Jennifer Labbienti tells a short backstory about her Six-Word Memoir, “I Still Practice My Oscar Speech,” at a reading in Seattle’s University Books on January 13, 2010.

Tiffany Shlaln, a wonderful media maker, shares a powerful six-word memoir, and the backstory, at a reading at San Francisco’s Book Passage on January 12, 2010 during our tour for It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure.

As we count down to Valentine’s Day, it’s hard not to be nostalgic for last year. Instead of one date, I had almost 300, all readers and writers and storytellers packed into my favorite place. Frank showed postcards; Davey read found love letters; Jason showed off mixtapes; David and Neil mortified us all. But nothing [...]

From the mail:
Dear SMITH,
Have to tell you the six story of the day.
My wife and I attended Yankee Stadium last Wednesday to see the Yankees beat the Orioles 6-4. We entered through Gate 6—as you see. The Yankees center fielder (Swisher—jersey reads 33) made a spectacular catch in the sixth inning—saving two runs that [...]

SMITH community member miandering continues her global trek, detailing her path (”Senmonorom. Sanctuary for elephants. And me”), impressions (”Phnom Penh. Caution: No traffic laws”), experiences (”Teaching teenage girls challenging, exhausting, rewarding”), and travails (”Visa expired again. Another Vietnam border-run”), in a series of six-word memoirs, many with accompanying images. Then there’s my personal favorite: “No [...]

Memoir: Engaged in Jerusalem. Thank you, God.
Epilogue: In truth, had always been rabbi-curious.

During a recent conference for l33t hackers and information security industry hotshots, the snapshot method of personal documentation that is the Six-Word Memoir helped the subversively tech-savvy bond. We’ve always believed that six words contains a keen transcendental quality that could reach out to spark the left brain of anyone and everyone. These folks were [...]

SMITH teamed up with truuconfessions and Postcard from Yo Momma for a six-word challenge about all things Mom. Once again, your six words spanned the emotional waterfront from hilarious (”Key West: I’m eight, she’s topless”) to intense (”Loved her. Hated her. Became her”). We have two grand-prize winners. In the MOMoir About Being a [...]

The backstory for the six-word memoir, “Mom’s Alzheimers. She forgets. I remember,” by SMITH member Becky Blanton is an inspired reminder why we decided to add the “backstory” function to the Six-Word Memoir project a few months ago. Becky’s memoir is in fact a “momoir,” which she contributed as an entry to our Six-Word MOMoir [...]

The six-word memoir has proved to be an unexpectedly elegant and accessible tool for self-expression and personal storytelling. The form is now bigger than Hemingway, and certainly bigger than SMITH. From a reverend in North Carolina who preached six-word prayers, to a midwestern book blogger who created a six-word memoir meme, which still races across [...]