Six-Word Memoirs

The novelist Ernest Hemingway was once asked to create a full story in six words or less.  Here is what he wrote:  “For Sale:  baby shoes, never worn.”

Last year, the online magazine Smith asked readers to take up the same challenge and write the story of their own lives in a single, six-word sentence.  The result was the book, Not Quite What I Was Planning.  Here are some submissions the magazine received:

     Revenge is living well, without you.  – Joyce Carol Oats

     Well, I thought it was funny.  – Stephen Colbert

     After Harvard, had baby with crackhead.  – Robin Templeton

     70 years, few tears, hairy ears.  – Bill Querengesser

     Catholic school backfired.  Sin is in!  – Nikki Beland

     She said she was negative.  Damn.  – Ryan McRae

     I asked.  They answered.  I wrote.  – Sebastian Junger

     Joined Army.  Came out.  Got booted.  – Johan Baumeister

     Almost a victim of my family.  – Chuck Sangster

     The psychic said I’d be richer.  – Elizabeth Bernstein

     Mom died, Dad screwed us over.  – Lesley Kysely

     Painful nerd kid, happy nerd adult.  – Linda Williamson

     Slapped by a nurse;  still sore.  -Matt Mather

After looking at these examples, I decided to write some six-word memoirs of my own.  Here’s what I came up with:

      “Hidden strife.  Unfaithful wife.  New life.” 

      “I taught them what I know.”   

      “English mom.  Irish dad.  Didn’t last.”

      “I thought I knew.  Not anymore.”

Now it’s your turn.  Come on, give it a try!