Raya Kuzyk

“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”
January 24, 2008

According to legend, that was Hemingway's answer when challenged to make a story out of just six words. SMITH magazine recently reissued that challenge to its readers, with this twist: make it a memoir. Everyone loves a challenge and everyone and his uncle likes to talk about himself, so submissions poured in by the thousands, enough to make at least two books out of, the first being Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Famous & Obscure Writers (Feb 5). A sampling, before it gets old (those would be my six, yes) [well done, wily reader—and thoese!]:

Started small, grew, peaked, shrunk, vanished. – George Saunders
I was never the pretty one. – Joan Nesbit Mabe
Thank God I lived through Vietnam. – Captain John Irving
Iowa to Brooklyn, hair growing everywhere. – William Johnson
Sold belongings. Became Itinerant Poetry Librarian. – Sara Wingate Gray
Full life; impossible to summarize in – Matt Love
Fifty years so far. Happened fast. – Mark Michaelson
And he nerded as never before. – Jon Thysell
Cancer for sure. Still no cure. – Jenn Siebel
Adolescence, internet, internet, internet, internet, death. – Josh Rosenfield
Quiet guy; please pay closer attention. – Jonathan Lesser
Pop split; I write him in. – Sepideh Saremi

So what would your memoir be?

Posted by Raya Kuzyk on January 24, 2008 | Comments (3)