Greetings All,
Join me in celebrating the release of Smith Magazine’s new six-word memoir book, It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure which features one of my six-word memoirs: Go Green BoHo BAP. Urban Debutante. The book is available on Amazon.com.
As many of you know, I am a HUGE fan of six-word memoirs. They became an elixir for writing blocks during my memoir writing process. They were so powerful that I used them to create chapter titles and several poems in my new book, That Which Awakens Me: A Creative Woman’s Poetic Memoir of Self-Discovery (2009 – available on Amazon.com). That Which Awakens Me also includes a series of six-word memoir writing exercises in the Creativity Appendices. I use them with my creativity coaching and yoga clients.
This month I thought it would be fun to celebrate the six-word memoir movement with a series of blog posts featuring a collection of new and favorite six-word memoirs from That Which Awakens Me. I also want you to share your six-word memoirs in the comment section. So to get us started, I have posted an excerpt from That Which Awakens Me which explains six-word memoirs below.
Excerpt, Copyright 2009 by Madelyn C. Leeke: “A six-word memoir is a statement that tells a story about who you are and how you live your life. It expresses your identity, personality, emotions, family connections, personal interests, favorite things, wisdom, life philosophy/motto, beliefs, professions, and/or experiences. The rules that govern the six-word memoir writing process are very relaxed. You only need to use six words! They can come from any language you choose. Six-word memoirs are revolutionary because they don’t require you to follow English grammar rules. What a relief! You are free to write fragmented sentences, one word descriptions followed by a period or dash, six words that mirror a grocery list, or six words no one can understand or relate to but yourself. Your six-word memoir is your gift to yourself.”
Here’s my six-word memoir for today: January in Washington offers sunshine chills.
What’s yours?
Also, you may want to post your six-word memoir on Smith Magazine’s web site for fun (that’s how I got started!): http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords.
Peace, Creativity, Compassion, Joy, and Gratitude for Six-Word Memoirs,
Ananda … Woman training for a half marathon… (another six-w0rd memoir — watch out they are addictive!)