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Eighteen Words. A Thousand Lives.

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Ready to see what women over 50 can say in just 18 words?

Below, you’ll find minimoirs from our readers—bold, funny, and beautifully human. Read a few, then take the challenge yourself. Because your story deserves to be told, too.

To Share Your Life in 18 Words

Click HERE to submit your 18 word minimoir for a chance to have it featured here!

Complete the Challenge on your own, as part of a group or club you belong to (book club, game club, knitting group, or writing group, just to name a few), or offer the challenge to a group you work with.

The rules are simple: Submissions should be from women over 50, exactly 18 words, and biographical.

Looking for inspiration? Read the minimoirs below from our fabulous readers, and then let your personal story come to life.

Read this article for the origin story of our Minimoir™ Challenge.

We can’t wait to read your minimoir.

 

The Minimoir Collection

Funny, bold, authentic memoirs told in 18 words.

Get inspired, then take the challenge yourself.

Martha,

77,

Jacksonville

FL

Throughout my seven decades life has been love and family. Kindness and respect are reciprocal. Dessert, yarn: nonnegotiable!

Billie,

90,

Jacksonville

FL

Ninety years and still relevant. Five-star husband, daughter, granddaughter, sisters, friends, career, retirement. With gratitude and no regrets.

Emily,

76,

Jacksonville

FL

Proud Florida pioneer descendant embracing family, friends, and home. Joyful in creative pursuits. Relishes the Great American Songbook.

Anonymous,

Jacksonville

FL

I regret nothing. I regret nothing. I regret nothing. I regret nothing, I regret nothing. I regret nothing.

Blue butterfly

Katherine,

50,

Jacksonville

FL

Wife, mother of two, daughter, lawyer, lover of singing, lover of life and family. I am very blessed.

Laura,

91,

St. Johns

FL

Sixty-seven years of companionship. Moments of joy, love, sorrow, withdrawal, renewal. Moving forward—still unlimited possibilities, new experiences.

Allison,

45,

Jacksonville

FL

Independence is actually weaving your people so tight you can collect as much living as life can hold.

Ruth,

75,

Lancaster

PA

Bicultural daughter of missionaries bikes across northern Japan to retrace her roots, uncover family secrets, and find home.

Ruth Kanagy

Walker,

71,

Central

VA

She was a good girl. Now adult, her mother says: Please don’t say anything to upset your brothers.

Jessie,

91,

Laguna Woods

CA

Nine decades plus, living history, known great love, experienced art, endured pain, enjoyed people, and am still here.

Debra,

59,

Long Beach

CA

Jewish New York girl moves to California; finds love. Banker to Gerontologist, honoring loving ancestors, caring for others.

Barb,

65,

Prosper

TX

Small town girl. Teacher, stockbroker, stay-at-home mom, office worker. Married, four daughters, five grandchildren. Happy. Loved.

Susan,

70,

St. Augustine

FL

I came into this lifetime to learn to be kind, strong, and genuine. I’m still working on it.

Adrienne,

55,

Cincinnati

OH

I keep moving toward a more authentic me by challenging my limits, honoring the opportunities, because I can.

Linda,

61,

Boston

MA

Brother dies. At 21, grief overwhelms. Recover at 23. Single till 39. Marry at 42. Baby at 43.

Risa,

74,

Oakland

CA

Storyteller, married young. Found helping careers, worked, wrote, and bore three children. Now I’m my husband’s caregiver. Bittersweet.

Pauline,

60,

Lincolnshire

(UK)

Scarred but standing, I faced the mirror. Once afraid, now unbroken. Cancer came, tried, failed. I’m still here.

Vicki,

69,

Mill Valley

CA

Divorcing at midlife as a mom turned this once shy hippie girl into a successful journalist and author.

Lori,

64,

Hendersonville

NC

I ran away from home at 53. Then found the woman that I was always meant to be.

Carol,

74,

San Jose

CA

Not of this world. More outlier than outcast. I am who I am, take it or leave it.

Jen,

59,

Red Bank

NJ

Not one but two brushes with death too young. So a battery keeps my heart ticking at 59.

Theresa,

60,

Dayton

OH

I’ve survived most abuses known. Yet still, I rise. I won’t let them define me. Only I can.

Karen,

63,

Baltimore

MD

I died. When I woke up, I sounded like Brenda Vaccaro, not a good thing for a cantor.

Kerry,

57,

St. Petersburg

After cancer, politics, and motherhood remade me, I claimed the story I’d buried–the one that demanded light.

