Amanda Foody knew she wanted to be a writer as a child. When she applied to college, her parents told her they would only pay for college if she majored in something practical. So she majored in Accounting at WIlliam and Mary - but she also wrote her first novel, getting it published while still in college. She did work for an accounting firm for a year, she told the fifty high school students who had come to hear her speak at West Springfield High School. But soon, writing became her full-time job. She told the students how she can pretty much call her own shots in terms of how she spends her day. She got their attention.
Foody was in the high school thanks to Fall for the Book, a nonprofit book festival based in Fairfax. The Festival runs year round. As part of it, authors visit schools to talk about their writing and their books, encouraging young people to read books and write creatively. The idea is to get kids off their phones, which is already happening to a degree at West Springfield High because students are not allowed to use their phones during the day. The librarian who invited Ms. Foody to come to West Springfield, Colleen Conwell, keeps an eye on the students- she knows them all by name - and takes note of what they are reading. She reached out to the Fall for the Book team to see if she could get an author visit at West Springfield. Conwell said she is already seeing a change in students as a result of the phone policy. They talk to each other more.
Foody was conveying her first-hand knowledge of writing to the high schoolers. Her main point was about character. “Genres can change, but character - It’s the one thing they all have in common,” she said. “The character needs to change, to evolve.”
Foody co-authors most of her books with C.L. Herman. Herman, who she met during a writer’s mentoring program, is the same age. They both grew up in Catholic families. They hit it off as writers and then as friends. Foody liked Herman’s style of writing. Writing together has been easy: They each write a character. No one knows who wrote which character. Even their publisher. Only their spouses know.