Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Start your story with the line ‘Back in my day…’

Posted in Adults on Oct 25, 2022

Submissions are closed

Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy account.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or use an email address:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 28 stories

Like Father, Like Son

Submitted to Contest #120

“Back in my day...” The words were barely out of my mouth when, as is common these days, I was rudely interrupted.“Back in your day? Geez Dad, you’re 50 not 500.”“That’s the whole point,” I said, attempting to win back a conversation I should never have lost in the first place. “How, in the space of 30 years did we go from there to here?”“From where to where?”“When I got out of college in 1981, there was one country, two genders, ten commandments and endless possibilities. Now there are just excuses. If this is what progress looks like, then...

40 likes 11 comments 11
Read story

Captive Audience

Submitted to Contest #120

Back in my day it was much simpler, people were either alive or dead. When you’re alive, you’re alive and when you’re dead, you’re dead. It’s the Grand Old Duke of York of life and death. Every day is different and nothing stays still but you’d think those two things would remain the same whilst everything evolved around it. My entire life I’ve made a good living from these two facts being set in stone whilst I reaped the rewards. These days the world and its residents above and below have evolved to be cockier and more rebellious, thin...

36 likes 10 comments 10
Read story

Learning to Swim

Submitted to Contest #120

Learning to Swim By Todd Crickmer               Back in my day … though it is now hard to believe, racial segregation was not just a social norm, it was literally the law of the land. I was reminded of this shameful fact of American history while traveling a Kansas interstate, late one night while traveling from one business meeting, to another early the next morning. I was struggling to keep my mind active and facing an unpleasant appointment awaiting me the nex...

16 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

In the Darkness, the Light of Freedom

Submitted to Contest #120

Back in my day, I remember mornings like this one when an early squall threatened the day and my anguished pleading seemed to fall on deaf ears. Frustrated, I'd watch the ever graying sky, praying for a ray of hope to beam through the dark clouds and save me from what surely would be a tortuous summer day at home with mother.Those mornings though often found hot pancakes dripping with butter and syrup, dotted with the tiniest of flavorful blueberries, picked along the side of the road, or blackberries, culled from under the porch between sna...

16 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Jello Mold Wars

Submitted to Contest #120

Back in my day, a dispute in my family, now referred to as the jello mold wars, caused hurt feelings that reverberate to this day. It was the 1950’s and I was a senior in high school, living at home with my folks. My relatives were a tightly knit group, socializing mainly with each other. At that time and even today, our family dinners were frequent and not just on holidays. Very important for my story is that none of these events would have been considered complete without some kind of jello mold on the table. And herein lies my story.Let m...

15 likes 6 comments 6
Read story

The Do-Over

Submitted to Contest #120

The Do-Over Deborah Elliott Back in my day.  Cat fur for kitten britches, I’ve done it, I’m back in my day. On Sunday, I’d taken a drive through Rives Junction.  When I saw a “for sale” sign in the front yard of an old farmhouse that I had always admired, I stopped to ask about it. I couldn’t imagine the Bishops ever selling the place. They’d been sitting on its front porch for as long as I could remember, and they were sitting there now. I ducked under the low-hanging branches of the cherry tree that was coved in fra...

14 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Freedom?

Submitted to Contest #120

This is a story of fiction, though it has racial undertones. As such, it may prove sensitive to some people. Meant to teach a lesson rather than spread racism, please excuse any portions that may cause varied emotions among readers. Freedom? “Back in my day, people had different colored skin which caused them no end of trouble.” My sister and I had settled into our pods in the common area of our dwelling. We were excited as our father had finally agreed to read to us from our Great Great Grandpa’s diary which had always held its designated...

14 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

MASKing my nostalgia

Submitted to Contest #120

I am unashamedly a child of the 80's. After speaking to a good friend, he told me that I should start writing short stories and articles featuring different 80's toys/ cartoons, etc. So, with his encouragement and that of my wife, I set out to write this series. So with that in mind, here we go…"back in my day"... To get things started let's go where illusion is the ultimate weapon. Mobile Armored Strike Kommand. Otherwise known as M.A.S.K. Seriously? Kommand...with a "K". I guess it makes the anagram complete, however there are plenty o...

