“It was a joy to work with Nan Gatewood Satter on our book Be Safe Love Mom: A Military Mom’s Stories of Courage, Comfort and Surviving Life on the Home Front. Her ability to help me find the best way to tell my story coupled with her professionalism resulted in a book-writing process that was far better than I ever could have imagined.”

“Nan possesses in spades the qualities that separate a good editor from a brilliant one: precision; commitment; honesty; courtesy; and vision. She is gifted in her ability to see the shape of a finished work through wordy overgrowth, and is unusually skillful at extending empathy to her clients while also demanding the hard labor necessary to produce excellence.”

“Nan Gatewood Satter is a brilliant editor and a steady guide for an author making his or her way through the labyrinth of the publishing world. My daughter and I could not have written our book without her.”

“Nan is a detailed artist — a master craftswoman. Clarity with inspiration, grammar with vivid imagery, warmth with gravity! There is no one else I would rather work with for my books to come! Anything she puts her hand, heart, and name to is a work of love and integrity.”

“Nan Satter is that rare and vanishing breed of editor who works with a writer for as many drafts as necessary to develop a sound book and polish it until it shines. Her capacity to skillfully tread the knife-edge of offering penetrating feedback without compromising my own voice was a true gift. The relationship between writer and editor is a precious form of intimacy requiring respect, risk, and vulnerability on both people’s part. Cultivating this relationship with Nan through several books has been one of the great joys of writing for me.”

“Nan Satter is a master of her craft; she knows what it takes to make a book work. She has a deft touch with her pencil—yes, pencil—and represents old school hands-on editing at its best. More than that, her clear thinking and enthusiasm kept me inspired through the many ups and downs of the writing process.”

“Nan Satter is an eloquent orchestrator of the writing craft. She helped me take the rough stone of a book I had been working on for years and chisel it into a jewel. Nan is as much of a joy to work with as her words are to read.”

“Nan was a dream partner for me in writing my first book. As I got lost in the weeds, she would pull me back to the big picture — without her my book on storytelling might have contained no stories at all. And when it came time to attend to the weeds, Nan pointed out where rework and refinement were necessary in a way that didn’t compromise or alter my voice but rather let it shine through.”