You may remember this assignment. You write about your day. Only, you can’t use the word “the.”

This is a constraint assignment. It is based on the OULIPO group back in the days of Paris’ exciting Surrealist Art movement.

I call one iteration of this constraint “aNOther day” after my student, Billy, asked if it was okay to write with the word “the” in all our regular assignments.

Whatever happens to you is meaningful. Be sure to select the category “aNOther day” when you post. That way, we can read each other’s no THE’s and gloat and smile.

When you leave stuff out, your writing gets better.

Sarah Schmerler