Barbara DeMarco-Barrett’s first book, Pen on Fire: A Busy Woman’s Guide to Igniting the Writer Within (Harcourt, 2004, 8th printing), was on The Los Angeles Times best-seller list and was honored with a 2005 American Society of Journalists and Authors Outstanding Book Award. Her short story, “Crazy for You,” was published in Orange County Noir in April 2010. Orange Coast Magazine, Westways, The Los Angeles Times, The Writer, Writer’s Digest, Poets & Writers, Sunset, and other journals have printed her essays and articles.

Barbara has worked as an auto parts runner, baker, waitress, crisis intervention counselor, semiconductor inspector, and more. She teaches “Jumpstart Your Writing” online for the Gotham Writers Workshop. She also co-hosts “Writers on Writing,” which broadcasts from UC Irvine and streams online.

Barbara received a Distinguished Instructor Award in 2001 at UC Irvine Extension. Orange Coast Magazine’s Best of Orange County (2008) gave her Literary Magnet #1. She is the founder of the Pen on Fire Speakers/Writers Salon.