Sunny,

71,

USA

Bohemian, nomadic adventuress and domestic goddess, in awe of this miraculous life I’ve been so blessed to live.

Elizabeth,

54,

Las Vegas

NV

After years of being forced into a box, I found the courage to be whatever shape I want.

Leslie,

72,

Sister Bay

WI

Silent night made me silent no more. Embracing the true power of “I am the way”: my mantra.

Charlotte,

63,

Millington

MD

Lost neglected child, mother, survivor. Divorced, broke, alone. Words became my bricks. Built a house, work, hope, future.

Kathy,

66,

East Helena

MT

A constellation of selves–neglected, lonely, and alone; trusting but betrayed; angry, determined; still awed by life’s beauty.

Blue butterfly

Renee,

62,

Denver

CO

I used time like it was endless until I could see the end. Now I treasure each day.

Karen,

63,

Baltimore

MD

I was the girl shot out of the cannon, Broadway-bound, now singing in synagogue and polishing poems.

Holly,

57,

Dexter Township

MI

I am reading and writing as much as I want, working to live, but not living to work.

Michael,

71,

Chatsworth

Christmas Eve 2025. I’m inside. I was outside for 25 years. I learned a lot. I’m stronger now.

Gabrielle,

54,

Elkins Park

Wanted to be Miss Piggy. Theater school, crazy jobs, writing, love.
Parenting neurodivergent kids, big C twice. Defiant.

Michele,

60,

Northford

CT

She dreams, fighting the shackles of expectations not meant for her, ascends to become her own fierce champion.

Karen,

59,

Millville

PA

Four decades after my first riding lesson, I’m still enchanted with horses and my life in the saddle.

L,

62,

Lincolnshire

IL

Spilling feminist truth, words on page to heal rage. Ongoing peace talks with a body overused and fractured.

April,

51,

Providence

RI

Abused in many forms, fighter, owning my life, kind but powerful, empathetic, passionate, loud, and forever unabashedly real.

Mary,

63,

Columbia Station

OH

Tumultuous childhood, young love, mothering joys, loss, big C, scarred, learner, ever-evolving, stronger, wiser, lover, embracing ambiguity.

Tracy,

65,

Brodhead

WI

From disco queen to bingo queen, the in-between of love, laughter, and tears has been a blessing.

Elizabeth,

69,

Graham

NC

My husband bench-pressed me before his softball games, but that was 40 years and 20 pounds ago.

Mica,

66,

Ocala

FL

Unwanted at birth, overworked in life, survived a cult, men, and my own brain—emerged sarcastic, slightly feral.

Julie,

66,

Windermere

FL

My controlling mother said proper ladies don’t ride motorcycles; I say cheers to being thoroughly and completely improper.

Slavica,

67,

Belgrade

Serbia

Seven years after defending my Doctorate in Economics, I was fired as a “technological surplus” —shocked, in disbelief

Slavica Joković

Lisa,

62,

Bethesda

MD

Reading since 3, journaling since 14, striving to be the best partner, parent, writer, friend at every age.

Lisa M. Orange

Susan,

71,

Mesa

AZ

A Leo woman in a relationship with a married Gemini man, started as sex but grew to love.

Susan Stith

Beth,

71,

Sun City

AZ

25 years keeping my head down; 45 speaking my truth despite barriers. Safe and blooming in old age.

Beth Mabee

Janet,

69,

Marysville

MI

Unwanted misfit. I know. Successful without pride. Ate my words until I couldn’t. Sometimes breathless yet I rise.

Janet Shinske

Barbie,

51,

Houston

TX

Sun. Fun. Lost. Boys. Blur. Lies. Man. Left. Found. Fought. Free. Friends. Michael. Love. Daughters. Sad. Fat. Family.

Barbie Atkinson

Angela,

68,

Tellahassee

FL

Early sob story. Grew beyond it. JOY now found in art, laughter, music, chosen family, and inner peace.

Angela Dowdy

Michelle,

54,

Ridgely

Rising above scapegoating and lies, to mothering hard, flawed and otherwise. Nothing keeps me from Spirit’s loving embrace.

Michelle Danelle Sebly

Susan,

74,

Edgartown

MA

Watching my parents drink themselves stupid and mean, I decided no, not for me. I am fine. Now.

Red butterfly

Heather,

50,

Staunton

VA

Today he packed up the last box, loaded it into her truck, and promised to visit for Christmas.

Heather Cole

Haline,

89,

Pompano Beach

89-year-old Polish girl from Brooklyn. 100% Pisces. She paints. She writes. She’s me. I love her.

