Strayed is a master of both fiction and nonfiction. Her short stories have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Washington Post Magazine, Allure, DoubleTake and The Sun. Her short story, "Good," appears in Best New American Voices 2003. Two of her essays are included in the annual, Best American Essays, “Heroin/e” in 2000, and “The Love of my Life” in 2003.

"I love the freedom to write both fiction and nonfiction. In each I draw from the other: in my fiction I mine the actual events of my life--often changing them entirely by the time the piece is finished--and in my essays I utilize the writing craft of a fiction writer, paying close attention to character and dialogue and setting to structure the piece so that I'm not just relating an interesting story, but rather crafting a work of art that has meaning beyond the personal or confessional."

Her critically acclaimed novel Torch (2006) received starred reviews by both Kirkus and the Library Journal and was a finalist for the Great Lakes Book Award. The Oregonian selected it as one of the top ten books by Pacific Northwest authors. It takes place in the fictional town of Midden, Minnesota, based on her hometown of McGregor, and centers on the lives of one working class family as they struggle with the illness and subsequent death of one of its members -- the mother. "It's the story I had to write. The story of my heart," says Strayed, who lost her own mother to cancer at a young age.

Though Torch began as an autobiographical novel, it soon became almost entirely fictional. "Not surprisingly, the characters took on lives of their own as I got deeper into the story and I ended up with something bigger, more meaningful, and more true than had I stuck to autobiography."

Strayed began writing stories at age seven and has never stopped. "My first real short story was called 'Murder on the Midnight Express.' It featured a talking parrot named Poncho. My teacher showed it to a police officer friend of hers and he wrote 'nice job' at the top. I have it still."