Six Little Words

Have you heard of the Six-Word Memoir Project? It’s an interesting concept that first came about because legend has it that the great Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write a novel in 6 words. His response was a poignant, “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Which shows that even 6 short words put together in the right way can tell a story.

In November 2006, Larry Smith, founder of what was then called SMITH Magazine asked his community to describe their lives in exactly six words. He called these brief life stories Six-Word Memoirs.

Since then the project has become a global phenomenon and a best-selling series of 10 books. More than 1.5 million people have shared their six-word memoirs. These little stories have become an inspiration and a tool to begin conversations on sometimes difficult subjects.

But not all six-word memoirs have to be serious. We particularly liked, “Dieter Macarooned on a Dessert Island.” By Yesbutnix. Or “Who Knew Emotional Support Chips Work?” by J3nny, or “Life is About Bag of Chocolate.” By Reeseh. All from the food category.

From the ‘Life’ category some of our favourites were, “Walk the Cliff, Smell the Sea”. By LisaK, and, “Ladybug Chose to Piggyback an Elephant.” by CanadaGoose. We had to think about that one for a while!

The point is that it doesn’t matter if your six-word memoir means nothing to anyone else, it only needs to be relevant to you.

This started us thinking about what our own 6 words would be, and we decided on, “Age Loudly: Reflect, Rebel, Reimagine, Renew.” We’re trying to age boldly, and look at this chapter as a wonderful stage of life and enjoy the intersection of wisdom & experience.

Our second choice was, “Laugh Louder, Worry Less, Love Deeply” because that’s our ethos for life as we get older, and doesn’t need any other explanation.

If you want to read more about the six-word memoir project or even take part you can find all the details here: SixGallery – Six-Word Memoirs.

Twinquiry: How about you, do you have a six-word memoir that you think defines you or your life? We’d love to hear it.