Demarco-Barrett, Barbara

PERSONAL:

Born in Altoona, PA; daughter of Samuel Xavier DeMarco (a shoe designer) and Celeste DeMarco Becker (a homemaker); married Brian Barrett (a jazz and blues musician), March 13, 1994; children: Travis. Education: Goddard College, B.A., 1978. Religion: Roman Catholic.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Corona del Mar, CA. Agent—Betsy Amster, Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises, P.O. Box 27788, Los Angeles, CA 90027-0788. E-mail—newsletter@asja.org; writersonwriting@earthlink.net; penonfire@earthlink.net.

CAREER:

Radio host and writing instructor. KUCIFM, Irvine, CA, Writers on Writing radio-show host and producer, public affairs director, 2000-02; University of California, Irvine, extension writing instructor; Gotham Writers Workshop, New York, NY, instructor.

MEMBER:

American Society of Journalists and Authors (Southern California chapter president and member of board of directors), Orange County Fictionaires (past-president), Authors Guild.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Outstanding Book Award, American Society of Journalists and Authors, 2005, for Pen on Fire: A Busy Woman's Guide to Igniting the Writer Within.

WRITINGS:

Pen on Fire: A Busy Woman's Guide to Igniting the Writer Within, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2004.

Author and coproducer of documentary called Not in My Neighborhood. Also author of Guide to Free Publicity. Contributor to periodicals and journals, including Los Angeles Times, Writer, Writer's Digest, Poets & Writers, Sunset, Westways, Morning Calm, Orange Coast Magazine, and San Jose Mercury News. Editor of ASJA Monthly. Author of several blogs, including Knitting on Fire, Pen on Fire, and Writers on Writing.

SIDELIGHTS:

Barbara DeMarco-Barrett is a writing instructor and radio-show host. After completing her studies at Vermont's Goddard College in 1978, she began writing for a number of periodicals, and magazines. Eventually she began teaching writing classes at New York's Gotham Writers Workshop and by extension with the University of California, Irvine. The university is also the host of KUCI-FM, where she hosts and coproduces a radio show for established and aspiring writers.

On her home page, DeMarco-Barrett explained why she became a writer, saying that "there wasn't what you'd call conversation in my house—or books, except for maybe Reader's Digest Condensed Books. My parents spoke Italian quite a bit. It was their secret language, although they didn't teach me—I think they wanted me to grow up to be a nice, white Anglo-Saxon American; the description, ‘Italian-American,’ did not yet exist in our lexicon. So my desire to write may have stemmed from this primal need to express myself in words."

Despite years as a writing instructor and publishing articles in various periodicals, DeMarco-Barrett had never published a book of her own. She did so in 2004, publishing Pen on Fire: A Busy Woman's Guide to Igniting the Writer Within with Harcourt. In the book DeMarco-Barrett shares some of her instructions to her writing students and emphasizes a minimum fifteen-minutes-a-day period to sit down and write. The book contains a number of fifteen-minute exercises to help aspiring writers improve their abilities and tips from established writers as well. DeMarco-Barrett gives assistance in finding an agent and teaches writers how to write without taking much time out of their daily schedule. The book won the American Society of Journalists and Authors Outstanding Book Award in 2005. When asked in a Rejection Collection Web site interview as to why she wrote her first book, DeMarco-Barrett replied: "I have always loved inspirational books about writing…. So when a student asked me if I would go home with her, because she was always inspired while in my class, I told her I couldn't do that, but I would write a book for her. That's how Pen on Fire began."

Booklist contributor Carol Haggas called the writing guide "supremely relevant." Haggas remarked that "with an encouraging attitude and inspirational approach, DeMarco-Barrett covers everything writer-wannabes want to know." Luan Gaines, writing on the Curled Up with a Good Book Web site, wrote that "if this book inspires you, you are on target and will find the impetus to begin; this book can certainly stimulate the reader to take the appropriate steps." Gaines noted, however, that even though one can learn to write well, not all writers are meant to be published. Martin Brady, writing on the BookPage Web site, perceived a "feminist slant" to the advice in the book. Aside from this issue, Brady mentioned that Pen on Fire "offers an informative, wide-ranging, and sensible approach to its topic for everyone." Brady also highlighted his belief that DeMarco-Barrett's "tone of encouragement is both friendly and sincere."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

DeMarco-Barrett, Barbara, Pen on Fire: A Busy Woman's Guide to Igniting the Writer Within, Harcourt (Orlando, FL), 2004.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 15, 2004, Carol Haggas, review of Pen on Fire: A Busy Woman's Guide to Igniting the Writer Within, p. 194.

Midwest Book Review, April, 2005, Emanuel Carpenter, review of Pen on Fire.

ONLINE

Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Home Page,http://www.barbarademarcobarrett.com (December 9, 2007), author biography.

Barbara DeMarco-Barrett MySpace Profile,http://www.myspace.com/penonfire (December 9, 2007), author profile.

BookPage,http://www.bookpage.com/ (December 9, 2007), Martin Brady, review of Pen on Fire.

Curled Up with a Good Book,http://www.curledup.com/ (December 9, 2007), Luan Gaines, review of Pen on Fire.

Jo Ann Mapson Web site,http://www.joannmapson.com/ (December 9, 2007), Jo Ann Mapson, author interview.

KUCI-FM Radio Station Web site,http://www.kuci.org/ (December 9, 2007), author profile.

Rejection Collection,http://www.rejectioncollection.com/ (December 9, 2007), author interview.

Wow! Women on Writing,http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/ (December 9, 2007), Annette Fix, author interview.

Writers on Writing Web log,http://www.writersonwriting.blogspot.com/ (December 9, 2007), author profile.