On websites and one sentences

I finally whipped up a new layout and upgraded my WordPress installation to 2.1.1, from pre-2.1; I previously never had time (or much energy, actually) to try upgrading. Besides, I was getting tired of the old layout.

That over and done with, I found a gem of a website yesterday, and I’ve been itching to note it somewhere: One Sentence. Basically, people submit one-sentence true stories. From the website itself:

One Sentence is about telling your story, briefly. Insignificant stories, everyday stories, or turning-point-in-your-life stories, boiled down to their bare essentials.

I love websites and exercises like these, both as a visitor/reader and as a participant. For one thing, there are beautiful one-sentence stories found here, wonderfully written, sentences that struck me the moment I read them: with sadness, with joy, with nostalgia. See here:

I am pregnant with my husband’s child, so I will never get to be with the man who is the mirror of my soul.
– fallen phoenix

And there she left me clueless, on the eve of her mother’s wedding day.
– dac

As I leaned to kiss her on the cheek, she decided the lips would be better, and my heart stopped mid-beat.
– Chris

(Yes, I am a sap, they’re all about love. So sue me.) This website reminds me of goodies like Post Secret (and the 983712467322 copies), so unimaginably engrossing, but on a less sensational level. It’s so nifty I immediately started thinking of my own one-sentence-story — which I feel is a great catalyst when it comes to creative writing. Or any one of these sentences could form the basis of a story, of a novel.