Last year (wow it seems weird to write that), I read and reviewed Not Quite What I Was Planning, a book of six-word memoirs edited by SMITH Magazine. The concept of the book comes from an urban legend that Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in six words. Based on that story, SMITH Magazine editors opened up the floor for “writers famous and obscure” to submit their own six-word memoirs. They accepted more that 15,000 entries, then reprinted about 800 of them in the book.
Today I was excited to learn that a second edition of memoirs, Six-Word Memoirs on Love and Heartbreak, is now available on Amazon. You can also watch a YouTube video about the book if you’re curious. And if you follow smithmag on Twitter, you can get a daily six-word memoir about love between now and Valentine’s Day. You can also submit your own six-word memoirs to SMITH Magazine.
I feel a little like a publicist, but I am pretty excited about this book and plan to pick it up as soon as I can.
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Well, if brevity is the soul of wit, then these must be some of the wittiest memoirs ever!
Interesting concept, though I’m not sure if it’s for me. I can barely do short stories! 😉
“The Sophisticated Dork Writes Great Reviews.”
new tag line?!
I had no idea there was a new edition! I’ll have to look for it.
“She did what she could”
– five words I found on an old tombstone.
My friend thought it was hilarious. I tried to explain to her that this was typical understatement in my part of the world (far-out Jutland).
By the way, I wonder whether I have misunderstood something. I think I joined your blog improvement challenge 3 weeks ago, but as you have never visited my blog, I´d like to know if it is because I did not get the URL address right (I was a real beginner back then!), or if I joined in too late or something. (Hope not, because I really enjoy being part of it).
Steph: I tried to do my own six word memoir when I read the first book, and it’s quite hard! It’s a good exercise in precise word choice and good punctuation though, so I always try it again from time to time.
Care: Ha 🙂
Betty and Boo’s Momma: I didn’t either, but I signed up for the Smith Magazine newsletter and found out about it that way.
Dorte H: I love that! Coming up with six words for your tombstone might be a dark and funny idea though 🙂
That’s great! I’ve flipped through the first book while in bookstores, so I’m excited for the new one. Maybe that would give me the inspiration to do my own because right now I find only six words daunting!
Six words for Hemingway´s tombstone is an easy one, though.
He was born, wrote, and died.
– and please don´t see this as disrespect. Hemingway was excellent at what he did, and I often use his short stories in my English classes.
belleofthebooks: Me too. I tried to write one before and got nowhere. I think because I was reading memoir too broadly, trying to encompass my whole life, when really a memoir is just a tiny snapshot of some part of life. Maybe if I tried again with that attitude it would be easier.
Dorte: I love that too! And no disrespect at all, he was excellent at his form and style.
It is a lovely AND sad little book. I wrote about it at http://www.squidoo.com/six-word-memoirs-on-love-and-heartbreak and would be thrilled if you visited. I also created a page at http://www.squidoo.com/yourlifesentenceinsixwords about the first book on which many, many visitors left their life sentence!
Brenda