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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#231: A New Leaf

The year is almost over, and a new one begins in just a few days. With that comes the traditional time of reflection, and of projection. As well as looking back over the year that's just passed, we're looking ahead to a next — and even the most cynical among us have to admit there's something pretty exciting about that.

A new year is an opportunity for self-improvement, exploration, and even complete reinvention. This week's prompts are all in that vein; characters who are all looking for a fresh start, in one way or another.

This week's prompts

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

Adults – 54 stories

Write about a character who has reinvented themselves, but realizes it's not always easy to outrun your past.

Character – 62 stories

Write a story about hope.

Short Story – 78 stories

Write about someone trying something completely new.

Character – 34 stories

Set your story on New Year's Day.

Holiday – 50 stories

Stories

“The Drive, the spirit and the Sail” by Luis Vargas

Submitted to Contest #231

Alarm goes off, customary as always at 4:00 a.m. routine is nothing but glory even through his own personal havoc there is a solid respectful off grounds line of symmetric time as profound and grown as his love to dense dark roast. A series of coffee bean sacks rested idly against the clear white mosaics that made up his kitchen's backsplash of a wall, followed by a grinder and an espresso machine. Four upside down clean white cups awaited under the cupboards and a series of pill bottles of all chemical balancing sort were aligne...

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“New Year’s Eve, 0” by Mike Rancourt

Submitted to Contest #231

Sarah was aware of the absurdity that it was New Year’s Eve, and while she was on the precipice of a new year, she was also literally hanging on the precipice of a cliff. She was clutching a young pine tree like a cartoon and very much in danger of tumbling two hundred feet to her death. That little pine was only about three inches in diameter, but the roots—a couple inches of which were now exposed—must have been deep because it hadn’t even bent when the hillside gave out beneath her feet and she grabbed onto it as she slid past. After the ...

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“Hope” by Maximilian Gunnarsson

Submitted to Contest #231

When Amon was sixteen his mother died along with his younger sister. Sorrow followed him long throughout adulthood, and almost ten years after the incident that sadness eventually provided an ocean of loneliness around Amon. Saoirse Kieran had been forty-three, Grace had been ten. Amon counted down the days to the date on which he will be forty-three. He walked with his soles seemingly scratching the ground, he talked to his coworkers out of necessity, and he wrote formal letters to his father. He worked at a legal office in Cork...

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“Bishop Seymour Memorial Hospital” by Nick Baldino

Submitted to Contest #231

The Bishop Seymour Memorial Hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana is a two hundred and fifty bed medical center. It employs 112 doctors, 401 nurses, 273 orderlies, 108 emergency responders, 52 janitors and fifteen receptionists. Only a few of them are happy. One of the 401 nurses on staff, Nurse Bradley, guides Nancy Peters across a two thousand square foot parking lot. In the morning, the lot is a sardine tin, but when visiting hours are over, the cars thin out, refusing adjacency. Right now, as the sun pulls behind the flat crimson roof (known...

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“Overnight” by K L Joy

Submitted to Contest #231

My feet shuffled along the soft carpet. The pale blue walls are pitch black now and it’s only my mind that leads the way, like a compass dragging me north. The room was dark, more so than usual. The cries were insistent. Desperate. The sound coming from deep in his throat, his little lungs working overtime. If only he’d given me another half an hour. Twenty minutes. Hell, I would’ve been happy with another ten minutes of sleep. But this was it. Some comfort and then rocking. It might be hours. It might be a little less. There’s always hope t...

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“P.S. 1” by Miera Rao

Submitted to Contest #231

P.S. 1 Salon Tango Mi Vida is buzzing when I walk in at 10:25 p.m. Early, really, when you consider that the true maestros come well past midnight. I have slipped away from the flat and taken a bus to the Teatro Colon. Ev...

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“ i would rather be in group therapy” by Adriana Suriano

Submitted to Contest #231

my table was in front of the soy handmade candles for $42. The tablecloth displaying my jewelry was what my dad’s mother gave me when i was about 3 years old. She lived in southern italy on the farm where my father was raised. She told me when i got married i could use the hand stitched virgin white tablecloth and matching napkins. I never used it. Could you imagine if i got this dirty? I would be sick. This represented the life i never had when my parents came to the united states and gave birth to my sister and me. Using the tablecloth see...

