In this issue...

• Huell Howser Shares Gold at University Village
• The REAL Cost of Homeownership
• 6-Word Memoirs — A Fun Read!

6-Word Memoirs — A Fun Read!

Ernest Hemingway, as legend has it, was once challenged to write a story in 6 words. He came back with, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." Some say he called it his best work. Others dismiss the anecdote as a literary folktale. Either way, the 6-word story was born, and it's been popping up around the writing world for years.

Reinventing the art of story-telling, SMITH Magazine decided, in 2006, to give Papa Hemingway's form a new, personal twist: What would a 6-word memoir look like?

Short, life-affirming stories like these are now submitted daily to the SMITH website:

• Anything's possible with an extension cord.
• Perpetual work in progress; need editor.
• I colored outside of the lines.
• Always working on the next chapter.
• If there's more, I want it.
• Drew on walls, creative for life.

Join the battle of brevity at www.smithmag.net/sixwords. Read more memoirs and write one of your own. In fact, since University Village Thousand Oaks is all about inspiring physical, emotional, intellectual and social well-being, share your creativity by CLICKING HERE to send us your own 6-word memoir. We just may publish it in an upcoming issue of University Village Thousand Oaks Living.

You may also want to pick up the book that served as our resource — Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure, edited by SMITH Magazine, published by Harper, 2008. It's a fun read — and certainly one we recommend, no matter what your age.