How to turn your ‘Pen on Fire’

STEVE SMITH

Your newspaper is about two pounds heavier each Sunday. People are

nicer. People are meaner. Cakes and candy appear on every table and

desk in every office.

All are signs that the holiday season is here. At the tail end of

this time is the new year, which to some people is just another day.

But for many of us, it’s an opportunity to make a change in our

lives.

My sole resolution last year was to avoid all late charges on my

movie rental account at the video store. That lasted less than a

month.

But along comes Barbara DeMarco-

Barrett who has managed to do something over the past 10 years

that most people only dream about.

Barrett has written a book, “Pen on Fire,” and gotten it

published.

Ironically, “Pen on Fire” is about how to write a book. What makes

DeMarco-Barrett’s different is that it’s not the chicken soup type of

direction one may find in some books; it’s meat and potatoes, written

by someone who has as much time to spare as you do, which is probably

not much.

DeMarco-Barrett is not a novice writer. She has been a fixture on

the Orange County writing scene for many years, hosting a weekly

radio program on KUCI and teaching creative writing classes.

What makes her different and what compels me to tell you about her

and “Pen on Fire” is not only what she wrote; it’s how she wrote it.

DeMarco-Barrett is a busy wife and mother, who wrote the book in

tiny chunks over a period of eight years. The book describes how to

write a book when you have little time, which in her case, meant a

lot of 15-minute chunks.

“The book sat for three years,” she told me, which is not unusual

for time-challenged people. The book sat because she put family

obligations first.

Eventually, DeMarco-Barrett figured out a way to have her cake and

eat it, too. She began to write in bursts, no less than 15 minutes at

a time. This method means that one has to have a laptop or pen and

paper ready at all times, but it is an easy rhythm to get into.

Where was DeMarco-Barrett’s most unusual writing burst? “In my

car, while waiting for [my son] Travis to finish his soccer

practice.”

The point to understand here is that being a parent doesn’t mean

that you have to forget your dreams or give up your hobbies. All you

have to do is be more efficient with your time.

“Pen on Fire” will help time-challenged parents, even if writing

is not their thing. Yes, there are plenty of writing references, but

I have found it equally useful as a time-management tool,

substituting another task for writing where it applies.

Another advantage the book is the guidance DeMarco-Barrett offers

parents who want to make their kids better writers. Very sympathetic

to the schedules and demands of teachers, she tries to fill in the

gaps with Travis.

“The schools can only do so much,” she said. “So, schools teach

the rules, then the fun of writing. I teach the fun first, then the

rules. Writing for fun is missing.”

As we finished talking, I asked DeMarco-Barrett for the three most

important things she’d tell a time-challenged writer. Here’s what she

said -- feel free to substitute your passion where it indicates

writing:

“First, do your writing before other leisure things, before lunch,

before shopping, before cleaning the car or going to the game.

Second, do it religiously for 15 minutes every day. It is not

something do every so often. Get a writing rhythm going. Third, keep

your butt in the chair.”

You can find “Pen on Fire” at Independent bookstores like Book

Soup, Martha’s Bookstore, Latitude 33 or the chains. If you need some

more inspiration before you buy, go to Barrett’s website at

www.penonfire.com. There’s a lot of information on the book there, as

well as audio clips and printed excerpts, a message board, an

appearance schedule and a link to her radio show.

The new year is coming up fast. For many of us, it means another

year that we did not do something important for ourselves. Time is

not our enemy; doubt is.

So are video stores.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer.

Readers may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at

(714) 966-4664.