Having whirled around the media landscape for the past 15 years, Larry Smith, SMITH founding editor and book writer, loves creating magazines. He believes that everyone has a story, and everyone has a place in it.

In this exclusive interview for Students and Campuses Bulletin, he reveals his plan to create a new kind of reader/writer experience, one in which you are part of the story.

STUDENTS AND CAMPUSES BULLETIN (SCB): What inspired you to create the book?

LARRY SMITH (LS): There’s a legend that Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in six words and he came up with, "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."

Many years later, in January 2006, I launched SMITH Magazine with a mission to offer professional and amateur writers alike a space to tell their personal stories. As we approached the first anniversary of SMITH, we decided to give Hemingway’s form a new personal, non-fiction twist, inviting readers to tell their life story in six words. We had thousands of submissions in just a few weeks, heard that teachers were assigning six-word memoirs to their students, families were trading six-word memoirs across their dinner tables, and pet fanatics were writing them for their dogs. At that point the editors of SMITH thought: This really should be a book. Harper Perennial (a division of HarperCollins) released the book in February 2008, and five weeks later it was a New York Times bestseller.

SCB: When most people are advised to create lengthy memoirs about their experiences and life, you take a different route. Why just six words? Do you know something we don’t?

LS: It boils down to life’s essence, that some people chose to describe in terms of what they’re feeling at the precise moment in time they wrote their short, short life story ("Boyfriend in bed, still a lesbian?"), while others opt to sum up their life’s overarching theme ("My spiritual path is 100 proof.") Mario Batali’s "Brought it to a boil, often" might say more about the storied chef then the millions of words others have written about him. At SMITH, we believe "everyone has a story" but found that sometimes people don’t know where to begin, or even believe that their story is worthy. The six-word form is an unintimidating point of entry.

SCB: Are six-word memoirs effective devices for teaching literature?

LS: Absolutely. We’ve heard from teachers all over the world, ranging from kindergarten to graduate schools, that they’ve been assigning six-word memoirs to their students, and finding them to be an incredibly useful and inspirational writing tool.

SCB: Can a six-word memoir be used as a rapping device?

LS: Yes! After all, a bluegrass band has already been writing a six-word song, people on YouTube have been making six-word memoir videos, six words has even been used as a type of eulogy — anything’s possible with the six-word form. We’d love to hear some six-word raps.

SCB: What is the best six word contribution you have come across?

LS: We have lots of favorites--there are hundreds of them in the book, we know nearly all of them by heart, and are grateful for each one — but Abigail Moorhouse’s six words — Barrister, barista, what’s the diff, Mom?" — seemed to have it all. It’s funny, worded perfectly, and speaks to some universal stuff: ambition, disappointment, expectations, familial angst.

Then there’s the title, "Not quite what I was planning," by a young woman named Summer Grimes. Like Abigail Moorehouse’s and many others in the book, it’s about a life a little different than you planned, and maybe you’re okay with the way it’s all turning out.

SCB: Who is your most famous six words contributor?

LS: Both on SMITH Magazine (smithmag.net) and in the book, we feature these short, short life stories of folks who have never been published next to the bestselling writers of our time. Our most famous contributors are Stephen Colbert, Elizabeth Gilbert, Dave Eggers, Richard Ford, Joan Rivers, Deepak Chopra, and Ornette Coleman. When someone chooses to put your words next masterful storytellers like these, that’s a great feeling — and perfectly in line with the aspirational mission of SMITH.

SCB: Can Filipino teens join your six words compilation?

LS: Yes, yes, yes! Go to sixwordmemoir.com and submit! We’re also doing a book of six-word memoir by and for teens that we’ll begin taking submissions for in early May. We hope you come to the site and contribute your six-word memoir.