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.