1.  Imagine you were writing your “life story.” What is your life story? Would you need to write a novel to explain everything, or could you tell about one event that helped shape you as a person?  Journal: Make a list of the things/experiences/memories/attitudes that define you.

2.  “a narrative composed from personal experience.”  The Origin: Rachel Fershleiser and Larry Smith of Smith Magazine The Origin  AND Hemingway For sale: baby shoes, never worn.  Examples Examples  Got here somehow. Where am I?  Achieving perfection can be so imperfect.

3.  Sum up your life as it stands right now or some aspect of your life in six words.

4.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pla yer_detailpage&v=ejndNExso9M

6.  Sum up your life as it stands right now or some aspect of your life in six words.  Feel free to brainstorm words and phrases.  Try out different words and combinations.  Experiment with punctuation.  Write as many six words memoirs as you can.  Have fun!

7.  Diction: the writer’s choice of words; a stylistic element that helps convey voice and tone.  Synonym:  laugh: chuckle, giggle, cackle, snort, hoot

8.  Connotation: the emotions associated with a word beyond its literal definition (denotation). A connotation may be positive, negative, or neutral.  Label the following words as positive, neutral or negative:  Look, glance, stare, gaze

9.  Register: the level or formality or informality associated with a word.  Words may be mainly: ▪ colloquial (slang) ▪ informal (conversational) ▪ formal (literary) ▪ old-fashioned

10.  Sound and rhythm: the way the words sound and scan contribute to their appropriateness.  Words can be euphonious (pleasant sounding, e.g., languid, murmur)  Or cacophonous (harsh sound, e.g., raucous, croak)  Words can be monosyllabic (one syllable in length) or polysyllabic (more than one syllable in length).

11.  Now, revisit your six-word memoir. Choose one word from your six-word memoir for which you can experiment with multiple synonyms.  Write this word on your paper.  Make a list of synonyms.

12.  Arrange words according to relative charge in connotation and formality of register.  Rewrite your six-word memoir by substituting each synonym in the place of the focus word that you originally chose. How does your word choice (diction) affect the meaning of your different memoirs?  Choose the best six-word memoir and create a visual representation.