Menu

Prompts

Contests

Stories

Blog

Menu

✕

CONNECT

Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites

BLOG

Success Stories

APPS

TOOLS

Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships

ABOUT

About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#139: Growing Up

As March reaches its conclusion and nature comes into full bloom (at least in the Northern hemisphere), it’s a time to reflect on growth. While shoots are emerging and flowers start to bud, it’s inspiring to think how big things flourish from such small beginnings.

This week’s prompts are about just that. Whether your characters have already gone through big changes, or are just beginning them, it’s time to get growing. I’ll see you back here for the next contest, when we’ll all be one week older and, hopefully, one week wiser.

This week's prompts

Write a story that involves a character donating a box of clothes which have been outgrown.

Middle School – 49 stories

Start your story with someone having their height marked on a door frame.

Middle School – 36 stories

Format your story in the style of diary entries.

Middle School – 53 stories

Start your story with the words: “Grow up.”

Angst – 63 stories

Write about a character sowing seeds for the future (literally or figuratively).

Spring – 39 stories

Stories

“Mom's Voice” by Eugenette Morin

Submitted to Contest #139

June 25th, 1988 Dear Diary, As you know, I moved out last week and it's been tough. Mom really made it look so easy but ... well, let me tell you about growing up and Mom. She's always been there, sometimes too much, as you are aware, dear Diary but ... I mean, ok ... I guess, it ain't always easy, it ain't always hard. But, there ARE times when you wanna hide under a floor, or a rock, whichev. True, it’s not always sweet-smelling strawberries, and it’s not always complicated cactus. Sometimes everything is peachy, the day is bright, you got...

Read story

“I'm Not Crazy” by Travis Hitchcock

Submitted to Contest #139

It is the 20th day of the month of January of the year 2017. It’s my birthday, but I treated today like any other. Turning 21 is supposed to be a big event. For me, it is just a milestone of survival. Nothing more. I was chuckling to myself earlier. Chuckling is not one of my main pastimes. I remembered how I started this diary to document my growth as a human being before life was a bleak scrap for survival. It is no longer about grown. Stagnation is now a perfectly acceptable outcome. My chuckles were about how things change, e...

Read story

“The Real Hitler Diaries” by Mark Linsky

Submitted to Contest #139

The Real Hitler Diaries Author’s note: For those not old enough to remember the 1980’s, one of the most astonishing events of that decade was the discovery of diaries kept by Adolph Hitler. Stern Magazine, Newsweek and the Sunday Times in London all planned to serialize and publish and were prepared to hand over millions of dollars to the man who found ...

Read story

“Dear diary” by F.O. Morier

Submitted to Contest #139

Dear diary, I don´t know what day it is today, and frankly, I don´t care what day of the week it is. I´m looking for a sense of relief. Can I find some here, on these virgin papers of yours? A long time ago I set aside my creative dreams to become something else. I lost myself in that process. And now, here I am a collapsed star. How I long to return to a realm of beauty and magic. It´s not too late, is it diary? To allow my imagination free reign. My path has been difficult to navigate. It was littered with thwarted dreams and silenced musi...

Read story

“Lessons From My Mother” by AshleyAnn Barnes

Submitted to Contest #139

March 6 Dear Diary: I should be reading for my evening class, but I can’t concentrate. I think I fell in love today! I saw him from across the quad while I was walking to class. He is tall and handsome, with blonde, surfer boy hair and a smile right out of a magazine. I could see his blue eyes all the way from where I was standing. He looked like Prince Charming! We made eye contact. I smiled at him and he smiled at me and ooooh! It was just like out of a movie. He was with his friends so he didn’t approach me and I didn’t dare approach...

Read story

“What Is This That Stands Before Me?” by Jonathan Sadler

Submitted to Contest #139

April 23rd, 1858 - 16th Day on the TrailThis morning, I rose to find a sinister boil protruding from the left side of my neck like a grievously threatening mole poking its head out of the freshly-thawed spring ground. Bessie was able to trade half a box of our ammunition to a neighboring wagon for some slippery elm powder, and immediately set to work preparing a poultice with cornmeal. This was laid on a small piece of fabric and thus applied to the boil, until the heat from the cloth had dissipated into the skin. This method seemed to be ef...

Read story

“Educating Emily” by Becca Ward

Submitted to Contest #139

Grow up. The words rolled around in Emily’s head like rubbish on a windy day. Grow up, grow up, grow up! But, she reasoned, she measured taller today than last week. Surely that was something.Her older sister said this whenever Emily asked a curious question. Her mother said it when Emily asked why one too many times, and her father said it whenever she talked too much over dinner. But it wasn’t her fault, she reasoned. Why should her thoughts be less interesting or less grown up than anyone else’s?It was a typical cold February midweek...

