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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#179: Levelling Up

New Year's Eve is a time for celebration, but it also marks a watershed. If there's something you've been wanting to achieve, but haven't quite found the time (or willpower) to make happen, the start of a new year can be the perfect moment to turn over a new leaf.

This week's prompts are all in the spirit of progress. Whether your characters are starting an entirely new life, or are making a tiny shift in the pursuit of happiness, it's time for change. And if your New Year's resolution involves getting back into your writing routine after the holiday haze, we hope they'll provide ample inspiration to jumpstart your creativity. We'll see you in 2023!

This week's prompts

Start your story with someone making a vision board.

Adults – 17 stories

Write a story in the form of a list of New Year's resolutions.

Holiday – 38 stories

Your character always makes the same promise; to change. Will they finally make it happen this time?

Angst – 44 stories

Write a story about someone scrambling on New Year's Eve to fulfil their resolutions for the entire year before the clock strikes twelve.

Funny – 28 stories

End your story with a kiss at midnight.

Romance – 73 stories

Stories

“Change” by Isaac Walker

Submitted to Contest #179

I stare at the one word scrawled on my paper. I know I should write down more, but I can't seem to. I can only write one. Change. You see, my teachers will hand me and my classmates papers to write down our resolutions right before Christmas Break because we obviously won't be at school on New Years' day. I hate this because I can only think of one thing to write each time. It's just one, simple word. Yet, I can't seem to accomplish this resolution. I am currently sixteen. And ever since I was twelve, I have had this as my resolution. ...

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“Strangers in a Hotel Room” by Marty B

Submitted to Contest #179

-discussion of domestic abuse--As it was his first trip to Las Vegas, he wished he wasn't here to kill a man. Guy eased out of the taxi in front of the tall hotel and casino, and looked nervously at the commotion around him. He questioned again if this was a good way to achieve his goal. But what other option did he have? He was alone in his mission, he had been working on it all year, and this was his best chance. His old faded khakis were clean, his dress shirt tucked in around his potbelly. The circular driveway was full of peop...

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“The Kiss” by Kris Foster

Submitted to Contest #179

Everyone is always obsessed with the annual tradition of a New Year's kiss. Ringing in the brand new year with that special someone to feel like the next year isn't going to hurt as much as the last. That is a beautiful sentiment, really. But I've never been one of those people. But I've always found myself annually standing at every party with no one to kiss. This year was the same as always. "Oh my god! It can't be! Is that you, Sam! I feel like it's been, like, what, ages," I heard her voice before I even had to turn around to see her fa...

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“A Picture Worth A Thousand Words” by Zoe Z

Submitted to Contest #179

Between the narrow slivers of sunlight at dawn and the hazy feel of the old apartment, Saki looked up at the decorative glass board. Perched neatly between her broken-down twin size bed and rustic vanity, it almost always felt out of place. She glanced over at her digital alarm clock, wiping away a layer of constant dust with her index finger. 6:59. One minute remaining. As if anticipating her arrival, the clock rang on cue and Saki looked up. Small holographic displays popped up throughout the board, fill...

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“New Day's Resolutions” by Matcha Latte

Submitted to Contest #179

1. Spiritual Wellness Molly sat cross-legged with a bright-colored magazine in her lap. The waiting room walls were covered with weathered-looking tarot cards and sparkly-gold beads. The air smelled like sweets. Molly was reading a page that said, “Create your own solutions with your New Year’s Resolutions! Structure this year’s 2023 vision board around the eight dimensions of wellness.” The waiting room door creaked open, and a tall woman with dark hair and a small flower tattooed on her collarbone stepped into view. “Molly?” Mo...

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“Intoxicated” by Kate Kilbee

Submitted to Contest #179

Trigger Warning:Contains mental health issues and reference to war and the gore it entails.He remembered his first sight of her as she rose to her feet from the sea wearing nothing but water. How he'd jumped in naked and joined her, no inhibitions. How soon their laughter filled the cove as if they had been born for these first moments.He knew instantly that he loved her and that she loved him too, her eyes shining with a warm, inviting radiance. Dancing in the moonlight on his porch that very same night, her hair silky soft against his skin...

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“Dark Magic” by N.M. Stech

Submitted to Contest #179

TW: Violence, themes of mental health, suicide. I…I think I’m confused. But no. They had my Annabel, and I had to get her back. The forces of the Dark Lord had driven us from our estate, necessitating our stay at the Northwoods Inn. I was in the midst of plotting our counter-attack when they struck at my very heart: my dearest Annabel. As we sat to our evening meal, Annabel began to eat as I waited and railed against the Dark L...

