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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#175: Pitching In

With thousands of yearly participants from around the globe, our contest has grown into one of the largest writing communities in the world. We’re very proud of it, and we couldn’t be more excited to see it grow further. But all this would be impossible without the help of our Reedsy Prompts judges, who generously dedicate their time and expertise to review story submissions and keep this community thriving (if you fancy joining them, by the way, you can!). 


To celebrate their work, this week’s prompts are a love letter to the everyday heroes who are chipping in, helping out, and lending their skills to their community.

This week's prompts

Start your story with two people planting a tree together.

Short Story – 50 stories

Write a story about someone who volunteers to read for others at the local library, and how it impacts their community.

Adults – 22 stories

Write about a character who discovers something while raking leaves in their neighborhood.

Mystery – 40 stories

Write about a professional who is called back to serve their community after retirement.

Character – 17 stories

Write a story that includes someone saying, “Thank you for that.”

Dialogue – 47 stories

Stories

“Me Myself and I” by Chris Campbell

Submitted to Contest #175

Dear young me… I fucking hate you. Not once in your youthful, pain-free, handsome days, did you think about me. You selfish prick! This has been such a one-way relationship from day one. You, you, you, is all you thought about. No consideration for the old folk or their troubles. The sad thing for me, is that I think of you all the time. I even talk about you to everyone I know, but do I even get one mention in your life – apart from will I still have hair? You… vain, arrogant, self-centered wanker! All that money you earned and spent on you...

14 comments 14
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“Eye of the Beholder” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #175

They looked like mugshots. And those were the best. Others looked like morgue post-mortems. June Tandy pointed to her first-grade daughter’s school portrait. In it, the girl looked like a refugee from a carnival freak show. “She’s six. What were you thinking? How do you do that to a six-year-old?” She stared darts at Carter Lee, the photographer. “The camera doesn’t lie…” Exasperated, June looked for support to Kirby Hudson, the principal, and to Oscar Pedersen. Principal Hudson responded. “You do understand, June, uhm… Mrs. Tandy, that Mr....

13 comments 13
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“Personal Growth” by Matt Francis

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #175

The edge of my spade finds a crack in the dirt, and very carefully I push my weight down onto its handle, driving the blade deeper and deeper into the ground until it is covered completely. Switching my grip, I pull back on the handle and remove a small pile of earth from its shallow, pitiful hole, dumping it unceremoniously to the side. I wipe my brow of the sweat that is already starting to form there. Small, devious, and glistening clues giving me away as somebody new. Somebody who has never done this part before. But it's not the digging...

7 comments 7
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“An Object of Surpassing Beauty” by Delbert Griffith

Submitted to Contest #175

2018“Keep on digging, son. You’re almost there,” Jax Gershon said. He watched as Jeremy dug out a spacious hole near the creek behind the house. He looked at the other seven crepe myrtle trees that dotted the landscape in the area, all planted in the last five years.Jeremy wiped the sweat from his brow and kept on digging, though he was less than happy about it. Why can’t the fools just ground me instead of this shit?The sun was already making life miserable for Jeremy, despite it being only March. The trees had already leafed out, but the s...

27 comments 27
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“Books” by Isaac Walker

Submitted to Contest #175

"You are already fourteen years old! You should be earning money!" My mother tells me one morning. I groan, putting down my controller. I pause my game, looking over at her angrily. For three years now she has been bugging me about getting a job of some kind. But now I don't think I can make any more excuses for why I can't work. I mean, two summers ago I made the excuse that I got sick so often that I would barely be able to go to work. And then last summer I made the excuse that none of my other friends had jobs and that I would never be a...

6 comments 6
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“Found You” by Kelly L

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #175

Grandma is dying but she has lived a long and good life. At the age of ninety-seven, she was in remarkably good shape until a cancer diagnosis three months ago. She made it clear from the start that she didn’t want to fight it. No chemo, no radiation, no surgeries. “Just keep me comfortable and let me die in my own home,” was all she asked. My sister, Laurie, and I were supposed to be taking turns staying with her in her house, but Laurie works a lot. I am basically staying here full-time. Fortunately, my job is a remote research positi...

15 comments 15
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“A Carefully Manicured Lawn” by Haley Roeder

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #175

Hestia and her young neighbor slide the oak sapling into the gaping hole dug in the earth.“Hold it straight, now,” Hestia says gruffly as she shovels dirt around the root ball.“I can do this part, if you want? I’m younger and, uh,” the neighbor trails off as Hestia gives her best scathing look.They finish the task in silence.---40 Hours AgoHestia opens another Diet Coke, the crack and fizzle a welcome sound to her ears. She knows it will be the death of her, but it is her vice of choice, and she will gladly take it to the grave. When the aci...

