Word Count Limits

Posted by BJ
Not Quite What I Was Planning. That phrase has, no doubt, been uttered by a great many proposal folks before, during and/or after a proposal effort. However, in this case, it’s the title of a book (thus the use of title case, for those that thought this was incorrect.

This simple little book is a compilation of “Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure” drawn from Smith Magazine (edited by Rachel Fershleiser and Larry Smith, published by Harper). Talk about word count limits!

I found the entries delightful and very clever. And it certainly got me to thinking about mine own six word memoir. (This will be a work in progress for a bit as, as many of us are well aware, the shorter it is, the longer it takes to write. :) )
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A couple that I really like are:

• “I colored outside the lines.”
• “Full life. Impossible to summarize in…

And one or two that really hit home for me:

• “Next time, better parents, better hair.”
• “Oh sweet nectar of life, coffee.”

Then there are those that could definitely be said about proposal efforts are:

• “Filled blank spaces with ambitious endeavors.” (proposal writer)
• “Indeterminate, not enough data for conclusion.” (a customer/decision maker)
• “Once was blind, now I see.” (a sales person [Hey, it could happen!])
• “It was embarrassing, so don’t ask.” (a proposal manager)

​I suspect this post will have many of you thinking about the “six words” that capture one of your proposal efforts. If that’s the case, Jon and I would love to read it and share it with our readers so please do send them in (as a comment.)