I was recently visiting the O Magazine site to enter their 12-Day Holiday Give-O-Way; in case you haven’t heard about it, it’s a holiday contest in which twelve lucky winners get to take home all 60 of the Favorite Things chosen by Oprah. Last year’s favorite things included an electric bike (don’t know how to ride a bike, but I could learn), an elliptical trainer (my mind says yes, my body says no), a Bose VideoWave (46-inch HD TV and home theater in one) (yes, please!), and a Tempur-Cloud Supreme mattress (schwing! OMG…my heart couldn’t take it). Of course, it wasn’t until after entering the contest that I checked out this year’s list of favorite things and it appears the economy has been tough on Oprah’s wallet too, because this year the prizes include Pie Corps Turkey Pie, Bonnie’s Jams, an Electric Kettle, Sprinkle’s Cookie Dough, and Chocolate Truffles, to name a few. I sense a theme there. Anyway, I’m just kidding Oprah, I would be beyond thrilled to win any of those wonderful prizes, though a Tempur-Pedic mattress is no lie, one of my dream purchases if I were to win Lotto.
As usual, I’ve gotten completely off topic. What I wanted to tell you guys about is that while visiting O Magazine online, I spotted a great piece on SMITH magazine’s six-word memoir project. SMITH is an online magazine started in 2006, whose mission it is to celebrate the joy of personal storytelling. In November 2006, inspired by Hemingway’s legendary shortest-short story (“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”) SMITH Magazine challenged their readers to come up with a six-word memoir of their own. “They sent in short life stories in droves, from the bittersweet (“Cursed with cancer, blessed with friends”) and poignant (“I still make coffee for two”) to the inspirational (“Business school? Bah! Pop music? Hurrah”) and hilarious (“I like big butts, can’t lie”). Since then, Six-Word Memoir project has become a global phenomenon and a bestselling book series.”
In addition to the six-word memoir you can also participate in their six word story projects which cover subjects as varied as happiness (share your six words on the secrets to happiness); war (share six words on coming home from war); and moms (what can you say about motherhood in six words?).
Motivated by some of the wonderful contributions I read, I decided to write a six-word memoir of my own. Here goes. Small and simple yet happy life. Not glitzy, witty or funny, but it about sums it up.
What would you write? For more inspiration, visit SMITHmag.net.
P.S. I’ll keep you guys posted on whether I’m one of the lucky 12 to win the give-o-way. Hopefully Oprah doesn’t hold my snarky comments against me, though I doubt she’s reading this blog.
