January 13, 2026 – Sacha Zimmerman is a writer and editor. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New Republic, The Huffington Post, The Guardian, Reader’s Digest, and The New York Times, where she penned essays for the Times blog “PROOF: Alcohol and American Life.” Her memoir is UNWASTED: MY LUSH SOBRIETY (Citadel, 2011). She also has deep experience working with nonprofits and think tanks on white papers, annual reports, website materials, and other written collateral. Her first novel is expected in 2026.

Unwasted: My Lush Sobriety Book

Q. If you are in recovery, what was your drug(s) of choice and when is your sobriety date?

A. Alcohol all the way. I’ve tried a lot of addictive substances, but nothing ever gripped me like alcohol. My sobriety date is June 15, 2005. So this questionnaire arrived during my 20th year!

Q. Is there anything special in your sobriety toolkit that helps keep you sober?

A. I replay the “old tapes” of my life when I was using. It was chaos, and I was a liar. Now I have a sense of moral truth and a bright, awesome life. And I’ll never be drunk when my kid needs me. The before-and-after of sobriety is stark. The “after” is so much better.

Q. Do you think addiction is an illness, disease, a choice, or a wicked twist of fate?

A. All of the above. A twist of fate gave me a disease that made me ill until I decided to choose everyday not to drink.

Q. Where are you from and where do you reside now?

A. I grew up in Syracuse, New York (go Orange!), a place I could not wait to escape. But now I have nothing but fondness for Syracuse.

A. I have lived in Washington, DC, for the past 25 years. I love DC. It’s beautiful and full of interesting people. There’s a lot more to DC than government.

Q. What is one word you would use to describe yourself?

A. Clever.

Q. Describe how you came to your “rock bottom” point.

A. I went to an afternoon birthday party on a Sunday. I told my boyfriend I’d be back by 7 pm. The birthday party turned into a bar crawl and then an after-hours bar. I walked out of that bar at 7 am. It was bright and sunny, which surprised me. And now it was a Monday and I had to go to work. Walking out of that bar at 7 am, well, it just showed me that I had zero control. I would always say yes to alcohol and ruin my life if I didn’t make a change. That sunlight stunned me.

Q. If you ever retire, would you prefer to live by the ocean, lake, river, mountaintop, desert, or penthouse?

A. Ocean! I have very elaborate ocean-house-in-Maine fantasies.

Q. How do you measure success?

A. By trying my best.

Q. What is your biggest pet peeve?

A. I have weird grammar peeves. People who don’t use an oxford comma drive me crazy. I hate it when people still put two spaces after a period. I hate it when people say “entitled” when they mean “titled.” I hate it when people modify “unique,” like by calling something “very unique.” One of a kind things can’t be “very” anything. The Chicago Manual of Style is my bible.

Q. If you had an extra million dollars, which charity would you donate it to?

A. ACLU.

Q. Who has been the biggest influence throughout your life?

A. For better and for worse, my parents have had the biggest influence on my life.

Q. If you could give advice to your younger self what would it be?

A. You are as smart as everyone in the room. You should speak up.

Q. Who made you feel seen growing up?

A. My French teacher, my art teacher, and my dance teacher all saw more in me as a human (not as a French speaker, artist, or dancer) than I saw in myself.

Q. Which living person do you most admire?

A. Barack Obama. Smart, cool, funny, driven, classy, thoughtful.

Q. What major event or realization shaped who you are?

A. I realized that if I didn’t stop drinking, I would never have a quality partner, career, or home. The kind of person I wanted to be with wouldn’t tolerate my chaos.

Q. What do you love most about living sober?

A. Two things stand out. No hangovers and always being ready to go in an emergency. I never, ever, ever tire of not having a hangover. And knowing that, if my child needs me at any time of day or night, I will never be impaired. That feels amazing.

