Interview with Debut Author Lizzy Mason!

In 2019, our goal is to work with as many debut authors as possible and spread the word about their debut novels. Follow us this year as we pick the minds of the 2019 debuts and chat with them! Also stay tuned for news of giveaways, Twitter Chats, and more! 

During last year's BookExpo and BookCon, we had the amazing chance to get to meet debut author Lizzy Mason and to get advanced copies of her book, THE ART OF LOSING. Well, it's safe to say that we loved the book, because it was one of our favorites of the entire year and got tons of awards in our Best Books of 2018 post! So without further ado, we are so excited to have Lizzy on the blog today to answer some of our questions! 

About Lizzy! 

Lizzy Mason grew up in northern Virginia before moving to New York City for college and a career in publishing. She lives in Queens, NY with her husband and cat in an apartment full of books -- and will soon be moving to Boston. THE ART OF LOSING is her first novel.

Keep up with Lizzy: 
Website / Instagram / Twitter / Goodreads / Facebook 

Interview!

The Book Bratz: First of all, congratulations! How does it feel to be a debut author?

Lizzy: Thank you! It’s incredibly surreal. It took a long time to get to this point. Four books, two agents, nearly ten years. But I am so thrilled to be able to share this story with readers at last. 

The Book Bratz: In your opinion, what is the best part of the writing process? What is the hardest?

Lizzy: The best part is getting to know the characters. They are their own people in my mind and, like making a new friend, it takes time to peel back all their layers. I love figuring out what makes them who they are. The hardest has to be the self-doubt. It’s so easy to get caught up thinking that the story isn’t good enough, and that I’m not good enough. Especially with the first draft. 

The Book Bratz:What made you decide to write THE ART OF LOSING?

Lizzy: I wrote the scene where Harley walks in on Mike and Audrey the night my ex-boyfriend told me he’d cheated on me. That scene was the start of a different book when I first wrote it, but one day, my mom called to tell me a friend of mine had died after he drank and took pills. He went to sleep and never woke up. He was 24. I’ve struggled with addiction since I was a teenager, so I felt like I needed to tell this story for both me and him. It’s just too easy to make a huge mistake when alcohol is involved. So I took that scene and turned it into the original beginning of The Art of Losing.

The Book Bratz: Who was your favorite character to write in THE ART OF LOSING? Who was the hardest to write?

Lizzy:I love Raf so much. He’s just such a softie. So he’s probably my fave. Or Harley’s dad. He’s a lot like my dad, right down to the bad jokes. Hardest was probably…all of them. They’re all hurting so much in this book! Writing the fights between Harley and Audrey, and Harley being mean to Audrey, was so hard. I hated it because it made me think about the times I was mean to my sister and how much it would kill me if anything happened to her. 

The Book Bratz: This book deals with a lot of heavy topics, such as grief, rage, betrayal, rehab, just to name a few. How did you approach these topics in a honest, raw, yet sensitive way for your readers?

Lizzy: I started at such a raw place with this book, writing it after my boyfriend cheated. But I also went through a really difficult year -- long depressive episode during which I didn’t write at all. So after that, writing this book was cathartic in a lot of ways, even though it was also really emotional. I put a lot of myself into this book. 

The Book Bratz: What do you hope readers will take away from reading THE ART OF LOSING?

Lizzy: I hope they’ll have more of an understanding of addiction, but also that they’ll stand up for themselves if they’re being taken advantage of. And I hope that they’ll be nicer to their siblings. ☺  

The Book Bratz:Lastly, do you plan on returning to the world of THE ART OF LOSING in the future, or do you have something else in mind? Can you tell us anything about that?

Lizzy: I have ideas for books about some of the side characters, but I’m not sure I’ll ever get to them. Never say never! But I do have another book signed with Soho Teen in Fall 2020 that I am really excited about, but can’t say too much about just yet… It’s another emotional story about mental illness and addiction, but with a very different twist. Stay tuned! 

About THE ART OF LOSING!

Title: The Art of Losing

Author: Lizzy Mason

Genre: Contemporary

Publisher: Soho Teen

Publication Date: February 19th, 2019

Summary: On one terrible night, 17-year-old Harley Langston’s life changes forever. At a party she discovers her younger sister, Audrey, hooking up with her boyfriend, Mike—and she abandons them both in a rage. When Mike drunkenly attempts to drive Audrey home, he crashes and Audrey ends up in a coma. Now Harley is left with guilt, grief, pain and the undeniable truth that her ex-boyfriend (who is relatively unscathed) has a drinking problem. So it’s a surprise that she finds herself reconnecting with Raf, a neighbor and childhood friend who’s recently out of rehab and still wrestling with his own demons. At first Harley doesn’t want to get too close to him. But as Audrey awakens and slowly recovers, Raf starts to show Harley a path forward that she never would have believed possible—one guided by honesty, forgiveness, and redemption.

Thank you so much Lizzy for stopping by and answering our questions! We are super excited about THE ART OF LOSING and can't wait for it to be out in the world on February 19th -- in just a few short days!