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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#170: Best Laid Plans

As the old saying goes, "We plan, God laughs"; no matter how carefully we try and prepare for the future, life tends to get in the way. Sometimes these obstacles are actually opportunities, and things work out for the better. Sometimes, these disappointments don’t have a happy ending. Either way, we have to muddle through.

This week’s prompts are all about plans — whether they work out, they don’t, or we never had one to begin with!

This week's prompts

Start your story with the line “I’ve got a plan”.

Dialogue – 60 stories

Write a story about a character who tries to control their life down to the most minute detail — but has to learn to let go.

Character – 25 stories

Write about a plan that goes wrong, for the better.

Middle School – 38 stories

Write a story that involves the architectural plans for a building.

Mystery – 10 stories

Fly by the seat of your pants and write a story without a plan.

Short Story – 68 stories

Stories

“The Best Unlaid Plans” by Howard Seeley

Submitted to Contest #170

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in life, it’s only a well-made plan that can change your future for the better. But in this story, I’m about to tell you, it couldn’t be further from the truth. It all began in January 1974, just after my eighteenth birthday. I was six feet one inch tall, one-hundred-sixty-five pounds, and had the body of an athlete. Externally, I was physically fit, but internally, I bore an invisible flaw, which eventually changed my future. To put it simply, I was half- blind. An ophthalmologist determined it wasn’t from...

1 comment 1
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“Normal ” by Aishu Aishu

Submitted to Contest #170

"I have a plan!!" Mika squealed, her eyes brimming with excitement. Her hair, braided by the caretaker was now in messy shackles, and her tiny hands, now was almost covered by the dusty white chalk powder. Grandly unveiling the board she had just minutes back covered with an old blanket, she smiled proudly at us, her elder brothers. It was a lazy saturday afternoon and yes, we were too tired to fake a smile, let alone an excitement. The fire cackled loudly as if mocking us for being such unsupportive brothers. Quickly, Jay and m...

2 comments 2
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“The Color of the Sky” by Tamarin Butcher

Submitted to Contest #170

Prairie slid her closet open fifteen-and-a-half inches exactly, ensuring that the runner lined up perfectly with the neat pencil mark she'd made on the doorframe. She counted to five, then reached in and grabbed her Monday outfit. Prairie had one outfit for each day of the week, and an eighth, Emergency Outfit in case Something Went Wrong. It had been five months, two weeks, and three days since the last time her Emergency Outfit had been needed. She dressed, carefully watching the clock. Seven minutes and forty seconds - that was the ti...

8 comments 8
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“The cliffs” by Susana Sela

Submitted to Contest #170

I’ve got a plan. I have defined it carefully, day by day, night by night. I have studied every detail and marked out my steps so as not to make a single mistake. At first, it was just an idea, but it has slowly taken over my head and now my whole life revolves around it. It all started about seven years ago, on November 1st. I parked my car near the cliff, to get closer to the sea and photograph the waves. A storm was approaching and the white eddies bouncing over the rocks, wrapped in a wild murmur of water and salt, totally captured my att...

2 comments 2
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“Accident” by Keri Dyck

Submitted to Contest #170

Rated M/A for pregnancy references.“You’re kidding.” Dr. Bruce Scofield looked up at his wife, his shoelace half untied. He stood up and loosened his tie. “Come on, Gina. This is a prank, right? You’re fooling with me?”Dr. Regina Scofield pursed her lips. She held the little white stick out to him. He took the tester and stared at the two blue lines, then slowly sat back down onto the bench. He set it down and methodically finished unlacing his shoes. The oven beeped, and she walked back into the kitchen. A frozen casserole sat on ...

5 comments 5
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“God had a better plan” by Weeza Warren

Submitted to Contest #170

Soleil had a good life growing up. She had dreams of having the perfect husband, two children, and a house with a white picket fence. She was a cheerleader, she had a good family and she was popular. Soleil also had plans to complete high school, go to college and become a professor. However during her senior year she got pregnant and had a baby boy after high school. With the help of her mom, Zarina, Soleil was able to go on to college. She was living her best life in college and things were going as planned until she went through a bad rel...

3 comments 3
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“(Almost) Home for the Holidays” by AnneMarie Miles

Submitted to Contest #170

TW: death.When she’d left for her trip, they had been fighting. It hadn't been a big fight, but they'd been irritated with each other. Her more with him.He always did this. Whenever the holidays came around, it was like some big surprise that her parents would want them to spend the holidays with them. And now that they had little Zia, the ask had become more of a beg. But with her parents being several states away, that meant traveling a small bit to get to them, which seemed to complicate things. At least for Jerry. Every year, bookin...

