Hello and welcome to InkyBlots Mr. Eva!

Please call me Barry, though I write under the name of Storyheart.

Tell us a bit about you – where you’ve been, how you got here, where you’re going.

Well I was born and raised in Barnet, Hertfordshire in England, which is just outside London. I moved to the USA in 2000 after meeting my now wife on the Internet. We now live in Connecticut with our two young children Victoria and Andrew. As for we’re I am going, if I knew that it would safe a lot of time and worry. Where ever it is, I’ll make the most of it, and try and bring a little happiness and laughter to that location.

Tell us about Across the Pond and how it went from idea to published book.

I have always been a creator of things, poems then songs, then some children short plays, these developed into my short romance stories, and now into this my first novel. I would add though I don’t really count myself as a writer I am no literary genius. What I can do though is tell a story that people feel part of, I am story teller.

They say write about what you know and obviously moving myself across the pond I have had first hand experience of the sort of issues one runs into.

To go from writing short stories to a novel I basically had to re-teach myself to write. Instead of short dash down in 45mins stuff I had to learn to build characters and flesh out a plot.

I went through a roller coaster of emotions trying to get the novel published with many knock backs until in the end I almost gave up. Then a year later I decided to do POD (print on demand) with Xlibris. They had the book through the whole process from editing to the final printing in two months.

What is the one thing you like the most and the one thing you dislike the most about Fred Squire?

Dislike? How can I dislike my hero, the white Knight of the story? (*grin* ) Basically there is a lot of me in Fred and when I wrote the book I became Fred. So I can’t really dislike the bloke can I?

How did you become a writer?

As I have said already I always have been creating something or other poems, song children stories, my short romance stuff and lately some song parodies.

A lot of people go on about being writers to be honest I have never called myself that, I am not brilliant literary genius. My spelling for instance is terrible; all I can say is thank goodness for spell check. I just call myself a story teller.

What would you say is the most difficult thing about being a writer?

In writing a novel? Trying to make the story so that people will want to turn the page, a hook at the end of each chapter like an old movie serial making people want to see next weeks episode, I want to make people want to read on.

If you could pick any author to collaborate with, who would it be?

Well I’ve been told in several interviews that I am the new Judy Blume, I think we have the same sense if humor so writing with her would be fun. Perhaps a duet of writing, with me writing from the male side, and her from the female?

Do you have any interesting writing habits/quirks?

With two young children and a full time job I can’t set up any sort of regular schedule however I do mentally churn over story lines and ideas while driving to and from work, and like to have some musical background while trying to compose.

What is the most valuable piece of advice you have been given/learned in your life as a writer?

Listen and learn, have faith in your self, and be proud of what you create.

When you’re not writing, what are you doing?

How much time do you have? My normal everyday job is in IT so obviously that takes up a lot of my time.

I have always been into sport playing rugby for 35 year and before heading to the US running several London marathons all in fancy dress. These days it’s mainly an armchair sportsman, though I do play Co-ed softball.

I also love singing; to this end I am the DJ at two local karaoke shows, always trying to have fun. I used to have a couple of shows on local public access TV either narrating my stories or with the karaoke recordings, but these days I just do not have the time.

Is there anything else you would like to share with the readers here?

Please, check out the reviews about the book at Amazon and other places, I hate the pigeon holing of a book into ages etc. I am so lucky that people from 10 to 80 have enjoyed the book. To me that one fact, that is being “enjoyed” by such a wide age range means more than any award etc.

You can find the book at all the online book stores, it is called “Across the Pond” and written by me “Storyheart” or else check out http://across-t-pond.com or email me at acrossthepond@mail.com

Thank you very much for coming by this blog. I wish you great successes with Across the Pond.

Thank you so much for inviting me; it has been a great pleasure.