Diane Cohen Schneider is the author of the new novel Andrea Hoffman Goes All In. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Q: What inspired you to write Andrea Hoffman Goes All In, and how did you create your character Andrea?
A: Like Andrea, I worked on Wall Street in the 1980s and I loved the challenge of stock picking and the excitement of that work environment. I didn’t find many books with a Wall Street setting, so I decided to write one. I think many people find finance foreign and perhaps even frightening and I wanted to make it a bit more familiar and frankly, fun.
I like to say that everything Andrea does that is clever and successful comes directly from my experiences and everything she does that is dumb and morally questionable I had to make up!
Q: The author Madeleine Henry said of the book, “Set in the 80s, this story is a timeless look at the relationship we have with our jobs. It explores how work may do more than reflect who we are—it may shape who we become.” What do you think of that description?
A: I love Madeleine Henry’s novel Breathe In, Cash Out and I think she really captures the theme of Andrea Hoffman Goes All In. During the workday and over the course of a career, a person has to make so many decisions -- small and large -- based on which way their moral compass points. I do think those choices accumulate to determine what kind of a person you evolve into.
Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
A: I didn’t know how the book would end but I thought I knew how and when it began. Then I realized that it is hard to tell a story when you have to do a lot of explaining about the technicalities of your main character’s job. It was much easier to start the story when Andrea gets the job so the reader and Andrea can learn together.
It was a shock to me, but it turned out the very first chapter I wrote was the last chapter of the novel.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from the story?
A: I’d like the reader to appreciate that work is as an important part of women’s lives as love and family. A job can be a necessary evil but work can also bring about personal growth, result in meaningful relationships and lifelong friendships and create satisfaction and joy.
And when the reader finishes this book, I’d like them to feel empowered to find their own best job. A person doesn’t have to have a job their parents approve of or one that society values, a good job in the one that is good for them. Everyone deserves a career that fits into a life they love.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Launching Andrea Hoffman Goes All In has been more time-consuming than I thought but I have two novels in process that I’d like to get back to. Both are more in the mystery genre than this current book but they also have strong, clever and funny heroines. My favorite thing is to make people laugh.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I love hearing from readers. Comments about the book or questions about how I write and got published are welcome. They can find me at my website: dianecohenschneider.com.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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