Charlotte: Carrie Ryan '00

I left the heat and humidity of Raleigh for even more in Charlotte, where I met Carrie Ryan ’00 near her home for lunch. Carrie has written two best-selling books for young adults, The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead-Tossed Waves – and has a third on the way. And what are they about? Post-apocalyptic zombies. Yeeeeah!

Not that I had spent much time thinking about the kind of person that would be writing zombie novels, but I have to say that upon meeting Carrie, I was surprised. She is just about the most ebullient person I’ve met. We gabbed for over turkey sandwiches and I learned about her path to becoming a professional writer.

I was excited to talk to someone who was a) self-employed and b) working in a creative field. I am often envious of my lawyer, doctor, banker friends who have career paths that are well-paved and pretty much guarantee a livelihood down the road. I attentively listened to her talk about the trade-offs, timing, and weighing risks with benefits. Ultimately, though…it all seemed to come from the gut. A friend of mine gave me some good dating advice once and it was that you shouldn’t date a guy unless you can’t imagine not dating him. For Carrie, it seemed like she couldn’t imagine not being a writer. She tried teaching for a year and eventually went to law school at Duke, but her heart was in writing fiction and so she made a plan to become a published author within ten years.

What I admire about Carrie’s success is that she has worked so diligently for it. Clearly, she’s a naturally talented writer, but she also has a serious work ethic, which involves routine and discipline as well as setting goals, and then setting new goals once she reaches her old ones. Not only will she take risks, but she will commit herself to those choices 100%. This sense of initiative probably was strengthened while she was at Williams. She mentioned how there were no boundaries or limits to her educational experience. If she wanted to take five classes or even, er – six, she could – and she did. And so if she told me she was going to write five more books this year, I have no doubts she could and she would!

She gave me copies of her first two books and I’ve already torn through the first. Can’t wait to see what comes out next!

Unfortunately, Carrie’s home/office was under renovation so I wasn’t able to snap any office photos. But here’s a glamour shot of her first book, moments before I voraciously consumed it.