Six Words, No More, No Less

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Every week I seem to have an excuse as to why I never got around to writing Monday’s blog, so hmmm what’s mine this week? Other than exhausted from staying up most of the weekend on Irene watch which threw the household and me into a tizzy not to mention total disorder, I don’t have one.

However, clearly interest in this mental exercise has waned.  I’m lucky if I get one contribution a week these days!  However, having said that, I am very pleased by the one I did receive  because I know it comes from someone who can and does write articulately and am hoping to receive some more from that reader.

Last week I asked for work-related Six Word Memoirs.

I’m off the couch, life blooms – Rachel

 

I only work for the money – me

And as weekly inspiration here are some Six Word Memoirs from Writers Famous & Obscure by the eponymous book:

Xenophile escapist tumbleweed globetrots, finds self. – Dominic Arizona Bonuccelli

The shit invariably hits the fan – Ashleva Nielsen

Blogging is easy. Writing is hard. – Jennifer Shreve

Quit Uni, have baby, now bored – Sumantha Ng

I fell in love with Charlie – Kristine Allouchery

And he nerded as never before. – Jon Thysell

Well my least favorite weekend of the year is upon us.  Labor Day weekend never held any joy for me as it signals the end of summer.  I’m sure there are Mommies everywhere thankful that soon the daily structure of a school day will bring some order back into their households.  But for me, I just hate to think that the carefree, sun-filled days of July and August are coming to an end.  Honestly you’d think I was going back to school or at least to a 9-5 office job and neither of those are true, so I guess these are residual feelings left over from childhood.

Next Monday is the holiday and if you’re all not hot dogging or beaching it up, please send me your thoughts in six words, no more, no less.

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Six Word Memoirs By Writers Famous & Obscure

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“When Ernest Hemingway famously wrote, “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn”, he proved that an entire story can be told using a half-dozen words.  When the online storytelling magazine SMITH asked readers to submit six word memoirs, they proved a whole, real life can be told this way too.  The results are fascinating, hilarious, shocking, and moving.

From small sages of bittersweet romance (“Found true love, married someone else”) to proud achievements and stinging regrets (“After Harvard, had baby with crackhead”) these terse true tales relate the diversity of human experience in tasty bite-size pieces.”  This is an excerpt from the inside cover of the book, NOT QUITE WHAT I WAS PLANNING Six Word Memoirs By Writers Famous & Obscure.

I thought perhaps a little inspiration/explanation might spur some readers to participate in the Six Word Memoir challenge.  Each Monday, I try to post Six Word Memoirs sent in by readers of this blog.  I also post 5 or 6 quotes from the above-referenced book.  This Six Word Memoir “thing” is really quite popular.  There are gatherings around the country where people present their own six word memoir similar to a poetry slam.  There have been articles in the New Yorker magazine and today (well right now it IS after midnight) there is a great article on the front page of the Business section of The New York Times!!! Jump on the bandwagon and send your six words.

Creative and destructive in many ways – Meghan DeRoma

I sell hamburgers and french fries – Richard Maurer

Coffee junkie journalist seeks trendy nerd – Jackie Olson

Fight. like hell. for. the. living – Susie Bright

On her birthday, my life began – Lisa Parrack

A door closed, proverbial window opened – Me

Another crossroads, which way to go?? - Me

I look forward to hearing from some of you.  I know it’s summer but really!!!

Related articles

• Bucks: Summing Up Your Job in Just Six Words (bucks.blogs.nytimes.com)

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Six Words Can Say It ALL – Six Word Memoir Monday

"The Book"

It just goes to show you that begging and pleading does work!  I threw myself  on your mercy last week, tried a little guilt and YES, I did receive some great Six Word Memoirs and I’m sooooo happy!  THANK YOU, THANK you, thank YOU!

