Testimonials:

"Sally Zaino was instrumental in helping make Quick Fix Yoga a spectacular book. She went beyond editing, to offering a perspective on the entire layout of the book. I was impressed by her skill and touched by her caring, throughout the entire process.

I have continued to work with Sally on articles that I write, and continue to be impressed by how quickly, efficiently and well she gives assistance on my work.

I highly recommend Sally and Ruminations for all your professional editing needs. Her prices are more than fair, and her work is exceptional."

Many Thanks,
Ananda Tata
www.quickfixyoga.com


"I highly recommend Sally Zaino for your writing and editing needs. I relied on Sally to help us here at the Pennsylvania Environmental Council with a reprint of one of our most technical and valued publications, the Environmental Advisory Council Handbook. This publication is distributed statewide to municipalities, state government and non-profit agencies, environmental professionals, and interested citizens.

The Pennsylvania Environmental Council first published the EAC Handbook in 1996 as a resource for EACs. It covers a wide range of administrative, local government, land use, and environmental topics. By 2004 the Handbook needed to be updated and enhanced. Reprinting this document required review and comment from a variety of governmental and environmental experts. Integrating those comments and producing a document with one voice was a complicated task. With an overstretched staff, we sought assistance from a unique individual " a professional with relevant experience, the required technical knowledge, the ability to handle all of the trivial and substantial recommended changes, a high level of organization, and, of course, writing and editing skills.

I knew Sally was a former EAC member, former supervisor, and free lance writer, so she was the first and only person I needed to contact for assistance. With great enthusiasm and energy, Sally quickly familiarized herself with the project, contacted me for necessary information and guidance, and turned out a draft document. We receive rave reviews about the Handbook, and much credit goes to Sally for her talented contributions. It would have been a tougher and much longer road without her."

Jeanne Barrett Ortiz, Director
EAC Network
Pennsylvania Environmental Council

To Download the entire EAC Manual, go to
http://www.greentreks.org/eacnetwork/Index.htm
and click on "download EAC Handbook"

This is a good example of a combination of services"writing, editing, research, adjustment of content, addition of content fragments, formatting of headings and reorganization. The manual had several authors. I wrote Chapter 4, "Tips" and reworked and rewrote the resources section of Chapter 6, and provided major edit and some writing for the rest of the manual.


"It has been nearly twenty years since I have had the privilege of meeting Sally Zaino. During that period of time I have worked and continue to work with her on a professional level and on a personal level.

Sally is a highly talented individual who uses carefully researched facts to create accurate and interesting documents. She has a unique ability to edit documents so that they are as clear and concise as possible.

In addition to being a dedicated professional, she is honest, trustworthy, dependable and a truly remarkable individual. It has been an honor to be associated with Sally.

Sally Zaino will give all that is necessary into the preparation or into the review of any document on any subject matter."

Rebecca M. Oller
Former East Hanover Township Supervisor
Former East Hanover Township Facilitator
(Dauphin County, Pennsylvania)


Samples:

To see writing samples other than the EAC Handbook, above, click here for a poem, click on the Ruminations flash for a "Rumination", or see below for an example of a concert review, written for my sister a few years ago:

Julie Moffitt at HACC

If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one to hear it, does it still make a sound? The answer is yes. The audience of fifty who attended Julie Moffitt"s CD release concert at HACC"s Rose Lerhman Performance Center on Sunday, September 9, were not adequate to soak up the amount of talent that filled that hall. Those that came entered a world they will remember as an almost tangible place. Alone on the stage with a nine foot Steinway Grand and two guitars, Moffitt filled every corner of the theatre with her presence and immediately engaged the audience with the depth of her artistry and the passion behind her songs.

Playing mostly from her newest CD dancerdreamerloveranswer, Moffitt dealt with, as she puts it, "melancholy disillusionment", using her own singular brand of poetry, guitar and piano work. As on the CD, her opening song was the title song, with nice tight guitar and vivid lyrics (one wondered what the finale would be if this was the opener). The songs varied from simple ballad to complex pieces. She has composed many of her songs at the piano, and in the last portion of the concert she moved to that instrument, finishing with a number entitled "Blood and Passion", a powerful and stirring song about musical and romantic connections across time. An accomplished pianist with a Masters Degree in piano performance, her ease at the Steinway was evident.

Interspersed between the newly released songs were selections from Labyrinth, her first CD; "Wild Man", rearranged for the piano, and several others, including the haunting "Sirens". Her well-known environmental leanings were evident in "Where are the Butterflies", from Labyrinth, and "Talking Trash" from dancer (the percussion on the CD for this tongue-in-cheek tune was produced entirely using trash). An unrecorded introduction called "Madison Avenue Rag" discussed the economy, appliance garages and revolution.

For the occasion, Moffitt also introduced a new composition, "Dancing Man", a lovely and passionate piece with interwoven voice and piano. One can"t help but suspect that the piano is going to have a stronger place in her recordings in the future.

The Harrisburg Marriott knows when they have a good thing, and have booked her on weekends for the near future, where she covers mainly soft rock on keyboard and guitar, and draws a steady and devoted audience. If you listen carefully, you"ll hear some of her own works sandwiched between. You might also notice that everything she touches gets a tinge of blue.

Wake up, Harrisburg: the original works of this singer/songwriter are filled with musicality and lyrical beauty. Couple that with a dynamite voice and you cannot escape being drawn in to her musical take on life, love and existence. Its rock, it"s blues, it"s classical, it"s theatre, it"s poetry, and it"s very, very real. Watch the papers, maybe you"ll get another chance.

SZ