7 comments 7
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“Scraps” by Elisa Stone Leahy

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #175

SCRAPS By Elisa Stone Leahy There were only three of them in the backyard, but it was cramped and crowded. It defied physics how cramped it felt, Rain thought. Perhaps it was because they were sharing it with approximately two million mosquitoes. More likely, she decided, it was because the smell of manure on Uncle Roy’s mud boots and Ms. Watson’s cheap perfume mingled into an oppressive cloud that weighed down the air around them. The backyard was only the size of a large bathroom, or a garden shed, but on this end-of-summer day it seeme...

10 comments 10
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“Airborne All The Way” by Chris Campbell

Submitted to Contest #175

It had been a blustery day of Autumnal Kentucky weather, wildly shaking the last leafy hangers-on from their Red Maple tree perches. Winter was fast approaching the back roads of Henderson County and leaf raking was a natural rite of seasonal passage in Dan Grayson’s part of the world. It also provided a calming respite from the lingering combat memories of his military service to his country, years prior. Living on the corn and tobacco farm inherited from his late parents, Dan worked tirelessly to maintain a tradition passed down over six g...

4 comments 4
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“Severed” by Lindsay Flo

Submitted to Contest #175

It was a severance that unraveled everything. What I mean by that is, it wasn’t a firing (according to Brad) and it wasn’t exactly a retirement, which is what I called it. It was more of a mutual parting between two parties who had outgrown each other—severance. Except one of those parties was a company I had dedicated my life to. The other was the version of myself I gave to everyone—Janice, the charismatic, efficacious businesswoman. “We’re just going different ways, Janice,” they told me, sitting in an office with placid, robotic face...

6 comments 6
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“The Gardener” by Jarod Smith

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #175

Her hands were the color of the earth around them, ungloved like roots.“We try too hard,” she had mumbled when I noted the bare skin. “Put too much work into keeping separate from anything alive.”It was the longest sentence I’d ever heard in that dry-leaf voice. She was an orator of actions, and she had small interest in philosophies she couldn’t touch. In the month since I met the gardener, I learned that she had no love of talk, no interest in convenience, and no respect for weakness. A tree-hugging Spartan. If I had to be here, though, th...

9 comments 9
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“THE LAST DITCH PITCH” by Susan Catucci

Submitted to Contest #175

WARNING: Foul language - where appropriate.* * *Let me begin by thanking you all for coming out. (Not that you'd have anything better to do in this God forsaken shit hole in the middle of nowhere.)Thank you for calling on us, Mayor! We are at your service!  (So, can we please just get on with it? I have a dentist appointment I’d rather make than be here.)At the ready and always glad to help! (Yeah, help make you look good for the next election. What a rube.)What is it we can do for you, Mayor? (I forgo...

24 comments 24
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“Never Say Never” by Helen A Smith

Submitted to Contest #175

At precisely 6 am, Yvonne Strong rose, opened the blinds and peered onto a garden shadowed by the night’s dark shroud. Shivering involuntarily in spite of the underfloor heating, it was only a matter of time before a frost wreaked havoc on all her hard work. Gardening which kept her going through the worst times was impossible now. She’d brought  the potted plants indoors, but others needed covering over with a fleece. The leaves of the normally hardy palm would have to be tied up. Winter, the colourless enemy truncated all that wa...

14 comments 14
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“Eddy and Tom's Thanksgiving” by Mustang Patty

Submitted to Contest #175

As Eddy drove home from work, his spirits were high. The radio played Christmas music because it was the season, and he absentmindedly hummed along until he knew the words. Then, he would break out in song and use his loudest voice to sing along. Thanksgiving went well. Tom came promptly at two-thirty, and the only thing he brought was flowers for the hostess. Eddy's mother was thrilled and flushed as she looked for a vase to put them in. Eddy was worried about his father's reaction to Tom's presence, but it was a moot point. The elder ...

8 comments 8
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“I SEE YOU” by Julie Mills

Submitted to Contest #175

Being a small town, on a small island in Casco Bay, having only one small library, is a given. Our library is affectionately called The Little Library That Could.” If a building could be a hero, the LLTC would be mine. I love to curl up on a chair and disappear into a favorite book, on a blustery day. It’s solid brick construction always feels safe and secure. We have one librarian who divides his time between some of the other small islands, coming to shore on the 6:15 ferry from Portland every Tuesday. The other days of the week are covere...

2 comments 2
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$250

Prize money

176

Contest entries

105

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Dec 09, 2022 EST

Won by Elizabeth Henkel 🏆

Title: All I Want For Christmas is Fair Labor Practices

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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Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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