Six words to say it all

Emailing a wordsmith friend yesterday I was reminded of Smith Magazine's Six Word Memoir project. I stumbled across this when I was in  New York last year and was blown away by both it's simplicity and it's power to communicate complex ideas and emotions.

Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in just six words. He came back with, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." Some critics say it’s his best work!

Inspired by this story, Smith Magazine challenged writers, famous or otherwise, to write the story of their lives in just six words. The resulting submissions range from the bittersweet to the mundane to the uncomfortably awkward. Some random examples:

• Was a father. Now I’m not.

• Suburban girl tries to make bad.

• Speaks mind especially when losing it.

• We were our own Springer episode.

• Cursed with cancer; blessed with friends.

• Hope my obituary spells “debonair” correctly.

• Did I miss a deadline again?

• Followed white rabbit. Became black sheep.

• Clueless meets Ophelia, without the suicide.

• Revenge is living well, without you.


From a writer’s perspective it’s an interesting exercise but, inasmuch as it requires you to take stock of your life, it also has the potential be quite confronting. I’ve turned my attention to this process several times in the last year or so, and posted several “memoirs” up on the Smith website, the last one being (for reasons I can’t quite remember now) “Why no control z for life?”...

While I still think that’s an interesting question (wouldn’t it be lovely to be able to press control z on your life sometimes!), the six words that come to me now are “Obsessed with food. Blogging my life.”