We’ve seen Six-Word Memoirs in a lot of forms—from books, to board games, calendars and T-shirts—but this one, quite literally, takes the cake. February’s Member of the Month is Callie, who goes by the handle songwriter on SMITH Teens, and is a thirteen-year-old six-word savant from Ohio. She first discovered SMITH Teens in school, when an enrichment teacher had her class write a few. Inspired, she immediately went home, created an account and has been writing six-worders (sometimes as many as 30 a day) ever since. She’s on Six-Word Memoir 1,770…and counting.

On Callie’s thirteenth birthday, her family surprised her with a SMITHTeens birthday cake of epic proportions. Not only was the SMITH Teens logo depicted perfectly in green frosting, but friends and family decorated the cake with their own Six-Word Memoirs. Sounds deliciously literary. About the SMITHTeens community, Callie says: “It’s such a supportive place. I always find memoirs I can relate to and it’s nice to know there are other people going through the same things I am. I just feel understood and accepted by the members. Going on the site always brings a smile to my face.”
To find out more about this thirteen-year-old Six-Word musical memoirist check out her answers to our “Six Questions For…” interview below.

Name: Callie
Place: Ohio
Member Since: May 2011

What is it about Six-Word Memoirs that you enjoy so much?
I’ve always been someone who likes to talk a lot and who has an extensive amount to say about everything. I like the challenge of trying to confine these big stories I speak into just six words. It also gave me a new way to look at the world and a new way to think. I like that I don’t have to take a lot of time to put together a story- I can just take a couple of seconds and express myself.

What do you like to do in your spare time?
Writing is big for me—all types. I’ve worked on short stories and long stories, poems and novels. I participated in Nanowrimo and achieved my word count goal this year! My favorite thing is to write songs. I’ve played guitar for two years and I’ve been writing songs for a long time. My friends and I started a band when I was five. That didn’t last, but it planted the seed of songwriting in me and it became a great way for me to express myself. Whenever I feel something, good or bad, I can write a song about it and I can always count on songwriting to take me out of a bad mood. I have hundreds of song fragments but have created three ‘albums’ of songs that I feel proud of to give to family and friends.

What’s your favorite book or story?
This is a hard one! Usually I like realistic fiction and some fantasy. I love Sarah Dessen’s books, I love the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson series. I love the Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter, and Crooked River by Shelley Pearsall (who I got to meet at my school once!). I love anything by Jane Austen, and my favorite story of all time is Pride and Prejudice.

What kind of cake was your Six-Word Memoir cake?
It was vanilla cake on the inside. Every year my mom makes me and my brother a special cake for our birthdays. Last year she made me an amazing guitar cake and the year before she made a beautiful sun and moon cake. I knew I wanted the SMITHTeens logo on the cake because it has been such a big thing for me this year, but when I finally saw the cake it brought tears to my eyes. I didn’t expect to see all the memoirs from my friends and family. It was really meaningful.

Favorite memoir(s) on the cake?
This is so hard to choose because I absolutely love them all. If I had to, I would choose “She is music to our ears.” which my grandparents wrote. I love the play on words and it meant so much to me that they wrote one.

And finally, what’s your Six-Word Memoir right now?
Expecting empty oyster. Found a pearl.

Tags: six-word memoirs, SMITH Teens