‘Tis the age of short attention spans, as proved by the success of Not Quite What I Was Planning, a compilation of six word memoirs by writers known and obscure, edited by Smith Magazine. The New Yorker explored the background to this phenomenon, which began as a contest, in one of their Ink columns, and Publisher’s Weekly offered a spoof of suggestions for writers whose bios don’t grace its pages, my favorite being the six ‘submitted’ by the chronically-prolific Joyce Carol Oates, ending with “Stopping now. Awaiting call from Stockholm.”

For those who wish to contribute to the next compilation, you can submit your life-in-a-six-word-nutshell here.