Anthologies

Short Stories

Topics

Craft, Subject Expertise, The Business of Writing

Public Speaking Details

As a broadcast journalist for decades, I've incorporated into my writing my first-hand, detailed knowledge of changes in communication technology and the effects on our personal lives as well as our society in general. I'm also interested in speaking about reinventing oneself after retirement, and writing a debut novel at age 66.

Biography

A runaway and high school dropout at fifteen, ML Barrs started in TV as a 'one-man-band' reporter. She worked her way up to VP/News Director at KDFW in Dallas-Fort Worth, TX, then wrapped up her local TV career as GM at KXTV-TV in Sacramento, CA, and launched into writing mysteries. Her debut novel, Parallel Secrets, is the first in a planned series featuring Vicky Robeson, a TV news journalist, travel writer, and fierce seeker of truth—who has trouble facing her own. Maria is the oldest girl of 13 children born to the son of a coal miner and an immigrant from The Philippines. Her family traveled the country in a converted school bus, seeking a better place to be. Later, amid the chaos of fourteen people living in a trailer, she left home. Her somewhat chaotic upbringing helped prepare her for the challenging world of TV news. What drove her as a journalist is what drives her protagonist—a deep longing to find truth, and to understand why people make the choices they do.