Author Archives: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett

Revision, according to Carolyn See

Posted January 30 2007 by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett

No work on the book this weekend, but a firm resolution to begin today, and I did, amazingly.

First I outlined the rest of the chapters–21 through 30–on this roll of newsprint that Travis used to draw on I wrote down the major actions of the chapters.

Then I re-read the section in Carolyn See’s book, Making a Literary Life, on writing–in particular, revision. I love that book and I love Carolyn.

I took notes, and I give them to you now, here:

1. Reread the entire mss., making only the most minor of changes. Read, don’t edit. You have to know what you have before you can begin sculpting.

2. Read again. On second reading, make a list: What I have/What I need. This should run 10-20 pages for a novel.

*Work only 2 hours at a time. After 2 hours, it’s all blather.*

3. The third step is to make a one sentence summary of each of your chapters. (See says her ideal novel is comprised of 12 chapters with 30 pages to each chapter, giving you 360 pages.)

4. Do another “What I have/what I need” list, which should look sweeter and more barren than the first time you did it.

Read it through a couple more times.

Yikes.

So I did my newsprint roll outline and began reading. It’s good to not make changes yet, because I’d be crossing out all over the place.

But I do make notes. On the typewriter, I wrote: “Put more food in it.” It is, after all, called Starletta’s Kitchen. My son, who’s been typing on the Hermes 2000 lately, laughed.

The End

Posted January 27 2007 by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett

Lovely words, don’t you think?

Well, I finally wrote them on the middle of page 395 of Chapter 30 of Starletta’s Kitchen. Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hold that glass of champagne aloft and toast with me….

Now begins the task I’m actually looking forward to: revision. (I’m also dreading it, too, if that makes sense.) The manuscript needs so very much work, but I’m looking forward to it. Getting the words onto the page–the first draft–is the harder part, for me.

Ann Hood knocks me out

Posted January 26 2007 by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett

Ann Hood was on the show yesterday. I had been aware of her work for years, but it wasn’t until Pages magazine asked me to review her new novel, The Knitting Circle, that I read her. I loved the book, a story about a range of women with stories. I then picked up her collection of short stories, An Ornithologist’s Guide to Life and it knocked me out. The tone of the stories was much more flip, less serious than the novel (based on Hood’s life), and with each story, I grew more and more impressed with her skill and seeming alacrity with which she writes. I want to read more of her stuff–all of her stuff, in fact. We didn’t discuss this on the show, but I believe her book has been optioned by Julia Roberts, a confirmed knitter. Hood is especially great at short story endings. Every writer knows how hard ending a piece is and she does it just right, tying things up a bit, but not too much so as to seem contrived.

Barbara Seranella … sad news

Posted January 22 2007 by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett

Barbara Seranella
Born April 30, 1956
Died January 21, 2007

Barbara Seranella, 50, bestselling mystery author and resident of Laguna Beach and PGA West in La Quinta, died peacefully on January 21, 2007, at 4:15 p.m. EST (1:15 p.m. PST) at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, with her husband Ron Seranella and her brother Dr. Larry Shore at her side. Barbara, who died of end-stage liver disease while awaiting a liver transplant, leaves behind her husband Ron, brothers Larry Shore of San Francisco and David Shore of Woodacre, parents Nate and Margie Shore of La Quinta, and stepdaughters Carrie Seranella and Shannon Howard.

Private funeral arrangements are being made by the family. A celebration of Barbara’s life is being planned for February; details will be announced later.

For information, please contact Debbie Mitsch, Barbara’s publicist, at martinandmitsch@aol.com, (714) 743-6127.

…………

I will miss her greatly. We were in a critique group together for a while. She was on the show a few times. Here’s the podcast of the last show.

And something she published in the Times in December (Thanks, Bill Fitzhugh): Click here.