Haline Gregory

Teresa,

71,

Poughkeepsie

NY

The pills lined up like soldiers, fatigue glued me to the couch, quiet terror of every unfamiliar ache.

Teresa Levitch

Nina,

60,

Brunswick

ME

A Viking Jewess, I’ve set sail, wandered and wondered. Norway, USA, Israel, discovering new iterations of my multiplicity.

Nina B Lichtenstein

Jacqueline,

61,

Brooklyn

NY

Bookish farm girl turned New Yorker. Single mom, favorite granny, author, world traveler, loyal friend and joyful lover.

Jacqueline McMillan

Bobbie,

71,

Williamburg

MI

Student, lover, warrior, corporate executive, husband, father, divorcee, remarried, transgender epiphany, renewed vows, Living life authentically, finally peace!

Bobbie

Linda,

66,

Salem

SC

Fragile orchid learns to heed her soul’s desires. Transforms into a wildflower, thriving in the most unlikely places.

Linda Wattier

Julie,

46,

Lawrence

KS

Loud, outcast; didn’t play by the rules. Until the rules changed, I found words gave me comfort.

Julie Unruh

Mira,

78,

Methuen

MA

Three countries, languages, two divorces, one long loving marriage then widowhood. Pandemic gift’s, the love of my life

Mira Firth

Susan,

70,

St. Augustine

FL

An only child with five siblings, being wholly myself within a tribe. The gift has endured 70 years.

Susan Braun

Robin,

70,

Brunswick

ME

A Micro Memoir:
I was born.
For forty years, I did not die.
Then I learned to live.

Robin Robinson

Sharon,

65,

Silverton

OR

Death defined childhood.
Birth defined womanhood.
I have no lover.
I am Crone, the love of my life.

Sharon Ward

Kim,

61,

Sea Cliff

NY

Three of five, dreamer, reader, pleaser, always nurturing, surviving, recovering. Brave, fierce advocate. Guided by mommas–mine excluded.

Kim Catalano Reardon

Karen,

63,

Corvallis

OR

Trauma-filled, from self-destruction to wholeness and courage. A life I’m proud of—forward bound, living joyfully.

Karen Fisher

Heather,

72,

Langley

WA

I was always leaving – home, jobs, cities, husbands, the country. Writing my stories made me circle back home.

Purple Butterfly

Eve,

58,

Los Angeles

CA

The youngest, a sensitive soul, she starved until she fed herself, and then doctored others toward their healing.

Eve Makoff

Heidi,

54,

Peoria

AZ

Son arrived with Down syndrome. Health scares, therapies, advocacy, love. He changed my path. He redefined my life.

Heidi Boltz

Cari,

63,

Chippewa Falls

WI

Wild child. Daddy’s girl. Youngest sibling. Stubborn. Fiercely independent Harley rider. Found love late. Still chasing the wind.

Cari Horton

Charlotte,

63,

Millington

MD

One of seven, mother, survivor. Divorced, broke, alone. Words became my bricks: building a house, work, hope, future.

Charlotte Zang

Elizabeth,

74,

Pittsfield

MA

Being slightly odd made the difference in my life. I visualize colors that I have not created . . . yet.

Elizabeth Cassidy

Randye,

65,

Philadelphia

PA

Born with gifts I didn’t know I had. Now at 65 I understand, embrace, and use them all.

Randye Spina

Donna,

75,

Rumson

NJ

My life has been an adventure. No regrets. Travel, family and friends. Much love. And more to come.

Donna L Steinhorn

Elizabeth,

58,

Los Angeles

CA

DC kid – bad home, good school. Harvard, Russian launched. Masters, adventures shaped. Life handed me to social work.

Elizabeth Malloy

Lou Anne,

70,

Prattville

AL

Free spirit born into a family that wasn’t. Became the mom that I deserved. My dream journey fulfilled.

Lou Anne Smith

Ellen,

69,

Ocean Isle Beach

NC

Only child, traveled world. Two kids, widowed. Family scarred by mental illness, estrangement. Now love, writing, Inspire me.

Ellen S Acconcia

Vel,

59,

Harrisburg

Considered a freak when I was young. Now happy, found someone who loves me for who I am.

Red butterfly

Victoria,

68,

USA

Marine vet, hockey gal, six children, lived good, bad, rich, and poor life and still enjoying it all!

Victoria Dorney

Dhyana,

79,

Siesta Key

FL

I wrote. I laughed. I loved:
Me
Live
Living large
And sometimes small
Finding ways
To love
You

Blue butterfly
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