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Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Describing your life in 6 words

Can you write your autobiography in 6 words? A six word memoir? A short sentence that describes your life?

Once asked to write a full story in six words, legend has it that novelist Ernest Hemingway responded: "For Sale: baby shoes, never worn."

I was reading today that "Smith Magazine" invited writers "famous and obscure" to share their own life stories into exactly six words.

The tiny memoirs are sometimes sad, often funny — and always concise.

Here are some of them:

Activist Gloria Steinem - "Life is one big editorial meeting"

Author Frank McCourt - "The miserable childhood leads to royalties"

Actress Molly Ringwald - "Acting is not all I am"

Here are some others from lesser known people:

"Found on Craigslist: table, apartment, fiance."
Becki Lee

"Alzheimer's: meeting new people every day."
Phil Skversky

"Met wife at her bachelorette party."
Eddie Matz

"Family portrait: everyone smiles but me."
Ian Baaske

"I picked passion. Now I'm poor"
Kathleen E. Whitlock

"Normal person becomes psychotic on Twitter."
Robin Slick

"Yale at 16, downhill from there."
Anita Kawatra

"After cancer, I became a semicolon."
Anthony R. Cardno

"At least I never voted Republican."
Tony Kushner

"Full circle: morgue tech becomes obstetrician."
Andrea Skorenki

"So would you believe me anyway?"
James Frey

Okay...here's mine: "He did the best he could"
George Flattery

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