This little blurb was taken from NPR news. I included it to present this to you all….read on:
What’s Your Six-Word Memoir?
Listen to Alison and guest host Toure discuss six-word memoirs
There’s a new book coming out that caught our attention, called Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs By Famous and Obscure Writers. It’s from the editors of Smith Magazine, and it’s exactly what it says it is — a collection of memoirs, each just six words long.
The idea stems from a literary legend. We don’t know if it’s true, but as the story goes, Ernest Hemingway was once asked to write a story in six words. His response: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” That’s at least as good as The Old Man and the Sea.
The editors of Smith challenged writers to craft their own six-word memoirs, and got some interesting results. Most of them sound kinda like crosses between a personal ad and a haiku…
“Shy Jersey kid, overcompensating ever since.” –Ariel Kaminer
“Being a monk stunk. Better gay.” –Bob Redman
“Couldn’t cope so I wrote songs.” –Aimee Mann
Some of them are funny, others are pretty poignant. There’s one that says, “Was father. Boys died. Still sad.” That’s from Ronald Zalewski.
The BPP crew is going to post our six-word memoirs, and we want to hear yours. Sum up your life in six words — no more, no less. For best results, don’t overthink it. And remember, it’s supposed to be a memoir, not a fortune cookie.
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This idea seems to be taking the blog world by storm. I had never heard of it before last week until I received my current issue of MORE magazine. There was a little section mentioning the Six Word Memoir, and I thought it was such a cool idea, I couldn’t wait to post it on my blog. I find out through reading other’s blogs that this Six Word thing is really going around. Some folks are even playing the ”Tag” game, challenging others to come up with their own. It’s really so bizarre how people tend to similiarly think in waves. Ideas get around as quickly as virus’. Anyway, this kind of thing is right up my alley. I love a thought provoking word challenge, and this is just that-Describe my life in 6 words. Seems impossible, but honestly the six words don’t have to cover everything. What’s with Hemingway’s unused baby shoes? I just don’t get it, but hey, he’s Hemingway and for that, I suppose no explaination is needed.
So how do you think you can describe your life in 6 words? That is good advise to remind us that this isn’t a fortune cookie reading. I’m going to have a go at it….
What’s yours gonna be? Get out your pad of paper and pen and try!
Why Jane 