only helps with misplaced commas and quotation marks, she also has a knack for ferreting out what’s not on the page, what’s missing from your manuscript.” —Debbie Bulger, author of In the Thrill of the Night; former editor of The Ventana, the magazine of the Ventana Chapter of the Sierra Club
“The task of editing my book was daunting. The manuscript was long and complex; the time was short. Sarah, who has no special training in philosophy, was hesitant about signing up. But she did. Her suggestions undoubtedly improved my manuscript greatly. She followed the complex arguments well enough to point out patches that required elucidation. And her sense of language resulted in suggestions that increased the flow and cohesion of the text. Her own essays also evidence her wonderful grasp of language and her ability to convey thoughts lucidly, convincingly, and sometimes, poetically.” —Donald S. Maier, author of What’s So Good About Biodiversity? A Call for Better Reasoning about Nature’s Value
“Sarah Rabkin was my writing coach on a large project, creating a book out of 450 pages of letters that a friend and I had written over almost 50 years. Through probing questions, specific assignments and our conversations, she helped me shape the letters into something much more manageable. I found her gentle in dealing with my material, yet willing to push me to complete the project. Sarah’s interest in and involvement with my book was enormously encouraging to me. Her sense of humor, her intelligent commentary, and her editorial skills were equally important.” —Ruth K. Royal, author of Never Gonna Cease My Wanderin’
“Sarah was instrumental in my finally sending to the publisher a book covering thirty years of life and research in Zimbabwe. The book ranged over my personal experiences, anthropological research, literature, and history. Sarah was an astute reader of all this material and I especially liked it when she called me on fuzzy connections: ‘How does this sentence relate to what preceded it?’ ‘Are you trying to make a connection between this and the next paragraph? If so, then it is not clear.’ She has a good eye for style and is also an ace at grammar. I thank her for the clarity that she brought to my writing.” —Carolyn Martin Shaw, Anthropology Professor Emerita, UC Santa Cruz.
“I love working with Sarah. She helped me get my final dissertation chapter into shape under a deadline that I was firmly committed to meeting. When she says, “This isn’t my field of expertise, so I’m not sure I’ve got it, but is this what you are saying?” she has nailed it right on the head: her intelligence and curiosity set her up to understand both quickly and deeply what I’m trying to say. Engaging Sarah’s help when I have hit a low point with my writing, I know that things will get better, that I will sort out and polish the tangled mess of my project until it’s ready for the world to see.” —Joanna Nelson, PhD, Founder and Principal of LandSea Science
“Sarah did an amazing editing job for me. I was grateful for her critical questions, which really helped me to stretch my ability to explain my ideas and make my first steps as a theorist.” —Nicole Doerr, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Cophenhagen
“Thanks so much for your excellent comments. You have definitely helped me toward my revision strategy. You made the message clear and succinct, so even I know what I was trying to say!” —Jolie Elan, Director, Go Wild Institute
“Working with Sarah on my memoir was a true pleasure. She always got back to me promptly with excellent comments and specific direction, especially when my writing came across as whiny or confusing. I valued her advice about clarifying the theme of my book, honing transitions between chapters, and identifying passages that needed expanding or tightening. She challenged me, and she made me a better writer. I’m grateful.” —Pat Bakalian, author of Persistence: The Power to Make Change
“Sarah’s feedback is really amazing. I’m not sure I will write anything for a public audience without it!” —Emily Murai, Lecturer, UC Santa Cruz
Sarah’s coaching was invaluable for me in completing the final research paper for my bachelor’s degree. I came to her feeling fairly trapped by my anxiety surrounding the project, and she supported me the whole way through with empathy, insight, and humor. The blend of intelligence and compassion Sarah provides would be an asset for any writer at any stage of the writing process. —Jenna Freshour, BA, Psychology