6-Word Memoir
In November 2006, writer and editor Larry Smith issued a challenge to fans of his Web publication, SMITH Magazine. Inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s legendary shortest of short stories (“For sale: Baby shoes, never worn”), Smith asked his readers to describe their lives in six words. The Six-Word Memoir contest officially ended after a month, but the stories kept coming. Years later, participants have contributed more than half a million mini-memoirs. Smith has published numerous compilations of intensely personal accounts and continues his online quest to spark the creativity of aspiring writers. “There is inspiration everywhere,” he says. “Even if you don’t think you’re a storyteller, you are.”
Feeling inspired ourselves, we ask you to write your life story in six words.
Write a 6-word memoir of your life so far; that is, describe your life in one six-word sentence.
With this limitation, you really have to filter your life to what you deem most important.