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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

“Killer 2024!” by Michael Moran

Submitted to Contest #231

I resolve to have a great year. I resolve to reduce my sarcasm. I resolve to have the greatest possible year that I can have. I resolve to make an effort making this the greatest possible year I can have. I resolve to put effort into maintaining good relationships with the friends I do have and let past personal conflicts with them be buried. I resolve to try and make friends this year. I resolve not to reach out to my family anymore, trying to see if things can be amended. I resolve to listen to my wife when she says, ...

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“12_29_contest_entry” by L Kuro

Submitted to Contest #231

New Year’s resolutions: 1) Fix up the house and make it homier. Yellow paint would really brighten up the kitchen. Patch up the holes in the drywall. The bedroom door needs to be replaced, the hinges aren’t any good anymore either. Have the smashed furniture hauled away and keep an eye open for good used replacements. Replace all the locks and make sure there are no spare keys anywhere. Deadbolt locks are resistant to forced entry. The French doors by the master bedroom are a problem, add a reinforcement bar and security film. Install a ho...

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“My "New" New Year’s Resolutions” by Martha Sanipe

Submitted to Contest #231

I, Marjorie Dunlop Baines-Rutherford, do hereby resolve that this year I will:1. Change my name. I’ve always disliked Marjorie, which my father chose. He named me after his deceased, sainted grandmother, with whom I was frequently compared and found wanting. Even Mama, my only advocate, could not dissuade him. She was a gentle buffer against my father’s harsh disapproval till her death when I was five.My nickname is even worse, rhyming as it does with “large” and “barge.” Given my plumpness as a teenager, my classmates referred to me as “lar...

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“Thoughts (???) for the New Year” by Edward Brown

Submitted to Contest #231

1. Make No New Year’s Resolutions: Last year I made three serious ones – the kind that change one’s life; and three easy ones – the kind that just make life a bit more fun and comfortable. Didn’t get through any of them. For example, a hard one: Go to the gym every day. Why are New Year’s Resolutions so extreme? Before last New Year’s Day, I went to the gym one day a week. Why not try to be more consistent instead of perfect? That was a hard one and unattainable. The easy one was floss at least twice a week. I don’t have to leave ...

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“A Page From E. Levitt's Diary: New Year's Resolutions” by Liv Russel

Submitted to Contest #231

Dec. 31St, 2023. I’m not going to write ‘dear diary’ here. I dunno. Too classic, so I guess I’ll come up with something else. Maybe, 'Esme Levitt’s Innermost Thoughts.' Anyways, here are my New Year’s Resolutions. 1. Do some planning for travelling the world My goal is to travel the world when I graduate university. I’m only fifteen, but I honestly can’t wait to get started. I would love to learn about new cultures, customs and different languages. The first thing I’ll do is see the seven wonders of the world. I’m particularly intere...

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“Without Resolution” by Dee McGhee

Submitted to Contest #231

Garrett Garrett put away the couch’s ever-growing pile of coats and overshirts, and washed the fuzzy remnants of mystery liquids from the coffee table’s compiled mugs. Then, he put out paper cone hats, hung silver and gold streamers, and replaced the moldy mugs with champagne flutes circling a bottle. The space was shockingly presentable. So, heading into the party, Garrett already felt accomplished. Now, an intimate gathering of friends weaved through his kitchen, living room, and out the back of his townhouse to a fenced-off backyard. They...

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“2024: The Year of Resolution” by K'Lee Stewart

Submitted to Contest #231

TW: This story includes descriptions of mental health, substance abuse, suicide, and physical violence. December 29th, 2023 I told my therapist I’ve never done New Year's resolutions before. She insisted that this year I try. When I asked why, she said, “Why not?” Supposedly, if you write your goals down, you’re 42% more likely to achieve them. When I asked her what kind of goals I should be focusing on, she said to write whatever comes to mind, anything I want to accomplish from today to the end of the year. So here I am. Goals for 20...

