Let's Write! Editing and Mentoring Services -

Angela Robinson Witherspoon

Mary Rakow is an incredible writer and editor. She read my entire manuscript and made numerous suggestions on how to make it "hang together". Mary also pointed out what would interest potential publishers. She encouraged me to be more honest in my writing and to let go of my fears surrounding " what my family might say". Her ideas for structuring the book were positively genius. I'm working on films now but I hear her voice in my head whenever the story is not clear and concise. If you get an opportunity to work with her, grab it.....you can thank me later.

LOLA WILLOUGHBY

Mary Rakow is a fabulous editor. She reads every manuscript with great care and every manuscript is made better because of her attention to story, structure, and language. I highly recommend her for anyone who is seeking to make a manuscript the best that it can be.

Lucy Curran

I have worked with Mary Rakow a couple of different times since I connected with her through the Harvard Alumni network. I first attended one of her creative writing workshops here in SF, and later worked with her on a book-length manuscript of mine, during which time she gave me incredibly on point feedback, line notes, and even met with me in-person for a couple of hours to talk through her thoughts on my manuscript. She offers acute perceptiveness and attention to detail as an editor combined with genuine warmth and supportiveness. I have found her assistance incredibly helpful as I navigate the early years of my career as a writer. Thank you, Mary!

Kathryn

Mary is a gifted teacher as well as writer, with a rare ability to see to the beating heart of a project and coax it forth by gently guiding the writer. Guiding is the right word -- she helps the writer's own voice emerge, and doesn't impose her own views; she is truly pointing the way toward a more developed form of prose, a way for each writer to find the best version of themselves as an artist. She is quite flexible, and her own works provide an excellent sense of her. That said, I saw her work with a variety of writers and genres, and she adapted to each in a way that made her effective for that particular writer. I highly recommend working with her if you have the opportunity.

Steve DeGroodt

It has been highly rewarding to work with Mary Rakow in Los Angeles on two art projects: Their, They're, There 2002 (she wrote a superb catalogue essay for the exhibition) and The Book of Lies, Vol. 3, 2008 (a collaboration with her text and my collage). This invitational portfolio of artists' collaborations is now in many collections at institutions in America.
Most recently April 2017 , I began to write a historical novel, HEAT LIGHTNING. I asked Mary to take a look and make any editing suggestions to an excerpt from the first draft. Her editing advice was so very helpful. She is the best. As a writer and as a thoughtful inquiring individual in this Universe.

Steve DeGroodt Los Angeles

Rochelle Low

I cannot say enough about Mary Rakow’s guidance in helping me complete my novel, WAITING TO FLY. Times when I felt like I was before an impenetrable wall, she was there encouraging me, suggesting different paths that I might take with her amazing editing skills. She is simply a wonderful, dedicated teacher.
Thank you, Mary.

Augie Rakow

Mary's 1-on-1 sessions always help me better understand what I'm trying to write. She's the best!