Sunday, February 17, 2008

And six shall be the number of the counting...

Have you heard about the six-word memoir? Apparently, the online journal Smith asked its readers to summarize their lives in just six words; writers both famous and not-so-famous responded, and a collection of 832 submissions has been published in a book called Not Quite What I Was Planning.

You can read AND hear AND see more about these mini-autobiographies at
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18768430 …be sure to check out the Photo Gallery!

Apparently, the inspiration for the project was Ernest Hemingway’s six-word story: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” (Um...wow. Whether or not this Papa Hemingway story is true or not, that’s a masterful story, poignant in its brevity.)

Anyway, the project got me thinking…what would you choose for your six-word life story? You don’t need to share them, but it’s fun--and sort of revealing--to come up with your own Life Sentence.

Here are just a few of my favorites from the THOUSANDS on the Smith web site:

“Retired teacher, miss June, July, and August.”

“There is life beyond the cubicle.”

“Missed today while planning for tomorrow.”

“Fell in love 1978. Still am!”

“Constantly running away from the race.”

“Family. God has blessed me greatly.”

“Stopped drinking. Son born. Very happy. ”

“Leaped before I looked. No regrets. ”

“Morning person, loves dogs and fiction” (No, this one's NOT mine!)

“served God daily, flunked school badly”

“Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda, not too late! ”


“On my planet
I'm a genius”

“I will always love Angela Zacierka. ”

“i am broken; grace is glue. ”

USMC, AA, widower, God still smiles. ”

“Youth wasted, adulthood stunted, aging grandly”

“Each one teach one. Everyone benefits. ”

“Big heart but small carbon footprint. ”

“Life is a limited time offer.”

“Life- too long for six words” (This one is from Ms. Young’s class, who apparently had her students participate.)

“so much chocolate, so little time...... ”

“God found me on Hell's highway”

“Living for who died for me.”

“Can't we all just get along? ”

“took a lickin, kept on tickin”

So here’s to getting along, enjoying chocolate, teaching one another, aging grandly, serving God, gettin’ up after every lickin’, leaving small carbon footprints, and packing a lot of life into our six-word memoirs!

7 comments:

Ferny. said...

i like this. i'll think on it.

-bessie

Steelerfan06 said...

Bessie, you're disqualified...that's 7 words. :-) j.k.

My attempt:
Known love, family, health, pride.
Content.

(Thought of one I technically could use, but it's too mean:
Lost: wife, dog. Still miss dog.)

mad4books said...

Russ, you and I think EXACTLY alike!!

Not only did I count the words in Bessie Lou's response, but one of my possibilities (I wrote several six-word memoirs--still considering which one is THE favorite) involved getting the dog in the divorce. I'm not at home where I can check my laptop, but it went something like:

Left husband. Took dog. (Sweet deal!)

Love you, bro!

Anonymous said...

One Lord, one faith, baptized, Heavenbound.

Melanie said...

Hmmmm, this is a challange... I do like puzzle-like challanges! But, how do you choose ONLY one?! Gotta love the dog ones! LOL :)

"Love God, love others to God."

Kirsten said...

My 'six'-cents worth...as #6 :-)

"Live the life God handed you."

or

"Live life, love family, laugh always."

Sandra said...

Coincidentally, there was an article in our daily subway paper about this book. I've thought about mine since I read your blog.

Got hubby. Got cat. Won't trade.