Sandra Hurtes
Writer, Teacher, Editor
Editorial Services
Non-Fiction Manuscript Consultation and Editing
Includes: memoir, personal essay, narrative journalism
Edit and write newsletters, manuscripts, query letters, promotional materials
Guidance through the agent/publishing process
Provide prompts and guided assignments for beginning writers or those who have been away from writing for some time
Reasonable rates. If you're interested in editing or writing support, please contact me at: sandrahurtes@yahoo.com.
Here are a few testimonials
"Sandy has been a tremendous volunteer to VISIONS/Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired. In just a very short time she grasped what we did at VISIONS and used that information to prepare for her assignments. We asked Sandy to conduct some interviews and prepare newsletter articles and she has delivered. Her writing was sharp and to the point, and she has helped us achieve our objectives. She’s also great to work with, requires little supervision, and seems to know exactly what is needed to get the job done. I’m sure we will use Sandy again on writing projects for our organization."
~ Rick Schwartz/Director of Development and Outreach/VISIONS
"Sandra Hurtes has superb editing skills and a great ear. She has gently steered me out of numerous dead-ends and pushed me in the direction of writing that is richer, more precise, and more gracefully resolved. If I were launching a publishing company, she'd be my first hire."
~ Deborah Baldwin, New York essayist and magazine editor
"Thank you Sandy for your amazing help with rewriting and shaping my query letter. You showed me exactly how to create the kind of query that makes publishers and agents sit up and take notice. I have received more requests for sample chapters now, and I feel confident that I have the best product to advertise my writing."
~ Stephanie Anderson
"Sandra Hurtes is an exceptional book editor. Her perceptive questions and suggestions help the writer to keep narrative arc on track. She provides detailed insights throughout the work—from the sentence level up through the chapter and whole-book level. Of course, she also points out errors in grammar, spelling agreement, redundancy, word choice, and so on. The bottom line is that Sandy helps the author express him or herself on the page with the greatest clarity and efficiency possible. I highly recommend her.
~ Anita Salzberg, Confessions of a Turtle Wife and children’s book author
~Kenneth Knott
"Sandy Hurtes has helped me develop into a more fluid and authentic writer. Through supportive and precise feedback she has helped me develop characters and story lines more fully. She has a knack for encouraging me to step out of my story and see it as a reader and then step back into it to improve it as a writer. Working with Sandy has definitely helped me hone my writing skills and each time I learn a little bit more about myself as a writer and as a person!"
~Jinny Hennenberg
Credentials
Please read my Website and blog to get a good feel for my writing style and range. Click on the "writing" link to read my articles and blog as well as some creative writing.
I’ve written essays and features for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Writer, Poets & Writers and numerous other publications. I earned my MFA in Creative Nonfiction in 2006 from Hunter College. My corporate experience includes five years as an editor at a technical publishing company, ten years as a freelance editor/proofreader at firms in the financial, advertising, and publishing sectors and fifteen years as a freelance writer.
I’m currently an adjunct assistant professor for CUNY and an adjunct lecturer at a for-profit business college. I teach Freshman English.