No entry; dog ate my homework - Gail

This bi-polar weather makes me nuts – Margaret

Snow cutting into my social life – Susan Celtic Lady (she’s in the Northeast)

Day after day, glorious blue sky - Heather (she’s in Florida)

March still roaring! Where’s that lamb? - Me

Nervous twitch is making a comeback – Weez

And some more inspiration from

My baby’s name was Sydney Jane – Margot Bertoni

Love the men.  Hate the commitment – Lindsay Filz

I grew and grew and grew. – Randy Newcomer

Starving artist. Lucky break. Life downhill. – Will Samson

Changing mind postponed demise by decades. – Scott O’Neil

My spiritual path is 100 proof. – John House

 

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“NOT QUITE WHAT I WAS PLANNING”

Six Word Memoirs

As the title of the Six Word Memoir book states, this week was not quite what I was planning. I didn’t receive any contributions from the readership, soooo rather than try to write several Six Word Memoirs all by myself, I’m just going to let the book do it for me and for you.  BUT how about everybody just think about a Six Word Memoir to send in.  Maybe we need a theme;  Spring will have sprung, we may get snow this week in the Northeast or anything you want to write about will gratefully accepted and certainly appreciated.

Now I blog and drink wine -Peter Bartlett

Egomaniac with inferiority complex defies odds – Lynne Vittorio

I thought I was someone else - Tysa Goodrich

Dancing for now, one day farming – Eleanor Carpenter

Amazing grace: born naked, clothed others – Mark Budman

Followed rules, not dreams. Never again – Margaret Hellerstein

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One Life, Six Words, What’s Yours?

Six Word Memoir Banners

Well, by now you know the drill…if it’s Monday it must be Six Word Memoir day. And as always each week, I look to my readers to send me their own Six Word Memoir. Some weeks are bountiful and lately they’ve been scarce AND I certainly appreciate each one I receive and marvel at how clever you all are at distilling your life into just six words, not more, not less.

A special long distance thank-you to my buddy out west for his always witty and thoughtful and thought-provoking Six Word Memoirs.

Another letdown. Betrayed by former co-workers – Weez

Age has yet to eliminate  neuroses! – Me

Creative cells are fading and frozen – Susan in the Grove

I am full of it =Love! – Karen

And from the book, NOT QUITE WHAT I WAS PLANNING SIX WORD MEMOIRS by Writers FAMOUS & OBSCURE:

Middle of seven made me me – Susan Sinott

The woman formerly known as Marissa – Mimi Ghez

Followed yellow brick road, disappointment ensued – Kelsey Ochs

Nerdy girl smutmonger. Now baby fever – Rachel Kramer Bussel

Born free but lost my country – Ted O’Brien

Related Articles

• The Story of Your Life in Six Words (psychcentral.com)
• Six Word Memoirs From Iraq And Afghanistan Veterans (buzzfeed.com)
• Larry Smith: Long Story Short: Six Words on Coming Home From War (huffingtonpost.com)

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One Life – Six Words – What’s Your’s

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Well that sums up the Six Word Memoir challenge! It’s your life, can you share it or at least part of it with us and do it in JUST six words?

For those of you who may not be familiar with this Six Word Memoir, let me give you the story from the ORIGINATORS. This has been taken from the Smith Magazine web site:

“…We quickly popped in a new idea we had been kicking around: giving Hemingway‘s legendary six-word novel (“For sale: baby shoes, never worn”) a personal twist. We combined the classic storytelling challenge with our passion for nonfiction confessionals and dubbed it “Six-Word Memoirs.” Then we called up some guys we met at a tech conference about this new thing called Twitter and asked if they wanted to partner up to send one daily short life story to anyone who followed our @smithmag feed.   Four years and more than 200,000 Six-Word Memoirs later, we continue to be blown away by what people are capable of saying in just six words, the ways that others have adapted the form, and — not to get all Chicken Soup-y here — the unexpected little gems and gifts that launching this project has brought into our lives.   In classrooms from kindergarten to graduate school, educators have found the Six-Word Memoir an inspiring writing lesson. From a third-grade classroom in New Jersey, we heard “Life is better in soft pajamas” and one student’s precocious Zen observation: “Tried surfing on a calm day.” In Charleston, South Carolina, a creative writing teacher named Junius Wright makes a series of Six-Word Memoir videos with his students each year.

So now that we are all up to speed on the how to and why for, let’s do it!!!!

