Six-Word Autobiography

notquite

Most of you must have heard of six-word memoirs, an idea that famed out of proportion when launched by Smith Magazine.

Inspired by Ernest Hemmingway’s six-word story (the shortest story in the world) : “For sale: baby shoes, never worn” (which I don’t exactly get), the magazine ran a competition on Twitter for best six-word autobiography. 11,000 entries were received and a book deal secured.

When I first heard about it (at least 6 months ago) I thought it was fantastic, and have been meaning to write about it ever since. However, I had to have my six-word autobiography before that and man, IT’S TOUGH!

Anyhoo, for what it’s worth — here’s mine:

“Hippy trapped in ambitious Indian body.”

Bleh. I know. But seriously, it’s tough.

Here are some I like a lot (from NPR):

“Never really finished anything, except cake.” – Carletta Perkin

“Artist, disabled. Feeling mislabeled. Ambition tabled.” – Patrick Dentinger

“Former child star seeks love, employment.” – Justin D Taylor

“Not quite what I was planning” – title of the book

So what would yours be? Share it here if you feel like it!

8 Comments

  1. Hi Abba

    I read the story behind “for sale: baby shoes, never worn” as being the story of parents who planned for the birth of a child and lost him/her. So in these short words you would have all the hope and then the sadness of a family.

    Like your 6 words autobiography. Mine could probably be “heart divided between France and England”

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