Published: March 17, 2008 09:35 am         

Jodee Taylor: A life reduced to six words?

Can you sum up your life in six words?

Last month, Smith magazine, an online publication (www.smithmag.net), published a book of six-word memoirs it gathered from its readers and some luminaries.

"Not Quite What I Was Planning ..." (the title and one of the entries) contains almost 1,000 autobiographies, such as "Well, I thought it was funny" (Stephen Colbert) and "Brought it to a boil, often" (Mario Batali).

The inspiration for the book reportedly came from a literary legend that Ernest Hemingway answered a challenge to write a story in six words with "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." The responses to Smith's request are both hilarious ("I like big butts, can't lie") and sad ("I still make coffee for two").

Numerous other media outlets did stories on the book, then asked their readers/viewers/listeners to add their own. Some brought groans ("I took the road less traveled"), some brought smiles ("Some hits, some runs, some errors.") and some made me laugh out loud ("Wait! I only get six words?").

It's pretty hard to write your life story when you're still living your life, no matter how many words you're allowed. But the six-word limit seems apt, making the memoir more of a snapshot than a portrait.

I asked some friends to try.

Susan Ager, a columnist for the Detroit Free Press: "Kept alive by insulin: indebted, alone."

Jim Carruthers, elected to the city commission all of five months ago, asks, "How many meetings will this take?"

Josh Rothwell, a teacher, "I'm dying for a snow day."

Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore says, "I'm from Flint, now I'm here."

I must have asked my son the day before a test: "School, school, study, study, study, sleep."

Some of my favorites came from Nancy Parshall ("Saw the world, came home anyway"), who teaches English at Northwestern Michigan College. She assigned the memoirs to her students. I find them fascinating, probably because I don't know the people and have to imagine their lives.

CBL3 writes, "Just my fishing pole and me." Chad writes, "Life is slippery, wearing long cleats." Ford: "Happiness in small doses seems real." L. Vargo writes, "Shy but in an outgoing way." Sam: "I dance, even without the music."

And what has Finch been through? "The real-life crash test dummy!" And CF? "Shortly after the explosion, we moved."

I've changed my own six-word autobiography about every 10 minutes, but after everyone else stepped up to the plate, I was able to settle on one:

"It's nice to know talented people."

The submission period for six-word memoirs is currently closed. Be sure to check Record-Eagle.com on Monday, March 24 to read our readers' memoirs.