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Cheryl Strayed has come a long way since
finishing a book about walking a long way. This year alone, she revealed
herself as the writer of the candid advice column "Dear Sugar" on the
Rumpus website, and she had her hiking memoir Wild optioned as a
potential Reese Witherspoon movie. The Portland writer's recognition is
fully earned: Strayed's book, about tackling much of the Pacific Crest
Trail in 1995, is eloquently raw and unassumingly wise. She spoke with WW last week.
WW: How do you feel about Reese Witherspoon as a doppelgänger?
Cheryl Strayed: It's pretty flattering to have this
beautiful movie star saying, "Oh yeah, I'll play you." But I became even
more excited when we talked about the book, because she really
understood it. And every writer, that's what they hope for: the ideal
reader, somebody who really gets what you were trying to do.
You must be used to having an alter ego, with the "Dear Sugar" column. How did that come about?
One of the things I love the most about what happened with
the "Dear Sugar" column was how it just became popular because people
liked it. Which is so fun and so rewarding as a writer: It doesn't have
to be all about marketing and publicity. We didn't do anything to put
Sugar before readers except write the column and publish it on the
website. And readers told each other about it. I felt sort of surprised
and gratified by how many people were finding solace in something so
sincere, rather than mocking it or making fun of it. Because that was my
main worry about it. I was like, look, I'm kind of this earnest,
sincere type of a writer. Even though I love the snarky, funnier sorts
of writers, I've never really been that person. I was afraid I would be
on this hipster website and everyone would make fun of me and what I was
doing, but the opposite happened.
What did you think you were going to get out of all that hiking?
I had this idea before I went that I would always be
really engaged in those spiritual aspects in this really overt way.
Instead, I was so consumed with the struggle to do things like get
water, cook my food, cover those miles, carry my pack, take care of my
feet that were horribly blistered, and just endure the weather and the
physical pain. It took me out of my head and into my body in a way that
was ultimately incredibly important and healing. Now that all these
years have passed, and I've had a couple kids and I'm more grown up, I
do think there's a relationship between physical suffering and healing
in some ways that I didn't know existed before. I've had two kids
without the aid of drugs, I've had natural births, and they were both
the most painful experiences of my life, but also the most powerful and
meaningful. I think most women would tell you that. I think it's the
reason people run marathons. Because it's hard, it's really hard. And
it's insane: Why would you run 26 miles, you know? And it's because it's
hard and it hurts and it gives us something back that's bigger than
that.
SEE IT: Cheryl Strayed reads from Wild at Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651. 7:30 pm Wednesday, March 21. Free.
WWeek 2015