Q. Which part of your treatment and recovery do you feel was the most interesting or unexpected?

A. The whole recovery world was fascinating and weird! I went to meetings that made me uncomfortable and meetings that healed me. I saw differences of opinion on how to be sober. I learned maxims that inform my morality to this day. Walking into recovery is stepping into a new world. It’s almost like having a new ethnicity. Instead of religion or nationality, addicts in recovery became my people cohort for a while.

Q. What’s your concept of a Higher Power?

A. I have no idea. I am fascinated though. We are on a planet in space. But who or what created the universe? Who lit the match? I don’t have a personal higher power, but I am open to all theories!

Q. What is your Astrological sign?

A. Virgo.

Q. Who is your favorite celebrity in recovery?

A. Will Arnett.

Q. What book(s) have you read more than once?

A. I don’t read books more than once. We only get so many books in a lifetime! I want to get to as many as possible.

Q. What books are you reading now?

A. I am reading Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito, which is fantastic and just beautifully written and dark. Also I am reading Strange Houses by Uketse, which is unusual and creative.

Q. If you were giving a dinner party for your 3 favorite authors, living or dead, who would they be?

A. Tamsyn Muir, Hunter S. Thompson, Dorothy Parker, and Stephen King. Omigod, we have to make this happen! Ack, I forgot Edgar Allen Poe and Margaret Atwood. This is an impossible question!

Q. Which film have you watched the most?

A. Raiders of the Lost Ark. My husband and I watch it every Valentines Day!

Q. Who is your favorite film director?

A. David Fincher and David Lynch.

Q. What book would you most like to see turned into a movie or TV show that hasn’t already been adapted?

A. My book! Unwasted: My Lush Sobriety or maybe my forthcoming novel…

Q. Are you binge watching any TV series?

A. I am currently binging Slow Horses and Alice in Borderland, and eagerly waiting the new season of Stranger Things. I also loved Squid Games, Brooklyn 99, and Ozark.

Q. What is your favorite App?

A. Google Maps! I am dating myself, but there’s nothing like not having to write down directions.

Q. Who is your favorite performer, living or dead?

A. Robert Downey Jr. I would watch him read the phone book.

Q. Who are your heroes in real life?

A. My friend Ruth Franklin has this insanely genius mind. She always inspires me.

Then there are all the writers: Dorthy Parker, Margaret Atwood, Stephen King, Edgar Allen Poe,
David Foster Wallace, Jeff VanderMeer, etc.

And the world changers: Obamas, Clarence Darrow, Kamala Harris, Oprah Winfrey, Madeline Albright, Sandra Day O’Conner, Ruth Ginsberg, Gloria Steinem, etc.

Q. What are some of the most memorable songs in your life?

A. Never Tear Us Apart by INXS.

Sweet Dreams by the Eurythmics.

Tempted by Squeeze.

Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles.

It Takes Two by Rob Base.

Get It Together by the Beastie Boys.

Anything by the Indigo Girls.

Psycho Killer by the Talking Heads.

Q. What is your favorite city?

A. Paris. It may sound trite, but it’s fucking Paris. It’s just glorious.

Q. What is your favorite cuisine?

A. Indian

Q. What is the best concert/performance/play you’ve ever attended?

A. Lollapalooza with Jane’s Addiction.

Twyla Tharp’s Sinatra Suite with Baryshnikov.

Q. What are five things you always carry with you?

A. Kindle.

Notebook.

Crossword puzzles.

Secret meds capsule on my key chain in case I have a panic attack!

Small T-Rex plushie I got at ComicCon that lives in my bag!

Q. What is the best and or worse piece of advice someone has given you?

A. Best: The writer David F. Walker used to be a journalist, like me. He said, “You give all these words to your job. Make sure you give yourself words everyday, too.” It really clicked, and now I make sure that I work on my own novel or pieces everyday and not just write for other people. I give myself the words.

Q. What is the best piece of advice you’ve given someone else?

A. I told a close friend to write a bad book. In other words, get the book done, worry about quality later. Just write a bad book for now. It really got my friend writing.

