Biography 2
Morocco ignited within me a passion for seeing other places, experiencing other cultures, and speaking with people in their own languages. In an effort to expand my sense of medieval Europe, I studied Italian for 5 months before traveling to Italy in 2001. My understanding of the ancient world deepened, as did my desire to return. Our trip to Italy added so much depth to my writing that I decided to travel to France in 2004, where we visited museums, castles, and spoke with as many French people as possible, some of whom unwittingly found their way into my stories. Throughout the summer of 2006 I studiedboth Portugese and Spanish in preparation for a trip Melissa and I took to Iberia in November. Traipsing through moorish castles and Spanish cathedrals brought me some great inspiration for my second novel. We even managed to return to Tangier for an afternoon to see how the city had changed in 7 years.
In the summer of 2000, after graduating from college, my brother Josh and I opened J.Barba Painting, a house painting business, something which has turned out to work to my advantage as a writer, as it offers me a flexible enough schedule to devote myself to the Child of the Myriad.
I never pursued a career aside from painting and writing other than an unsuccessful attempt at becoming a spy for the CIA (I almost got the job, but even though they flew me out to Washington DC for the final interview and psychological exam, the CIA decided not to hire me, something for which I was not happy about at the time, but am grateful for now).
