Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Famous & Obscure Writers
Edited by Smith Magazine
HarperPerennial $12, 240 pages

“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” This poignant epigram is what Ernest Hemingway allegedly came up with when asked to write a story in six words. Inspired by this anecdote, Smith, the American storytelling magazine, asked its readers to submit their own six-word memoirs.