Tell A Story In 6 Words

A month or so ago I noticed that Smith Magazine had published a paperback entitled, “Not Quite What I Was Planning.”

It’s an interesting idea. Get your story down in 6 words. Exactly. I’ve not purchased the book (yet), but I do go to the website to check them out periodically.

When I was a journalism student in college I remember going through an Ernest Hemingway phase - who didn’t? There were many true stories of Papa. Even more untrue ones. I had heard that he once wrote a 6 word story, but I could never find out if it was true or not. It should be true.

“For Sale: Baby Shoes. Never Worn.”

I hadn’t thought of that until I was reading the reviews on Amazon about this book and Larry Mark (the guy with 2 first names), one of the reviewers, reminded me. Mr. Hemingway may or may not have written that, but I prefer to think he did.

Alcohol. Fishing. Adventure. Spain. Stories. Death. It’s hard to sum up his life and death in 6 words. It’s hard to sum up anything in 6 words, but some folks do a rather good job of it.

Larry Mark’s favorite from the book is: “Girlfriend is pregnant, my husband said.”

My contribution wasn’t so clever.

“So many books, so little time.”