14 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

The Good Old Days

Submitted to Contest #120

Some sensitive material about racism. “Back in my day,” Bob said, “kids could play outside until dark and nobody ever worried about ‘em. In fact mothers would shoo ‘em out ‘a the house and make ‘em stay out playing, telling them to not get under foot. Neighbors knew each other and if a kid did something wrong, you better believe their mother would hear about it quicker ’n you could spit. Mama would say, ‘You wait until your father comes home.’ And then the kid would know what was comin’. The belt. Put the fear ‘a God in ‘em for sure. Nobo...

14 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

Back in the Day

Submitted to Contest #120

‘Back in the Day’ The Veranda By Bettie MacIntyre            Back in the day, before televisions, cell phones, computers, and sit-down family dinners. Lois can remember the quaint, friendly small country town nestled near the Elephant Mountains in Vermont, where she lived. From the main thoroughfare, turn at the depot junction and cross the railroad tracks to get there. Drive a few country miles past the town cemetery and up the steep curved hill. The only road through the little ...

12 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

Back in the Day

Submitted to Contest #120

People avoided Charles Pickens whenever they could.  While he was a charming elderly fellow, his major flaw was starting every conversation he ever had with a friend or stranger “Back in the day…”  Didn’t matter none who it was, but Charles, who worked for over thirty years at Catco Farm Supply, would put his thumbs at the corners of his overall straps, rock on his heels and spin a yarn or two depending on the amount of time he had. While most of his tales seemed taller than the corn in the first weeks of autumn, Charles was alway...

12 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Antiques On The Shelf

Submitted to Contest #120

“Back in my day, we didn’t have those fancy devices to give to our children,” Grandma Maureen glanced over at Felix and Emma from her usual place at the kitchen table. They were sitting shoulder to shoulder, small legs dangling off the floral-patterned loveseat. Their fingers, moving frantically across the screens of their tablets. Felicia groaned. Another lecture from Grandma Maureen. Just what she needed today. Grandma Maureen rose from her chair, the legs screeched against the old wooden floor. She shuffled into the kitchen in slippered...

12 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

2027

Submitted to Contest #120

TW: Some of the scenes maybe disturbing! 2027 ****Harry**** “Back in my days, life was very different than it is now,” I say to my Grandchildren who are piled around me, in front of the roaring fire. It is getting dark, and the night chill is setting in. Darkness is a dangerous time to be out in the open, but I have made this place as inconspicuous as possible, beneath mammoth trees. “Grandpa, could you please tell us about the old world?” Newton asks. Newton, my seven-year-old Grandson, was two years old when the New World Order beg...

12 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

My wife's birthday

Submitted to Contest #120

“Back in my day, we meditated when we were stoned, and we were stoned every day. Have you ever pictured a strawberry being inserted into the top of your head while you’re wearing those Kanye sunglasses? You know those glasses? The fence-looking white ones? I think that’s enlightenment. We can’t have Thanksgiving dinner here.”“What are you talking about?” “I don’t know, Diane! Can’t you see that? I just ate a bunch of mushrooms.” “Where did you get the mushrooms?”“You know where I got the mushrooms. Don’t ask me where I got them.”“D...

12 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

The Day I Surprised the Priest

Submitted to Contest #120

                               The Day I Surprised the Priest Back in my day, in my neck of the woods, most of us went to Catholic school because that was what was available. It didn’t matter if you were Christian, Jew or whatever, you probably were educated by ladies in black robes and white wimples. My brother and sister went off to those magical, mysterious places every day, one called Fi...

11 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character who yearns for something they lost, or never had.

Angst – 111 stories

Write about two characters’ different perspectives of the same past event.

Middle School – 36 stories

Start your story with a character looking through an old family photo album.

Fluff – 44 stories

Your character has always viewed the past with rose tinted glasses. Write about what happens when they’re finally confronted with the truth.

Angst – 25 stories

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

How to Write a Novel