I began volunteering at Kate’s Club in Atlanta, which is a nonprofit organization open to all children and teens, age five to eighteen, who have experienced the death of a parent, sibling, or primary caregiver. I have no idea who first introduced me to Six-Word Memoirs® but thank you, thank you whoever you are! I could survive six-words at a time.Īs my wounded heart began to heal, I was delighted how the Six-Word Memoir process propelled me into the next chapter of my life. I couldn’t grasp more than a few sentences at a time: pregnancy hormones and shock are not a good recipe for retaining information. The mound of grief books provided by loved ones proved too high and difficult to tackle. It felt like a pact between myself and my two boys. This innocent new life deserved a sane and fully present mother. I was pregnant and knew from the depth of my soul that I had to find a way to heal for the sake of Jack’s little brother. Honestly, at times I wasn’t sure I wanted to, but life had other plans for me.
The loss of my sweet boy felt too big to survive. More importantly, I found my own path, one deeply rooted in the belief that every day I had the choice to live a gratitude-filled life. I read every self-help book, attended grief workshops, found a higher power, served those who had experienced loss, and eventually created a life I knew my parents would be proud of. I had already survived, and even thrived, after the loss of my mom when I was fifteen years old, and my father’s death just eleven months later. In 2005, my beautiful son Jack Austin died. The tear-soaked paper only reminded me how fragile my world had become. Writing had always been my go-to for personal growth and clarity but at this point in my life, filling pages with words did nothing for me. I had spent months trying to express the grief and pain that was tearing my heart apart. “This thing, which started as a literary riff in 2006, has become something that’s helping kids share and process the most intense time in their life.The Six-Word Memoir process came into my life at the perfect time. “It gave me such a good feeling,” he says. Twenty-four kids shared their six words with him.
Smith recently did a workshop with students over Zoom. One of her students wrote, “Screens are taking over my life.” Another wrote, “Not sick of my room yet.” “Here was a way to showcase the experiences of our daily lives in this unique quarantine environment,” she says. Sarah Nguyen, a teacher in Pasadena, California, took up the challenge with her sixth-graders. So Smith is offering a new writing prompt: Describe your life at this moment in six words. But now, because of the coronavirus pandemic, kids are facing new challenges. But when you have the constraint of six words, it fuels creativity.” Six-Word Memoirs has since become a best-selling book series.Įventually, teachers began using Six-Word Memoirs prompts in the classroom, asking students to describe their summer vacation or summarize a book in six words. “Submissions and enthusiasm exploded,” he told TIME for Kids. Then Smith had the idea to limit those stories to six words. At first, visitors to the site simply shared their personal short stories. Smith launched the project in 2006, through his online publication, Smith Magazine. The project allows people of all ages to share their story. A memoir is a story about the writer’s experiences. Writer and journalist Larry Smith asks an interesting question: “Can you describe your life story in six words?” He leads a project called Six-Word Memoirs.
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