Professional Editor, Story Analyst & Writing Mentor

Barbara Sachs Sloan, M.S., is a professional writer and an editor or an editor and a writer. Which came first? Actually, she started out as a writer, later became an editor, and now does both.

As an award-winning journalist, Barbara worked her way up from feature writer to editor in chief in one year, then transitioned to the how-to book industry where, under her former name of Barbara Sachs Kremer, she served as editor for Baldwin Publishing, producing project books such as Birdfeeders, Shelters and Baths. But fiction, particularly the novel form, caught her attention, and she has never looked back.

Her manuscript analysis training started in Hollywood, where she learned the art by working with a Paramount Senior Story Analyst on five films: Fat Man & Little Boy, Total Recall, The Two Jakes, The Untouchables, and Working Girl. Her training continued when she earned a master's in communication with an emphasis in creative writing in 1992.

Her love of and extensive experience with writing drove her to develop a Writing for Publication series of courses for the St. Louis community college continuing education program. She taught the classes herself for seven years and then took them online in 1999.

An author as well, Barbara has produced the self-help book series that started with Focus: A Blueprint for Happiness and continues to grow. She also has a number of other creative projects in the works, among them six novels, a series of children's stories, and a website for creative people who can't seem to choose a direction.