screwing up always feels like living.
Everyone has a story.™
Six-Word Memoirs
Everyone has a story. Can you tell yours in six words? Submit yours to be considered for SMITH's next six-word memoir book. The first book, Not Quite What I Was Planning, is a NYT bestseller featuring more than 800 writers, famous and obscure..
Submissions Feed
Hot Links
Get social with SMITH
The SMITH Superfeed
All the stories submitted to the site, even ones we write
New Release!
Six-Word Memoirs On Love & Heartbreak
Our newest book, Six-Word Memoirs on Love & Heartbreak, is a roller-coaster ride through the complexities of the human heart. It's just $10 — bring it instead of a bottle of wine to your next party.
Available now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Booksense, just in time for Valentine's Day.
The World of Six
We've compiled a collection of great videos exploring six-word memoirs, from our events and beyond. Check them out, then create your own and let us know. We'll feature it here!
Mrs. Nixon's Third-Graders' Six-Word Storybook
About the storybook
The Original Six-Word Memoirs Book
Not Quite What I was Planning: Six Word Memoirs from Writers Famous and Obscure collects almost 1,000 six-word memoirs, including additions from many celebrities including Stephen Colbert, Amy Sedaris, Dave Eggers, Richard Ford, Deepak Chopra, Moby, and more. A New York Times bestseller and subject of hundreds of stories from The New Yorker to NPR and hailed as "American haiku," SMITH's book of six-word memoirs is both a moving peek at the minutia of humanity and the most inspirational toilet reading you'll ever find.
Six-Word Memoirs: The Legend
Legend has it that Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in only six words. His response? “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Starting in 2006, SMITH Magazine re-ignited the recountre by asking our readers for their own six-word memoirs. 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”).