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“Shameless and Shameful ” by K T

Submitted to Contest #231

Content warning: Vulgarity, Explicit Language, Sexual Violence We have been living together for almost a year. July 1st“Hola, it’s Iggy,” I answer the phone, rummaging through my bag as I see the bus pulling up. “Hello, is this Ingrid?” an unsure voice calls out. Weird.“Didn’t know we were on full name terms. Who’s this?” I question, opting to hop onto the bus from the back door, too lazy to fish out my coins. “Oh yes! This is Althea, your roommate. Or, uh, soon-to-be roommate.” Ah. “Gotcha. Whaddya want? K...

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“I (Kinda) Don't Like Mondays” by Abby Nanus

Submitted to Contest #231

Honestly, if I, Hailey Stevens, was forced to select a phrase to describe 2023, it'd be chaotic. 2024, however, despite only being a few hours old, already feels boring. It's NOT because I don't like Mondays, which is the current day of the week. It IS because if you don't include Valentine's Day and the various upcoming long weekends, my next big event isn't until - hey, what's this text? ~~~~~~~~~~~~ [Hi, Hailey, it's Amber! I heard about a Renaissance Faire-styled event called Winter Fantasy, which sounds like something you'd adore. ...

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“Goodbye, '23” by Rene Volpi

Submitted to Contest #231

Bye, ‘23. You left us with a lot of surprises, not all of them good ones. You left us with the sour taste of war. You left us half blindfolded and with the scary darkness of many unknowns. And we are still looking for answers. We are enormously divided on any issue we can think of. Especially in the USA. Politically, a new episode of the Trump saga is upon us. That, in and of itself, is scary, but not for the obvious reasons; it's more for the fact that either way we go, electorally speaking, the old wounds of our recent past will resurface....

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“13 Ways to Come Back to Life” by Emily Hostetter

Submitted to Contest #231

**Sensitive Content Warning**Grief & LossNew Year’s Resolutions1. Learn to Breathe AgainI’m not sure when I stopped.But somewhere between the end and happily never after, I stopped breathing.I fear I’ve forgotten how.I fear that when I begin again, I will break apart at the seams. Isn’t breathing painful?The oxygen is suffocating.But they tell me it’s vital to my survival…Assuming that is my goal. It is. I think.Maybe I can start small—one breath at a time.Inhale.Exhale.2. Piece My Heart Back Together There are shards...

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“Uncontrollable To-Do List. ” by Tatia Kapanadze

Submitted to Contest #231

This story includes drug use and addresses sexual assault (SA). Reader discretion is advised. Finally, leave bed before 4PM. ignore all the remaining trash from the New Eves Party. Try to distract yourself with anything, doesn't matter, just don't go to bed. Clean the house a little. Meditate. It appears. Feel unsafe. Feel the touch. Get scared. Start crying. Sleep on the floor because you can't control your body. Get cold. Hear the sounds. Open the eyes. Get scared. immediately light up the ro...

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“This time it will be better” by Honor Meçi

Submitted to Contest #231

New Years Resolutions 1. I will try not to change my entire character like a chameleon every time I meet a new person. I will not copy their mannerisms, the way they tilt their head when they think of an answer, the excessive blinking, the way they lower their voice to make it gravelly and interesting. I will NOT do that, because that is not me. I have a clean, non gravelly voice because I don't smoke. It's quite high and a bit posh. It's not particularly mesmerising, but it's mine. I will keep my head up and stare deep into their eyes, ma...

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“2024: Out with the Old and In with the New” by Julie Steward

Submitted to Contest #231

2024: Out with the Old, In with the New · It’s been 32 years since I’ve gone on a date, but now that Cletus Bo has passed, I reckon I oughta make some resolutions, like, for instance, go on a date. · I have asthma, a bad case of nerves, and an extra thumb on my left hand. How long am I supposed to go on like this? · So first, I resolve to have my extra thumb surgically removed although the thought of such a bloody deed makes me nerv...

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“LET"S DRINK TO 2024 or PERHAPS NOT” by Brian Bywater

Submitted to Contest #231

LET’S DRINK TO 2024, or PERHAPS NOT! Well you did take your time getting here 2024, we have waited twelve months. However I am glad you made it, and that I also made it, even though it was decidedly doubtful at times. Now you are here there are a few items left over from 2023 we need to clear up. No, I am not one of those people getting the first of every month mixed up with New Year’s Eve. I am not here to make a New Year wish. For the most part those are normally people making wishes involving wealth, ostensibly for their self. I c...

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$250

Prize money

278

Contest entries

109

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 05, 2024 EST

Won by Mary Lynne Schuster 🏆

Title: No Junior League

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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