I've been to a lot of school and read a lot of thick books, but at my very core there's a made-for-TV-movie mentality I don't think i will ever shake.

It would have been so perfectly ironic if I had been killed by the dog, because I was petting a dog who was not used to being pet, because I think I'm some kind of dog whisperer, and I think I can make any dog love me.

I've always traveled. I'm a professor in a limited way. I teach one class two quarters out of four, so I get traveling done.

Stillness is a harder concept for me than ecstasy, but I can imagine it best when I am fully present and paying strict attention to a place I am moving through.

I'm about going out in the world and noticing stuff, and going home and writing it down, and putting it next to other stuff I've noticed and seeing what happens.

One thing I'm always thinking about myself is what am I willing to make up? And the answer is not much.

Cheryl Strayed is a courageous, gritty, and deceptively elegant writer.