The Assignment: 6 Words + 1 T-shirt

Lots of tees on the blog this week... New denim line Not Without Joy has launched a fun Hemingway-inspired contest on its website.

According to the possibly apocryphal anecdote, Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write a complete story in six words. He responded with “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

Salvatore Lipari and Stefano Aldighieri, the founders of the L.A.–based men’s premium denim collection, have taken that idea to the web asking visitors to write their own 6-word story. The winning “story” will be “published” on a T-shirt and royalties will be paid for each shirt sold.

They have a few examples up already—from the existential “The box was empty and now what?” to the hopelessly romantic “She was always in my dreams.” (Or, for those embittered by romance, might I suggest: “He was the stuff of nightmares.”)

My favorite so far is the delightfully sophomoric “I kept drinking while I could.”

Give it a try. Here’s mine: Six words. On a tee. Earnestly.