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“Only Midnight Will Tell the Truth” by Madison Drew

Submitted to Contest #179

*I want to preface this by saying, to whoever reads this: I'm very new at writing short stories and only found this website a few days ago. I'm submitting this as a challenge to myself to do more writing because I love it. Okay thanks!!! I have the worst memory of anyone I’ve ever met. Ever. Like, a goldfish has nothing on me. But for some reason, this year, I could remember all the promises I made to myself back in January. I told myself that I would be a whole new person – financial freedom, in shape, talking to my friends more; spendin...

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“First Last Kiss” by Vanessa Harpold

Submitted to Contest #179

There are millions of stars out there. Taking one look into the midwest sky at night goes to show that it’s true. There are some that are more special than others, ones that have more value. Some stars are more beautiful to the eye. These stars shine more brightly. It is a similar cycle for human beings as well. For Eleanor Barlow, the shine was dull. She wasn’t special in any way. In fact, she was completely average in every way. She didn’t have the blue orbs that seemed to grasp everyone’s attention. She didn’t have the luscious, wa...

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“Try” by Falynn Almeda

Submitted to Contest #179

“New Year Resolutions are the dumbest things” Kali said as she sipped her glass of white wine with an eye roll. I just made a shrug at her comment. It had stemmed from her catching a glimpse at my phone that had a google search of ‘how to make new year's resolutions happen’ and had stumbled into ‘how to make a vision board’. I found an app and started making one on my phone. “They are” she insisted. Kali had short almost black, brown hair, hazel eyes and wore makeup to look like she wasn’t wearing makeup. She had natural...

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“Are You Okay?” by Emma Potts

Submitted to Contest #179

When we walked into the party, we were holding hands. I knew my palms were sweaty and the skin around my knuckles was dry and cracking as it always was in the winter months, but he held tightly to me anyway, rubbing a thumb along my fingers to comfort me. I didn’t know anyone here and I always get nervous in new places. “Aubrey! Kat!” Our names from the lips of someone I had never met. She must have known who I was from his social media. Aubrey smiled gracefully - that warm, welcoming smile that could disarm anyone in but a moment. “...

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“New Year, New Brackk” by William Simon

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #179

Resolutions for a New Year Resolution One: Total Rebrand No more Brackk the Terrible! I’ve got get my act together. Every year I say “no more impaling people just because I skipped breakfast” but then a week into the new year I’m having a rough Monday and some pleb doesn’t bow low enough and I’m right back to square one. Not this year. I might never work my way up to Brackk the Great, or Brackk the Merciful, but Brackk the Reasonable? Brackk the ok if you get him on the right day? That seems possible. I’ve read the trick is to come ...

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“I Guess It's Fate” by Paul Michael Winters

Submitted to Contest #179

Lucas:The Seattle Public Library is my sanctuary. Sure, the Internet is faster and easier to search. But nothing beats the smell of musty books and the feel of crisp paper. I love to thumb through leather bound journals, and I relish the thrill of discovery when I find exactly what I’m looking for.And today, I’m looking for everything I can find about architecture. It’s the ultimate combination of art and science. This is what I want to study in college. I’m certain of it. Much more certain than being a movie director, which was my passion l...

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“The Keening Cup” by Russell Mickler

Submitted to Contest #179

The Hole. Mulled Wine and Hex Herbs. A Toast to the Town. Elina Hogsbreath angrily drove her spade into the earth. Heaving, she hucked the wet mud aside and stood the shovel upright to gauge depth against its neck. “Oughta do,” she grumbled. Reaching into her apron pocket, Elina grasped a handful of salt and scattered it in the hole. Gripping her skirts, she turned away and trudged through the snowy twilight. “Come grass and clover,” she breathed, “it’ll be the last year if I’ve anythin’ to say ‘bout it.” It was the dead ...

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“A Room of One's Own” by Patricia Merewether

Submitted to Contest #179

“A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” ― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own My one and only New Year's resolution was to clear out the guest room and turn it into a space for me. A studio to write, paint, and craft in. It would also serve as a place to gather my recently-feral wits. I began early morning on New Year's Day, and it went well at first, as these things usually do. The room is small, 8'x10', with a chest of drawers, a bedside table, a floor lamp, and a wing-backed chair...

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$250

Prize money

200

Contest entries

103

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 06, 2023 EST

Won by Saeda Rose 🏆

Title: Resolute

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!

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