Can you write a memoir in only six words? That was the challenge facing the teenage writers of I Can’t Keep My Own Secrets: Six-Word Memoirs by Teens Famous and Obscure. When I first heard the idea, I have to admit I scoffed. How much can a person say in six words? Quite a bit, really. I opened the book and it mesmerized me. My copy is filled with pages earmarked by little post-it notes. Six words can contain convoluted stories, which the reader imagines as she reads a tale boiled down to its essence. Six simple words saying so much between the lines:
God has him. I miss him.
We’re the family you gossip about.
A boy wizard saved my life.
The exits were entrances in disguise.
I’m hooked. I don’t know yet what my six word memoir would be, but once you start reading this book, you’ll find yourself trying. Six words. Not five, not ten. Six simple words. Who knew so much could be contained within them? What would yours say?
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