19 comments 19
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“THE WRONG SIDE OF NOWHERE” by David D'EttoreUser

Submitted to Contest #170

THE WRONG SIDE OF NOWHERE             It was a lazy afternoon, one of those hot and humid days when people look for a cool place and a cold drink and dogs seek out the shade to lie down and not move unless they have to.  Danny Weston pushed open the dusty tavern door and scanned the premises as he headed to the end of the bar.  Not many people he observed.  Two people were at the bar. Two others were playing pool.  A third group sat in a ...

1 comment 1
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“Pheromone” by Virtual Chesse Emporium

Submitted to Contest #170

Our footsteps and laughter echoed loudly in my apartment building's narrow hallways. The shopping bags we tugged along banged against our legs, but we didn’t notice. After a day of shopping, eating a luxurious dinner and karaoke, nothing could dampen our moods. Our laughter finally died when we reached my door. “Thank you so much for inviting me, this was amazing!” I said happily. “Of course baby, you needed a night out after the shitty week you had!” My friend Lili said with a grin. I grabbed my keys and opened my door. “Oh, before you go...

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“Dizzying Adventures” by John Lindquist

Submitted to Contest #170

As I sit in the chair in his room, the midmorning sunlight shines in through the window illuminating his rocking horse. Two years’ worth of dust caked the antique toy. The dust that has yet to find its final resting place dances in the beams of light. I rarely come in here. I miss him so much. I left it just as it was before he disappeared two years ago at the age of six. I’m too hurt to cry. Maybe this is just how some men are, or maybe I have no tears left. First my wife leaves us, then my son vanishes in the night. Our son Joshua always p...

9 comments 9
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“In the Garden Where Nothing Grows” by Carolina Mintz

Submitted to Contest #170

*Contains sensitive content of abuse and mental health* Standing in the dead garden, the mother pulled her thin sweater tighter against her frail body. She shivered in the chill, the seasons for growing and harvesting long past. Only the husks of pole beans with their brown tendrils still clinging to the wire trellis remained there. She often came out to her garden to clear the cobwebs in her mind, but it was of little comfort today. Overhead, slate clouds hovered low, misty. Winter was here now. Her eldest daughter, Kathleen...

5 comments 5
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“The Ghost of Music Past” by Miranda Crenshaw

Submitted to Contest #170

I told him not to go into that music store, and maybe that’s why he went. He didn’t like to be told things. You could ask him not to do it, but if you told him that he wouldn’t… Well, he just would… Logan didn’t notice anything weird when he went into the music store. One of a dying breed, music stores still sold CDs and some even had old vinyl on their shelves. The vinyl sold more these days as collectors bought them up. He wasn’t really here to shop; his girlfriend had pissed him off, and a nice walkabout seemed a good solution. He just ...

4 comments 4
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“The Little Things” by Victoria Lucas

Submitted to Contest #170

I didn’t want to go out tonight, but Marla said she thought it might be good for me. It's hard to argue with that logic, I haven’t really gotten out much since Owen passed. What’s good for you is rarely what’s easy. Losing him really knocked the wind out of my sails. I never thought I’d be a widow and social recluse at the age of twenty-two, but here I am; a hermit in my prime. It’s funny how things work out sometimes. What’s that old saying? “Man plans, and God laughs.” It was just a small get together at Marla’s house, but anxiety rar...

6 comments 6
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“The Fool Circle” by Munira Lokhandwala

Submitted to Contest #170

The Fool Circle “I've got a plan”, I coughed into my hand. The Elder Bishop-Dromo looked up and said, “Eh?” All faces around the round table turned towards me. I froze, I was where I always hated to be: in the spotlight. My neighbor took my hand in his hand and that was enough; his clammy hands could even warm up the dead. I rearranged my facial features to portray an air of contemplation and plod on, “I have a plan to take care of our complaints.” This air of contemplation was crucial because I was the youngest in our team of Elders and th...

7 comments 7
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“Lost” by Ann Martin

Submitted to Contest #170

LOST Ann Martin My Dearest Lost Love, It’s been six weeks and they’ve stopped looking. I don’t want to stop, but I don’t know how to go on. Where are you, Jack? Why can’t I find you? Always, always I have known where you are. If not beside me, you were five minutes away, a phone call, a text, an email away. But I can’t reach you now, you don’t answer me and I don’t know where you’ve gone. That’s why I’m writing this letter. I can’t remember ever writing one to you before, but at least I know it will last. Paper and ink do last, long after...

1 comment 1
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$250

Prize money

201

Contest entries

125

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Nov 04, 2022 EST

Won by Camphor White 🏆

Title: Fini Flight

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!

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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