Not Quite What I Was Planning

Not Quite What I was Planning, Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure from Smith Magazine and Edited by Rachel Fershleiser and Larry Smith.

Legend has it that Hemingway once wrote a novel in six words- 'For sale: baby shoes, never worn.'

With this in mind, Smith, an online magazine that celebrates personal storytelling, created their Six-Word Memoir contest. More than 15,000 entries poured in, from writers who had never been published before and big names like Stephen Colbert, Amy Sedairs, Dave Eggers, Mario Batali and Joyce Carol Oates.

The result is Not Quite What I Was Planning, the suspiciously addictive and deceptively simple collection that is funny, strange, sad and uplifting. From the bittersweet ('Cursed with cancer, blessed with friends') and poignant ('I still make coffee for two') to the inspirational ('Business school? Bah! Pop music? Hurrah') and secretive ('I like big butts, can't lie'), it is both a moving peek at the minutia of humanity and the hippest, most literary toilet reading you'll ever find.

Not Quite What I Was Planning
Harper Collins Publishers
ISBN: 9780061374050