Today at the Café we have with us mystery author Elizabeth Zelvin. Her latest book, DEATH WILL GET YOU SOBER [review here], was released in April of 2008 by Thomas Dunne/St. Martin’s Minotaur. So grab a cup of her favorite coffee, mocha java, and join us for a chat. Afterwards, we can head over to her favorite coffee shop, Neue Galerie at Fifth Avenue & 86th Street in New York City.

Café:
Tell us a little about your latest book.

Elizabeth:
Death Will Get You Sober is a traditional mystery that falls somewhere between cozy and hardboiled — maybe over easy and slightly crispy around the edges. When Bruce wakes up in detox on the Bowery on Christmas Day, he knows he needs to change his life. He thinks he’ll die of boredom staying sober, but instead he’s catapulted into a murder investigation and the hidden world of the 12-step programs in New York. He finds he cares more than he expected to about the detox buddy who dies and the two old friends who give him a second chance and help him find the killer.

Café:
How long have you been writing?

Elizabeth:
My whole life. I first said I wanted to be a writer when I was seven years old.

Café:
Wow that’s exactly when I first started too. When did your first novel come out, and can you tell us about it?

Elizabeth:
Death Will Get You Sober is my first published novel, and the publication date is my 64th birthday.

Café:
I didn’t realize this was your first book. Congratulations! Have you always written mysteries? If not what else have you written?

Elizabeth:
I have three unsalvageable mysteries in the drawer that I wrote in the 1970s and three more about Bruce and his friends lined up. I hope St. Martin’s will want to continue the series. I’ve also published two books of poetry and a book about gender and addictions as well as many professional articles and book chapters about alcoholism and addictions, codependency, dysfunctional families, women’s issues, and online therapy.

Café:
What brought you to choose the setting and characters in your latest book? Tell us a little about the setting and main character.

Elizabeth:
The setting is Manhattan — from the Bowery to Park Avenue and from the corporate towers of Wall Street to the church basements of AA. I’ve lived in New York my whole adult life, and even when I was growing up in Queens, it was where everything happened. Bruce is a recovering alcoholic. I started Death Will Get You Sober with the title and the idea that I wanted to write about people in recovery whose setting and social environment is the world of the 12-step programs. There are more sober protagonists in crime fiction (and movies and TV) than there used to be, but we seldom see them doing more about it than struggling not to drink again, going to an occasional meeting, and maybe talking to a sponsor. That’s just the beginning for Bruce and his friends. I started out with a woman co-protagonist, Barbara the codependent addictions counselor, but she’s now a sidekick. So I ended up with a male protagonist sort of by accident. But I’m very proud of Bruce. He’s smart and funny and sexy — and he isn’t me. If my first novel had come out forty years ago the way I hoped, it might have been autobiographical as so many first novels are. Skipping all that was the silver lining to how long it took to get here.

Café:
What is the main reason that you write?

Elizabeth:
In general, I write because it’s what I do, how I express myself. But writing a novel, especially the first draft, can be agonizing. I do it because I have something to say. Some writers, if their first manuscript doesn’t sell or their series tanks, can say, “Okay, I’ll write a thriller” or “I’ll write a cozy about someone who does quilting or wood carving.” That’s not me.

Café:
Do you write to entertain or is there something more you want the readers to take away from your work?

Elizabeth:
I do want to entertain, and I hope readers will find my book as funny as I do. But I also want them to take away the idea that there’s hope for alcoholics and the people who love them. There’s humor and joy and inspiration in recovery, and a lot of people don’t know that or can’t believe it. I’ve tried to show that in an unsentimental way.

Café:
That’s wonderful. Do you have a schedule for your writing or just write whenever you can?

Elizabeth:
I write best first thing in the morning, but I’m not one of those writers who gets up at 4 am. Since I do my professional work at home as well as my writing, I don’t wake up to an alarm. Lying in bed thinking and then going straight to the computer is ideal. It works best when my husband’s in the city and I’m in the country. But if I need to write, I’ll get started whenever I can — when my husband leaves for work, after I see an online client, or whatever I have to do first on a given day.

Café:
Do you outline?

Elizabeth:
I’m strictly an into-the-mist writer. That’s why I find the first draft so excruciating — the only way I can find out if I can do it is to do it all the way to the end. When ideas come to me, I take notes, mostly on Post-its or scraps of paper, sometimes on Word documents that I print out. I throw everything into a folder and consult it whenever I have to decide what comes next. Some of the scenes never get written. Sometimes even important things like whodunit or even who gets killed next change. Most of my notes start with the word, “Maybe.”

Café:
If you had your ideal, what time of day would you prefer to write?

Elizabeth:
As I said, first thing in the morning.

Café:
Yet another morning person. Day job?

Elizabeth:
I left my last day job, running an alcohol treatment program on the Bowery, in 1999. You know how everybody tells new writers, “Don’t quit your day job”? They say the same thing about what I do professionally: I have an online therapy practice. I work with clients all over the world by chat and email on my site at LZcybershrink.com.

Café:
How wonderful that you can keep connected to that work like that. Did you find it difficult to get published in the beginning?

Elizabeth:
Ha. Since it took 57 years to get the first novel out, that would be a yes.

Café:
Do you have a great rejection/critique or acceptance story you’d like to share?

