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Health Writing Activist Monthly Challenge, Hemingway, six word story, WEGO Health Activist Writer's Month
I’m not known for my brevity, so today’s Writing Challenge is living up to its name. Can I tell a story in just six sentences? We’ll see. But not today. Immediately, this challenge brought to mind the genius of Ernest Hemingway. As the story goes, “Papa” settled a bar bet with his writing colleagues by crafting a complete tale – beginning, middle, end – in just six words:
For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn.
He proclaimed it his finest work, apparently, and it has inspired countless famous and lesser-known writers to try their hand. Perfectly concise, Not Quite What I Was Planning is a compilation of six-word stories that at once expand and contract all kinds of human experiences. I marvel at the skill of those who can so effectively pare down to its very essence the story of a life.
How does one craft a microscopic memoir? Being Hemingway helps. Distance from the experience, I imagine, helps too. So I will return to this challenge another day.
Good for you, Yvonne. When I first saw this prompt, I misread it, thinking we were tasked to write only six words! So immediately I set out to tackle THAT challenge. But nothing emerged from the cocoon of my mind. I’m no Hemingway.
I’m glad the exercise expanded the amount of words permitted, but even then, it was an incredible struggle. One more day of this challenge! Keep, keeping on with the writing. You rock! xx
You too!! One more day … but I need to still finish a few!!
X
As one who tends to be a bit wordy, this would be a tough challenge for me too!
There’s actually a group on Facebook called “Six Word Memoirs” that is really fun to do as a challenge. Though I think we have been challenged enough! BTW Yvonne, Day 30 challenge with the word cloud is really fun!