Sending good health, karma to Peter – Gail

Dangerously close to the moment of truth - Weez

Can 17 days change my life? – Me

And from the “book”:

My family is overflowing with therapists – Shaina Feinberg

Boy! If I had a hammer! – Tim Barkow

We still don’t hear a single – Adam Schlesinger

Canada freezing. Gotham beckons. Hello Si! – Graydon Carter

Years in the closet. Why? Why? – Michael Callahan

Related Articles

• The Story of Your Life in Six Words (psychcentral.com)

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MONDAY Came and Went AND Nobody Cared!

Susan Sarandon

Well and WOW, a first – and not such a good one either!  I didn’t do the Six Word Memoir yesterday and apparently nobody noticed and worse yet, no one cared to leave me their Six Word Memoir to publish this week.  Oh my, what a sad state of affairs.  What to do? What to do?

When the going gets tough, the tough get going and all that jazz, so I guess I’m on my own this week.  Well just me and the “good book”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adult kids – Can’t stop being Mommy -Me

And from the amazing book Not Quite What I Was Planning/Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure:

Oldest of five. Four degrees. Broke -Kaitlin Walsh

Made a mess. Cleaned it up. – Amy Anderson

A crush on Susan Sarandon. Unrequited. – Willy Edge

Says deaf boyfriend: You’re too quiet – Anna Jane Grossman

Alive 38 years, feels like 83. -Bryan Lowrey

Listen up all you good readers, I love getting comments, I LOVE getting your Six Word Memoirs so please start sending them in again.  You can leave as a comment here or email to pbenjaytoo@gmail.com

Have a great week!

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MONDAY is a Six Letter Word

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It’s a new year full of resolutions, expectations and I hope a new wave of participation from my readers in the weekly Six Word Memoir challenge.  I’m very pleased to have a few faithful contributors and would welcome many more!!!

Think about your life in general, your dreams, wishes, past mistakes and best achievements.  Can you distill your thoughts into just six words, no more, no less.  Channel your Ernest Hemingway and see what happens.

Very grateful for so many things – Gail

Osterperose -Spread the word-FORTEO works – Heide

Well, let’s hope for the best – Weez

Cancer is not contagious, fear is – Me

And from the “book”:

College was fun, Damn student loans – Randy Boland

Semicolons; I use them to excess – Iris Page

God chose, Said no. Now what? – Adam Blackman

Time heals all wounds, not quite – Jonathan Miles

ONE LIFE – SIX WORDS – WHAT’S YOURS?

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Six Word Memoir Monday – One Day Late

NEW YEAR - Which Direction?

Not a great way to kick off the New Year of blogging by being one day late with my Monday blog.   Well I guess today is going to be catch-up day, first this blog, then I have to come up with something tasty for Tasty Tidbits Tuesday.   I also have to be available for Verizon to install service in my daughter’s new apartment, put a ginormous bag of photos and stuff in some order, put away some Christmas stuff that has been washed and finish two very belated Christmas gifts – have the Kings come yet?

New Year, new diet, less fat – Susan Celtic Lady

41 and running out of gas – Weez

Soon snow will be a memory – Gail

90 years, putting me to shame - Heide

Time to revise my 50 goals! – Me

And now a few from the book, Not Quite What I Was Planning – Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure:

Never should have bought that ring – Paul Bellows

Sold Belongings. Became Itinerant Poetry Librarian – Sara Wingate Gray

Tombstone won’t say “had health insurance” - Dean Haspiel

Stranded by ten-thousand -mile crush - Will Cockrell

Wasted time regretted so life reinvented – Vicky Oppus

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Six Word Memoir Monday

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Blame it on the snow storm (we’ll be using this excuse for at least another week), that’s why this blog is so late.  I only received  three responses this week (blame it on the holidays) and I am pleased to share them with everyone.

Lucky me, my own Peter Pan – Heide

Happy New Year to the Memoiristas! -Gail

Need a better back up plan – Weez

Christmas at last; warm,cozy memories! – Susan Celtic Lady

It’s the drifts that get you.-Me

I know another holiday is coming up and that means a little more time off sooooo won’t you please put on your Ernest Hemingway caps and with the advent of the New Year, commit to summing up this life we lead in just six words, no more, no less.

Happy New Year!!

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