Three Words or Six?

One of the Poynter instructors had an interesting exercise. Basically, when you're writing a story, try to distill it down to three words. So for example, "Tornado hits Atlanta," or "Wildfires burn Texas." Some are easy, but most stories almost seem to defy boiling down to three words. The point of the exercise is to narrow your focus-- and then toss what doesn't fit under your three word description. For more on Poynter, go to www.poynter.org

Another six word exercise is something I heard on the radio and it's just for fun. This one is called the six word memoir. There's also a book out collecting a bunch of them, subtitled, "Not quite what I had planned." From the website (www.smithmag.net) :


Cursed with cancer, blessed with friends

I still make coffee for two

wedding cancelled: forks are too heavy

Day and night, like zebra stripes

Baby teeth, buck teeth, no teeth