Missing Letter Mondays

Sure, you can write a whole post without the letter “Z”.  But what about the letter “I”?  Or the letter “T”?  Or–dare I even say it?–the letter “E”?

How about every single letter of the alphabet, in turn?

That’s the idea behind “Missing Letter Mondays,” a blogging challenge to write a post–whether in prose or in poetry–without using the letter of the week.  (Inspired by this poem I found in a very old magazine.)

If you’d like to participate–and I hope you will!–then there are some simple rules.  (Or I hope they’re simple…)

1. It has to make some form of sense–no random gibberish–but it doesn’t have to be 100% logical and cohesive.  (Consider the amount of sense, or lack thereof, in the average pop song’s lyrics as a good yardstick.  If it makes less sense than the average pop song, you’re not making enough sense.)
2. Made up words are okay in moderation, but don’t go to “Jabberwocky” levels with it.  (Don’t get me wrong; I love “Jabberwocky.”  It’s just that making up your own words takes out all the challenge.)
3. Words in other languages are hunky-dory…as is archaic slang like hunky-dory…
4. Don’t exclude a letter by misspelling the word in question.  Run a spell-checker if you’re not sure of a spelling.  (However, you can leave off the “g” at the end of a verb or participle as long as you use the appropriate apostrophe, but try not to do that too much during the “G” post.)
5. Try to use correct grammar as much as possible.  (Though sentence fragments are acceptable.  Within reason.)
6. Link back to this post and display one of the “Missing Letter Mondays” banners.  (The banner can be the link, of course.)
7. You can post additional text that doesn’t follow the rule, but only a brief explanatory phrase, and you must separate it from the main portion of the post with a horizontal line.  If the words in your explanatory text outnumber the ones in your main post, then you’ve written too much explanation.
8. In addition to the main banner, it would also be nice if you would post the icon for the forbidden letter of the week.
9. Please give your post the tag Missing-Letter-Monday.
10. Additionally, you get bonus points if you pick a topic that would normally require that letter to discuss.  (For example, you get bonus points for talking about Loki when you can’t use the letter “O”, or talking about Freddie Mercury when you can’t use the letter “Q”, or Hatsune Miku when you can’t use the letter “V”.)  If you feel you’ve earned bonus points, there’s a badge for that!
11. Can you do this challenge without consulting a thesaurus?  Then you get cookies!  (Chocolate chip.  Very tasty.)
12. Most importantly, have fun with it!

If your blog isn’t on WordPress, then please post the link either here or on the current week’s MLM post on my blog. (The link to your MLM post, not to your blog’s main page.)

The challenge will begin next week, Monday, June 1st, 2015, with the letter “A” being forbidden.  The following week will be “B” and so on.  (And after “Z” it will loop back around to “A”…)

There are official graphics, of course!  (But please think of them as temporary.  I have no artistic skill.  So if any kind soul wants to make new ones that look less awful…)

     

      

                                 

 

[Edit:  It turns out there’s also a blogging challenge just to post a paragraph without the letter “E,” so if you think it can’t be done, there’s proof that it can here, for example.  But that’s more of a chain-letter kind of one-time challenge, whereas this is an on-going, weekly, only-if-you-feel-like-it type of challenge, so it’s not like it’s “competition.”]