Amanda Cox
https://amandacoxwrites.com/
T4JYM: Can you tell us about your latest book and what readers can expect from it?
AC: My latest book is The Bitter End Birding Society, available August 19, 2025. It is the story of a young woman who has been declared a hometown hero because of the way she handled a traumatic experience, but she feels like anything but a hero. She goes to Bitter End, Tennessee to spend the summer getting to know her great-aunt and escape the unwanted attention. Things do not go according to her plan, and she ends up adopted against little against her will by a ragtag group of bird watchers. As she explores the Appalachian Mountains, looking for peace, she finds far more than she anticipated – a severed branch of her family tree. What follows is her quest to reconcile broken relationships, putting her hope for new beginnings to the test.
T4JYM: How did you make the jump from being a therapist to being an author?
AC: I started writing shortly after my second child was born. I had always loved to read and to explore thoughts and emotions through writing. As a stay-at-home parent, I started writing as a way to unwind and as a bit of an experiment to see if I could write a book. After I completed that first manuscript, I started seeking feedback on my work. Several people confirmed that I had a gift with words. And then I started a new experiment. Could I start submitting my stories to industry professionals and see them published someday? The rest is history! (History that involves a lot of learning, rejection, and perseverance!)
T4JYM: What comes next? Are you working on something new?
AC: I am currently writing a new story that is set to release in the Summer of 2026. It’s about a woman who specializes in restoring heirlooms, and one day a mysterious package from an anonymous sender who lives in the town she’d fled as a teenager appears on her doorstep. The sender asks her to find the timepiece’s rightful owner, a challenge she’s not sure she wants to take.
T4JYM: How do you incorporate your education in theology and counseling into your writing? Or do they remain separate from your novels?
AC: My understanding of who God is and of the nature of people is something that is organically woven into who I am and everything I write. My education has shaped my worldview, and I don’t think I could write a story without those elements of who I am even if I tried. It is so important to be aware of how your education shapes the way you view God and the world. It will impact you more than you know!
T4JYM: I love the fact that you include discussion guides and resources for book clubs on your website. What kind of feedback have you gotten from clubs about your works?
AC: I love interacting with book clubs. It is one of my favorite things about being an author. It always makes me smile when I hear that discussing my books was a gateway into the group talking about deep spiritual truths and even discovering unhealed wounds in their lives that needed care and attention.
T4JYM: Please tell us how you came to be a Christian and how this has influenced your writing.
AC: I accepted Christ in my heart at the ripe old age of five while sitting in my mom’s navy blue minivan after church. My testimony is this: I cannot remember a time in my life in which I did not walk with Jesus. On the highest of mountaintops, in the lowest of valleys, through struggles with anxiety, through loss, through times He felt near to me, and times He seemed silent, He has held me fast. His faithfulness to me has been my anchor in every storm.
T4JYM: Who is someone you look up to and why? Have you ever met them?
AC: One of my greatest inspirations is Corrie Ten Boom and her family. Every year I read The Hiding Place with my 8th grade homeschool literature class that I teach. Not only does her family inspire me in their courage during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands and their work with the Dutch Resistance to rescue their Jewish neighbors, but I am also inspired by the way they showed love and hospitality to their community long before the war ever touched their homeland. It encourages me to love people well now, not only when I see injustice. I would have loved the chance to meet Corrie Ten Boom when she was living. I am thankful I get to meet her through her written words.
T4JYM: What advice would you give to someone interested in publishing their work?
AC: Read as much in the genre you want to write in as you possibly can. Find a mentor who is further along in their writing journey than you are. Be ready to treat every moment as a learning experience – the rejections, the yes moments, and the waiting. There will be lots of waiting!
T4JYM: What advice would you give to the youth of this world?
AC: God has given you gifts and talents that He wants you to use to reflect His goodness and love to a weary world. Perhaps it is a talent for listening to others. A talent for organization. Maybe you have a big imagination and have a talent for thinking outside the box. Maybe you have an artistic talent like singing, dancing, painting, or writing. Whatever it is, I want to encourage you to cultivate that talent and ask God to show you avenues in which you can use that talent – not for your own glory, but for His. And if you are convinced you have no talent at all, ask Him to reveal it to you. Embrace the discovery process rather than getting hung up on coveting talents that other people have. In time, you will discover the beauty found in the purpose He has for your life.
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