Oprah’s featured them in her magazine, Honest Tea is printing them on their bottle caps; the 6-word memoir is all the rage. Inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s 6-word short story (“For sale: Baby shoes, never worn.”), people are condensing their life stories into a few well-chosen words. I’ll tell you this: it’s harder than it looks. And very revealing. But fun.
Here are some of my favorites from O magazine:
Was hot. Raised kids. Lost cool.
– Trudy Love Tantalo, 60Write, mother, sleep. Repeat as needed.
– Shonda Rhimes, 42, creator of “Grey’s Anatomy”Scoop. Brew. Pour. Sip. Smile. Ahhh.
– Michelle Hix, 42
I decided to take a stab at a 6-word memoir myself. You thought composing 140-character tweets was tough? Some of mine were smart-alecky, some were melancholy, and some were just plain bad. Here’s a sampling:
Happy childhood = huge writing success doubtful.
I know what I DON’T want.
I’ve got all kinds of time.
Not bad for a mom, huh?
Living the perfect life — for me.
So what are you waiting for, people? Give it a shot in the comments! Then submit your best one to SMITH magazine.
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I love your “I know what I DON’T want”…
Mine would go something like…”Lived two lives, REALLY HAPPY NOW.”
And as Porky Pig would say, “Th-th-th-that’s all folks!”
What a cute exercise!! I can’t wait to do this with some of my friends – a great way to tap into your creativity.
For my son:
“Lived not until he was born.”
“His first breath, my dream realized.”
I like: “Mother of four, not enough liquor.”-spunkylady
I don’t think I can get it down to less than seven:
Jack of all trades. Master some. Maybe.
🙂
Love these!! You guys are great at this. 🙂 Kate, can I copy yours?
Writer with kids. Keep Xanax coming.
What a fantastic exercise. I can’t imagine anything more difficult. I just wrote a 94,000 word memoir that only takes you through my 19th year! How am I supposed to get my whole life into six words?? Still, I’ll try…
“Faithfully waiting, often rewarded by patience.”
Let me see if I can do another…
“Father shot. Ring bought. Kids fraught.”
That should do for now. Very fun. May need to steal this.
Writing my life story. Chapter: kids.
Everything is OK. It really is.
That’s the best I can do on short notice! Awesome exercise! Now I just want to ignore my work and write more 6-word masterpieces.
Grew up so I could evolve.
Hey… thanks for liking my 6-word memoir! I just stumbled on your blog. Thank you!