Read story

“All Grown Up” by Emily Harney

Submitted to Contest #139

“Grow up!” she exclaimed, rolling her eyes at me as I stood there trembling, the bloody knife quivering in my hand. I knew this was coming. This is what our family does. I’ve known it since I was just a baby. I remember going out with mom and dad late at night, following our prey. This is how we survived but my tiny, eight-year-old brain was struggling with the idea of plunging a sharp knife into a still-breathing body. My sister snatched the knife from my small hand and in one fell swoop slung the blade along the poor man’s throat, sendin...

Read story

“MIRROR, MIRROR” by Debbie Curtin

Submitted to Contest #139

GROW UP my mind yelled and shouted. “Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Do some of us ever grow up? I mean how old is this guy standing in front of me spewing his vitriol hateful speech right into my face. Jake smelled the flat air of alcohol and almost threw up when spit landed on his cheek. He gagged, his eyes bugged out and stepped back to get ahold of himself. This joker laughed mockingly at the way Jake handled that episode. Wiping his cheek with the back of his hand, it was all Jake ...

Read story

“The Ever-Endless Earth” by Abigail F. Taylor

Submitted to Contest #139

At last, the sun dipped bellow the scattered, brown horizon. Skunk Lowery raised his hand to it, curving his calloused fingers and cupping the orange shine, as though it were the pomelo he'd received for Christmas as a boy. The wild citrus smell was so beautiful that he didn't dare break open the skin, and he hid it under his rope bed like a buried treasure. Over time, it had turned rotten and bent in on itself, like the earth seemed to be doing now. Skunk dropped his hand and rubbed it against his trousers to clean the dirt off. He worried ...

Read story

“Ghost Seed” by Davie McGuinn

Submitted to Contest #139

1907 The ground shook, and the burlap bag of seeds flew out of her tiny hands. The seeds scattered around her bare feet as she caught herself mid-fall. For a moment, the earth stood still. No sound of birds. No wind whispering through the ridges. Bewildered, she collected herself. She would have to wait for the mud to dry to collect her seeds again. That, or she could just leave them be. Perhaps those were meant to be planted there anyway. The world didn’t violently rattle for no reason. “Lilly, head back to Camp 2. Tell the chief engine...

Read story

“Beach Fairies Afoot” by John Hanna

Submitted to Contest #139

Mickey is Irish although he lives in the United States. His name is Michael O’Connor but his friends call him Mickey. He can trace his heritage back to Paddie O’Connor who married Emily MacMullen on a steamer bringing starving Irish, sold into indentured servitude, slavery, during the potato blight of 1847. According to Paddie, taken directly from his journal written in broken Gaelic, he missed the connection with their patrons at the New York dock. The current citizens didn’t care for the immigrants and gathered to beat at the new arrivals ...

Read story

“Red Sweater” by Megan Lockie

Submitted to Contest #139

The cardboard box had been sitting at the bottom of the closet for nearly two years by the time I opened it again. A heavy layer of dust masked the words written on top, but I clearly remembered what they said: Dear Kate. I know you loved it, so here it is; for gorgeous Gabriel. Love from Jen, Ray and Maxie. ——— Jennifer and I had been best friends since we were toddlers. We grew up in the same neighbourhood, went to the same schools and had joint birthday parties every year as children. It seems silly looking back on it now, but we used...

Read story

“The Last Box” by Marcia H.

Submitted to Contest #139

The box was sitting in the corner of the loft. It was by itself now. The rest of the loft was empty. This was the last box. It looked lonely just sitting there. The lid had not been taped closed as on previous boxes. The handwriting on the outside was mine. In huge black, bold letters were the words, “ J’s Old Clothes.” The clothes inside were not really old. They were just too small. Jackson was born too small. They said at the hospital he was going to be small because he was going to be born early. It took me a long time to get used to the...

Read story

“Drop-Off” by Marybeth McDonough

Submitted to Contest #139

Jenn immediately regretted her decision. The contractor’s garbage bag was wedged three quarters of the way into the clothing drop-off bin, and there it rested awkwardly. With cartoonish effort, she crouched beneath the dangling portion and pushed feebly upward, hoping it would somehow slide forward ending the whole ordeal. Nothing. She realized that she had actually been holding her breath and it came out in a defeated puff as she shrunk down to the blacktop. The hazard lights of the Kia blinked and the signal ding ding dinge...

Read story

Load more stories

$250

Prize money

239

Contest entries

135

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 01, 2022 EST

Won by Alex Sultan 🏆

Title: buried in saipan

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