Writing a six-word memoir...

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Writing a six-word memoir...

• In order to narrow down a life into six words, a
  writer needs to begin with many words and ideas.
  
• Follow these instructions to complete a six-word
  memoir.

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Writing a six-word memoir...

• In November 2006, writer and editor Larry
  Smith issued a challenge to fans of his Web
  publication, SMITH Magazine.
• Inspired by Ernest Hemingway's legendary shortest
  of short stories ("For sale Baby shoes, never
  worn"), Smith asked his readers to describe their
  lives in six words. The Six-Word Memoir contest
  officially ended after a month, but the stories
  kept coming.
• Five years on, participants have contributed more
  than half a million mini-memoirs. Smith has
  published five compilations of the intensely
  personal accounts and continues his online quest
  to spark the creativity of aspiring writers.
• "There is inspiration everywhere," he says. "Even
  if you don't think you're a storyteller, you
  are."

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Six-word memoirs...

• Dolores Tuffin  
• Free falling, ready for my future
• Jennifer Boire  
• Spiritual being having a human experience
• Snabors
• Taking each step tenaciously and joyfully
• Cindy Starry
• Flow within your heart's joy forever
• danisue1
• Hula hooping life, looking for balance
• leslie_bal
• nobody loves you like your mother!?!?!?!
• samiam_am

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Six-word memoirs...

• Best Wordplay
• Meditation Personal search engine via
  inner-net. -trust2020
• Funniest
• 15,000 days spent considering a bellybutton.
  -Anstey
• Most Sensory
• Hardwired for coupling. Short-circuited being
  single. -TawnyPort
• Most Circular
• Dads baby now changing Dads diapers.
  -eileenpat
• Best Metaphor
• Mouth to mouth couldnt resuscitate the
  marriage. -Laconic from Six Words on Love
  Heartbreak
• Most Self-Aware
• Wont let magazines shape my body. -songwriter
• Bonus 7Celebrity Six-Worder of the Week

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Start with a list

• List as many words, topics, memories, or
  personality traits as you can about yourself
  activities you do, items, belongings, places you
  like, and feelings you have. Dont edit, cross
  out, change, or rewrite words. Dont worry about
  spelling just write. You are going for
  quantity, so write as much as you can in about
  three minutes. You should fill at least one full
  page.

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Example list

• Singer, writer, happy, tired, overworked,
  camping, colorful, shoes, sea shore, dragons,
  faeries, teacher, Spanish, Internet, laughing,
  cartoons, 70s, rock music, Jeep, teddy bears,
  church, baths, jingles, gum, crayons, super
  heroes, technology, legos, reading, Saturday
  morning, dancing, weight lifting, Ziggy, more
  shoes, sunrises, mother, daughters, snakes, dogs,
  mythology, thinking, dreamer, fries

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• Now, circle the two or three words that stand out
  for you, the ones that you could say more about.

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Example list

• Singer, writer, happy, tired, overworked,
  camping, colorful, shoes, sea shore, dragons,
  faeries, teacher, Spanish, Internet, laughing,
  cartoons, 70s, rock music, Jeep, teddy bears,
  church, long baths, jingles, gum, crayons, super
  heroes, technology, legos, reading, Saturday
  morning, dancing, weight lifting, Ziggy, more
  shoes, sunrises, mother, daughters, snakes, dogs,
  mythology, thinking, dreamer, fries

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• Pick one item and freewrite about the
  thought. That means you just start writing about
  that idea, object, role, or event. The only rule
  is dont stop writing for at least two or three
  minutes. Whatever comes to mind is fair game.
• mother

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Freewrite example

• Ive been a mother for 14 years and have 3 ½
  kids. This means that one is a step-child. She
  does not want me to be her mother, but she wants
  her mother to be me. This is a difficult
  situation that will never be resolved. As for my
  other three children, I have a son and two
  daughters. I have learned that being a parent is
  by far the hardest thing I have ever done. I am
  not only responsible...

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Freewrite continued

• ...for myself but also for the lives of three
  other people. I can only control so much of what
  they do and no matter how much I think something
  is right or wrong, they will end up doing what
  they want. Sometimes they are right, but
  sometimes they arent so right. Then the
  consequences hurt, especially when they have to
  pay for choices that I might have been able to
  help them avoid.

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Synthesize

• As a result of the freewrite, you have a
  sense of your topic. Synthesize, combine the
  individual elements into an understandable whole,
  your writing into a phrase that captures the
  essence of what your topic means to you. The
  topic of the previous writer was mother. Her
  idea captured the struggle of helping someone go
  through lifes lessons and dealing with one's own
  lack of control.

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a 6-word memoir

• Helping them grow ages me daily.

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Now, go back to the freewrite

• Re-craft the freewrite into an effective 5-step
  paragraph that offers an engaging lead,
  clarifies, elaborates, offers at least two
  specific, detailed examples, and concludes in an
  effort to capture the memoirs meaning.

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Now create a final six-memoir by using these
steps

1. Create a you list fill the page.
2. Pick 2 3 items that inspire you to say more.
3. From those items you circled, select one.
4. Freewrite about your idea for several minutes/a
   full page or two.
5. Develop a 6-word phrase that captures a sense of
   your writing.
6. Self-Edit Make at least one type of change--word
   choice, varying sentences, or punctuation.
7. 2nd Draft Conference with another student or
   parent.
8. Create your 6-word memoir final draft!
9. Go back to your freewrite. Produced an effective
   5-step paragraph that offers an engaging lead,
   clarifies, elaborates, offers at least two
   specific, detailed examples, and concludes in an
   effort to capture the memoirs meaning from the
   freewrite.
10. Final effort Create a PowerPoint slide or
    drawing/photo with the six-word memoir so you
    have a background picture(s). Print your results.
    Email your slide to me for extra credit.

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• Create a single PowerPoint slide or drawing/photo
  that captures you.

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Six-memoir example with a paragraph
Inner cowboy adrift on literate shores.
My rural, Cracker-cowboy, Florida
childhood took a detour when my parents were
divorced, and I spent my teenage years on the
beaches of Florida's west coast.  My passion for
reading led me in and out of college and along
twisted paths and hallways of educational
institutions. A variety of teaching positions on
several levels actually enhanced my appreciation
of well-written literature.  Teaching
Shakespeare, Frost, Poe, and Macdonald have
offered stimulating journeys that invigorate the
mind.  My explorations continue when youthful
intellects engage and share the adventures.
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• Inner cowboy adrift on literate shores

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Six-memoir example with a paragraph
Seeking home, balance outside a turbulent
world             Being adopted as a child gave
me a different perspective on what it means to
feel at home. I discovered early on that biology
has nothing to do with belonging or not
belonging. I have constantly sought a sense of
balance throughout my life, sometimes
successfully, sometimes not. Balance can be found
in a piece of literature or music that helps make
sense of the world, often in interactions with
family and friends. At other times this sense has
been present in the give and take of a
relationship or assisting others in need. In a
most basic form, a sense of balance can be
present amid silence, the simplicity of waves
crashing on a shoreline, or a breathtaking
sunrise away from the chaos of the world. I have
discovered that balance and the feeling of home
can be both internal and external and often is
present in the unlikeliest of places.
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• Seeking home, balance outside a turbulent world