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“A New Dawn in Old Paths: The Transformation of Caleb” by David Owino

Submitted to Contest #231

In the rolling hills of a Bamba village, where the air is always thick with the smell of blooming flowers and damp soil, Caleb was a name that echoed with a mix of disdain and mirth. He was the village drunk, a title he wore like a badge of honor. Caleb's days were spent meandering through the dusty paths that snaked between the huts, a bottle of cheap liquor always clasped in his calloused hands. His arrival in any part of the village was heralded by a cacophony of barks from the local dogs, who had learned to associate the jangle of his bo...

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“World's Best Lie” by Nicole Farmer

Submitted to Contest #231

"Y aura-t-il autre chose aujourd’hui?" asked the portly waitress as she stood at the register, counting the money just handed to her. She tabulated the owed amount versus what was paid, then closed the register drawer mostly with her plump, round belly. She smiled warmly at the gentleman on the opposite side of the counter. Despite his wild and engrossing beard, a small but appreciative grin returned from the gentleman."Non, merci," he replied in a barely audible tone, nodding politely. The waitress blushed, attempting to busy herself with o...

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“Shoes that go nowhere” by Nava Libman

Submitted to Contest #231

My parents keep a strange archive of shoes in their back porch; Mom saved one shoe from each of our pairs, as a way of tracking me and my sister’s growth. instead of marking a line on the doorframe, she measures time by the increasing distance between our heel and our toes. One summer holiday, my older sister Mickey and I sat on the scorching sidewalk and examined the feet of pedestrians. Mickey had theories about people's character traits and personalities based on the shoes they wore."Men who wear pointy shoes have a problematic perso...

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“A Letter to Mr. Birdshaw” by Mason -

Submitted to Contest #231

This story contains themes such as violence, death, war, existential qualms, PTSD, and other associated sensitive topics. Dear Mr. Birdshaw,I hope that you receive this testimony well, I am nothing but honest. I know journalism can be a tricky field and you are, to a certain extent, required to fit a certain narrative. I am disregarding this stipulation. Let the people read the truth, it takes no side, and if I don’t see this in the newspapers my point will only be strengthened. I know that I said I would give you a story of heroism and...

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“The Scenario” by Nicole Elwell

Submitted to Contest #231

Her throat itched. She asked it to emerge. It buckled, both of them wondering if it was even alive. She asked, near begged it: exist. And quickly. A burn ran down the front of her. Was that her way of knowing she could do it? Her eyes drifted past the lecture building, up the red orange leaves dancing along the mountain face. She knew about the trail leading through those thick trees. There was a cue up that hill, hovering in the forest, waiting to be met. She would be guided to it. They all would. They would walk into t...

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“The Aloof Girl and The Scarlet Night/A Fateful Encounter And The Crimson Legend” by Hassan Shuaib

Submitted to Contest #231

“A~Ah, I guess the moon is cracked as always.” Those were the words of a single girl that stood atop an abandoned observatory, as she stared at the moon in the dead of the night. There was nothing special about tonight, or the night before that, or any night for that matter. And yet, when the world was at its darkest, she alone would climb the observatory gazing deeply at the moon as though searching for something. It had become a sort of an obsession for her, she would make sure she was there at the very top every night, at the same time. A...

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“Amateurs” by A C

Submitted to Contest #231

“No, when I say left, I’m talking about my own feet. When I step forward with my left, you’re going backward with your right.” “That’s confusing.” “Don’t listen to me, you say the following steps to yourself.” Lacey bit her lip. “Or we could both not say anything, and avoid confusing each other.” “If I don’t say it, I forget,” Mauve bopped her head almost imperceptibly, and tried to jump back into the steps. Lacey barely managed to follow along, keeping her feet out from under Mauve’s by some miracle. What they did not manage to do...

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“Mechanic's Muse” by W. R. Barker

Submitted to Contest #231

I wanted to use artificial intelligence to write this story. I want to be a writer, but I’m not one, not yet at least. Google Bard, on the other hand, is everything but flesh and bones. It (I’m tempted to say he, which perhaps betrays a fault of mine and my kind, that need for instant taxonomization that our new Bard doesn’t share with you or me or its Elizabethan counterpart) can write a story in half a second, albeit lacking any distinct voice. Perhaps its voice is that voicelessness itself, which any user of large language models is now k...

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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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