Elizabeth:
I do indeed, although I sometimes think not just every mystery writer in New York but everyone in cyberspace has heard it. I started sending Death Will Get You Sober out in October 2002. A year later, I got my first agent, who failed to sell the book and gave up very quickly. I sent out 125 query letters and got many requests for full and partial manuscripts, a number of rave rejections, and a lot of “not for us” and “can’t sell it.” I also approached 35 publishers, from big to very small. I went everywhere except St. Martin’s, because in October 2003 a friend had given the manuscript to his nonfiction editor there. It sat on the guy’s desk for 2½ years. Then he wrote and suggested I rewrite the book, making Bruce the sole protagonist. I hated to push Barbara to the sidelines, but I was desperate, so I did it. And he was absolutely right, it made the book much better. When I emailed to ask him to take another look, he wrote back, “I’m so sorry, I’m leaving publishing to go to law school.” I finally got that drop of luck when he gave the manuscript to the legendary Ruth Cavin before he left, and Ruth liked it.

Café:
That’s quite a story. What kind of promotion do you find most effective?

Elizabeth:
I want the book to succeed, so I’m doing everything I can: an extensive book tour through out the US, a virtual tour consisting of guest blogs and interviews on mystery sites, bookmarks, postcards, “sneak preview” chapbooks, getting on panels at conferences, and networking networking networking. I have 1100 friends on MySpace and 800 on CrimeSpace, and I try to reach out to all of them from time to time, not just to plug my book. I’ve put a lot of work into my author website at www.elizabethzelvin.com, and I keep adding to it. I belong to Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, and I’m active in those organizations both in New York, where I’m lucky to live, and online. I’m also active on e-lists like DorothyL and Murder Must Advertise. I’m also working with PJ Nunn of Breakthrough Promotions, who’s a terrific resource, on the book tour and media events, but I’m doing a lot of it myself. I’m a “born to schmooze” kind of person, so networking and making friends comes naturally to me. And because it took so long for the book to come out, I’ve had time to develop a lot of wonderful connections. Mystery writers are the best! generous, supportive, and helpful.

Café:
You are a busy person. Most interesting book signing story — in a bookstore or other venue?

Elizabeth:
Ask me next year. ?

Café:
I’ll look forward to hearing that. Future writing goals?

Elizabeth:
I want Bruce and his friends to keep coming back. I’d love a long-running series. And having been nominated for an Agatha for my first short story, “Death Will Clean Your Closet,” I’d like to write more stories with the same characters.

Café:
Congrats on the Agatha. Heroes?

Elizabeth:
My mother, Judy Lapidus. She was born in 1902, came to the US through Ellis Island at the age of 4, and went to law school in 1921, when women weren’t doing that. She wrote and edited legal books for many years, then went back to college in the Sixties, when few older people were doing that, and got a doctorate in political science at the age of 69. She taught Constitutional law for ten years and was still learning new things, traveling, and going swimming in her 90s. She lived to 96 and was an inspiration to many younger women.

Café:
Person you would most like to meet dead or alive?

Elizabeth:
Can I have my mother back?

Café:
How sweet. If only things like that were possible. What do you read?

Elizabeth:
Mostly genre fiction. I love character-driven series with endearing or at least compelling and somewhat likeable protagonists. Some of my favorite mystery authors are Marcia Muller, Margaret Maron, Dana Stabenow, Reginald Hill. In fantasy and SF, Lois McMaster Bujold, Sharon Shinn. Historical, Diana Gabaldon, Dorothy Dunnett. And I do read as many of my friends’ books as I can. ?

Café:
I read many of the same. Great authors. What are your hobbies?

Elizabeth:
I don’t think of anything I do as a hobby, but I garden, I take photographs, I run 3½ miles almost every day, and I’ve recently learned to knit, which everyone who knows me considers a miracle. I’m also a singer/songwriter, but I haven’t touched the guitar since the book stuff heated up.

Café:
We will have to talk more about the singer/songwriter part sometime as I am one myself. Favorite TV or movies?

Elizabeth:
I haven’t watched any TV at all in the last few months except some of the election campaign. I loved West Wing and Judging Amy.

Café:
Pets?

Elizabeth:
None. I’m allergic to cats and would not enjoy scooping for a dog in New York City.

Café:
Family?

Elizabeth:
My husband has been tremendously supportive. He gets how difficult publishing and promoting a book in the 21 st century is, and he’s constantly handing out my bookmarks. He also puts up with my angst during the writing process. I have one son and two gorgeous, brilliant granddaughters. The little one just turned one, and the big one will be four in May.

Café:
What part of the country/world do you live in?

Elizabeth:
New York City — the Upper West Side.

Café:
Any advice for aspiring or beginning writers?

Elizabeth:
It takes talent, persistence, and luck. You can’t force the luck, but you can apply the persistence. And, as everybody says, write, write, write. Finish the manuscript. Get critique. Don’t send out the first draft. And connect with other writers. Join Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. I wish I’d known all this decades earlier.

Café:
Anything you would like to add?

Elizabeth:
I hope readers will have fun reading Death Will Get You Sober and want to come back for more of Bruce and his friends.

Café:
Website?

Elizabeth:
www.elizabethzelvin.com.

Café:
Where can people purchase your books?

Elizabeth:
Death Will Get You Sober hits bookstores on April 15. It’ll be available in mystery and independent bookstores, in the chains (if yours doesn’t have it, they can order it for you) and in the online bookstores. Or come to one of my signings and get an autographed copy.

Café:
Thanks so much for joining us today at the Café. I look forward to seeing much more from Elizabeth in the future.

©2008 Lorie Ham. All rights reserved.