Q. What is your most treasured possession?

A. It’s weird answer, but my apartment. It’s just a really special place, and I own it.

Q. What do you value most in a friendship?

A. Insight. I love finding people who think in new and unusual ways and challenge me. And showing up. I’m always blown away by the people who show up for me.

Q. What do you consider your greatest achievement?

A. Definitely sobriety and my forthcoming first novel. I don’t know if the novel is good yet, but having written it is such an achievement in and of itself that it doesn’t matter if it flops! This never would have happened if I were still drinking.

Q. What is your favorite compliment to receive, and why?

A. ”You’re one of the funniest people I know.” I love knowing that I amuse people or that people get cheerier when I am around.

Q. What is your biggest fear?

A. Death. I want to live forever.

Q. Where do you go when you’re seeking solitude?

A. My couch! The solitude comes by curling up and disappearing into a book or puzzle or writing. My husband says I look like a mollusk, hovering over something.

Q. If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?

A. The ability to stop time for the the whole universe except me. I could study a language during the stop and then restart time and speak that language. I could do so much with more time!

Q. What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?

A. A house on the ocean in Maine. Hiking in Acadia. Jumping into the ocean and floating. Laying in the sand in the hot sun. Eating at coastal dive. Playing board games with my favorite friends and family during a wicked thunderstorm with lightning over the ocean. Having a homemade meal and dinner party while the sun sets. Wearing a great dress. Talking about deep questions but still laughing. Watching my son be so special and amazing. Falling in love with my partner all over again. Loving my home. Feeling the love in the room.

Q. What is your biggest regret?

A. Blowing college. I was so alive at Columbia, I drank and spoke to smart people and devoted myself to an intellectual pursuit (debate)–and I totally ignored my classes. My parents wouldn’t pay for me to fail out. I had to finish at the state college. I loved Columbia so much and I only got two years. I would give anything to go back and re-do that horrible sophomore year. To get that version of myself better mental health, to give her ADHD meds, to get her sober, to give her confidence … She could have achieved so much more than she knew.

Q. What is the greatest risk you’ve ever taken?

A. Publishing my memoir. Putting everything out there was crazy!

Q. Which living person do you most despise?

A. Trump. The gaslighting, the cruelty, the grifting, the abuse of power–it’s all evil. The presidency should be an office devoted to making the nation better, to helping people, not feting dictators, building ballrooms, and terrorizing immigrants. When Obama was elected we danced in the streets, so hopeful for the country. I want that feeling back. Now everything is a dumpster fire.

Q. What is something you’ve learned about yourself in the last six months?

A. That I can enjoy writing with a passion. Some floodgate opened inside me and I wrote and wrote–not because it was an assignment but because I was excited to. I want to do more!

Q. What is something you are currently curious about?

A. I am currently obsessed with China. My son and I went on a whirlwind tour of China this summer, and I keep thinking about the culture there and what forms of government work better than others. It’s really difficult to create a government. China has 3.25 BILLION people. Their cities are 25 million people strong and make New York seem like a small town. Wrestling with that massive population can’t be easy, and China seems to be doing its best. Again, not what I would do, but surprisingly understandable. Their values are meaningful.

Q. What do you love most about yourself?

A. My mind!

Q. What is your greatest extravagance?

A. My son’s private school tuition. He’s thriving and the teachers are amazing. But, man, it is not cheap. I wish every child could go to his school.

Q. When did you realize you were a grown-up?

A. When I had a baby. It was instant. I had a child and I grew up immediately and gratefully.

A. I used to love being the age of an adult when I was drinking because I loved no curfew and no rules. I loved doing whatever I wanted. But that is NOT being an adult. Taking responsibility for your world is adulthood.

Q. How important are your pets to you?

A. Very! Members of the family. I love animals.

Q. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

A. I say “100 percent” way too much!