A Life’s Travels, Six Words Only

Last month, the online magazine Smith published an addictive collection of six-word memoirs, titled Not Quite What I Was Planning. As you might expect, the project’s abbreviated life stories—contributed by Smith’s readers and a few well-known writers—cover a wide arc of joy, tragedy, heartbreak and fulfillment.

Travel is another theme that surfaces, linked to a sense of discovery, unrealized wanderlust or the power to transform. A few samples from the book and Web site, which continues to take submissions:

Xenophile escapist tumbleweed globetrots, finds self.

All my stuff is in storage.

Stopped traveling, began thinking, where’s everyone?

A sake mom, not soccer mom.

My own six-word memoir?  I’ve got several versions under consideration, but this one came immediately to mind: Went to China. Now can’t settle.

For more on the project, check out this NPR slide show, a fun video on Amazon, and a wry take from the New Yorker.

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