Week before last, I had the chance to go out to dinner with several young adult authors, including Carrie Ryan. Carrie’s debut novel, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, is now on the New York Times bestseller list. Last month, she released the companion to FHT, The Dead-Tossed Waves. I’ve read both and will be sharing my thoughts on them shortly.

Carrie is a peach of a gal, with a great sense of style and charming Southern accent. I was instantly drawn to her warmth and intelligence. She recently quit her job working as a litigator to pursue writing full-time. It was interesting hearing how she went from practicing law, which she enjoyed, to penning zombie novels.

Carrie had many interesting and inspiring things to say about writing, but I was most struck by her attitude toward the writing process. She said that it’s important for writers not to be too hard on themselves, especially if they don’t find time to write every day. Carrie recognizes that other life events sometimes get in the way of writing, and it’s okay. Even on the days she doesn’t write, she reminds herself that she’s still a writer.

I really needed to hear this. It’s not possible for me to write every day, and I’ve been stressing about it. Revisions on my new book are going slowly, but I’m doing the best I can. In order to speed things up, I’d have to sleep less, leave my daughter with a babysitter more often, and/or eliminate what little time I have in the evenings to relax. And right now, I don’t want to do any of those things. My day job is caring for my girl. She’ll eventually go off to school, and maybe I’ll decide to write full-time. Who knows? But in the meantime, even though it’s going slowly, even though I can’t do it every day, I’m still a writer.