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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#233: Dry January

Like many of my friends, I'm participating in Dry January this year. After the end-of-year indulgences (which, alongside many enjoyable beverages, included far too many forms of potato), spending a month abstaining from drinking feels well overdue. May as well slay one dragon at a time, right?

With that in mind, this week's prompts are inspired by Dry January, and other challenges of endurance — whether taken on by choice, or by chance.

This week's prompts

Write a story about a character participating in Dry January.

Character – 33 stories

Your character, having abstained from their worst vice (big or small), finds new clarity.

Character – 49 stories

Write a story in the form of diary entries, written by someone who has set themselves a month-long challenge.

Narrative – 49 stories

Set your story in a bar that doesn’t serve alcohol.

Fluff – 61 stories

Set your story during a month of drought — whether literal, or metaphorical.

Dramatic – 38 stories

Stories

“Beneath The Bottle ” by Liv Ramsay

Submitted to Contest #233

I was talking to Pearl Matthews today when I was You know when you walk into a room and can't remember what you went in there to get? That's how I feel. All. The . Time. I genuinely feel that my brain is trying to sabotage me. Purposely trying to forget what I was doing, or what I was getting, all my thoughts lead back to that one villainy plaguing my life. I think my brain is trying to sabotage me. I say that like I am not in control of my brain, like it is another entity inside of me. A pesky gremlin twistin...

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“Alcohol....glorious alcohol” by David Nutt

Submitted to Contest #233

Alcohol…..glorious alcohol I certainly would not say I drink to the state of being often drunk. An alcoholic maybe. I looked up the definition of an alcoholic in the dictionary. A person who is unable to give up the habit of drinking alcohol very often and in large amounts. This definitely applies to me, my only bone of contention would be the definition of large amounts. It was nearly the end of the year. Christmas had passed with all the family present. Great feasting, plenty of booze, high spirited singing, a good and happy time was ...

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“I Blame Mr. Toad” by Alison Reed

Submitted to Contest #233

June 1 - Well here it is — the first day I watch Heidi. I told Fern it was no problem at all but it is going to be Such. A. Problem. I heard on some podcast though that doing something out of your comfort zone is healthy? So I thought this was a good opportunity to strengthen my mental health. Plus, I’m not a jerk. I want to help my sister out - she works hard and having her husband drop dead like that was really lame. I just wish I liked my niece. She’s such a freaky kid though. Like she’s tiny like a six-year-old but with the personality o...

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“I've Got This!” by Mara Rouge

Submitted to Contest #233

For weeks, this advertisement (AD) kept showing up regularly on my feed. “In a week, you’ll start to feel it, In two weeks, you’ll start to see it, And in three weeks, others will see it. But you just have to get started. And if you don’t know where to start, check this new app. 28 days of commitment will change your life.” Ugh, here they go again. Another AD about losing weight when the holidays have not even started yet. Don’t they know? It’s the holiday season people! Everyone will binge!! This is what it’s all about, merry and...

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“dear diary” by Lara Deppe

Submitted to Contest #233

January 29 Dear Diary, February 1st will be my first day of the 30-Day Couch-to-Stunning Workout Challenge. I have two more days to eat anything I want before I knuckle down to the green stuff. So, I spent the day at Lulu Lemon in the Athletica section picking out several new workout outfits to motivate myself to get up before dawn and sweat. Ironically, they don’t have much in the way of plus size workout clothes. You would think they would encourage the women with hips to get to the gym. It’s usually only the tiny people you see at the gy...

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“One drink won't hurt you” by Nicholas Elliott

Submitted to Contest #233

"Why do you desire alcohol?” This was the second time that the man behind the bar had repeated this sentence. Todd hadn’t answered the first time, not because he hadn’t heard him but because he had never been asked this question by a bartender before. Surely the role of a bartender, in a spot like this, was to passively serve you with alcohol until you either became merry, fell into a drunken stupor or ran out of money and therefore had no choice but to leave. A bartender’s role was definitely not to question its patrons about whether or n...

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“Toxin Time” by Dan Campbell

Submitted to Contest #233

I typically don’t drink, however, tonight felt different. I wanted to let my wild side out. I went to the bar for the first time in years… This is where the adventure starts. Let's rewind to January 2021. I was somewhat of a hermit if you want to call it that. Covid was in its prime, and I certainly did not want to catch a case if you know what I mean. There wasn’t much I felt I could do at the time other than stay inside and catch up on household chores, but that got boring fast. I quickly started picking up hobbies such as puzzles, ...

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“Damned or Free” by Aaron Kohlhoff

Submitted to Contest #233

Sensitive Content: Profanity, Drunk Driving Clayton wiped the bar with a moist rag that smelled like sour milk. The bar wasn't dirty. It was just a way to kill some time before the second-shift crowds filed in. They were always a rowdy lot and the mindless repetition of cleaning dirt that wasn't there helped him mentally prepare for the inevitable mayhem. Tonight would be especially chaotic. Everyone was looking forward to the 666th episode of 'Damned or Free' and the word on the street was that it was going to be the best episode ever.Som...

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“The Downtime Den” by Zachary Fox

Submitted to Contest #233

Days were often meant to disappoint anymore, and that’s how they intended to keep themselves, with Leslie Rose relenting unto his worst habits.To articulate just how much of a disappointment today had been would be hard met, as the words failed to suffice in any way that mattered. Anymore these were far too common an occurrence, unable to count the days on his fingers where he felt like everything was okay, and felt there was no healthier way to drown himself than the pity of sweet citrus.The sky could not attest for his mood, as the e...

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“A Ghost And a Wolf Walk Into a Bar” by Annie James

Submitted to Contest #233

Author's Note: strong language warning. "There are ports in the universe. Places where your realm connects with other realms. Think of the universe as a long subway tunnel. Each port is like a subway exit. Celest's Cafe is just one of those ports." The barista nods her head, as if satisfied with her own explanation. She goes back to washing and drying coffee cups; She pulls them from under the counter, and Ghost can hear the cups clinking together, so she assumes there must be a dishpan under the counter. 'Ordinarily,' Ghost thinks, 'I...

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“Soul” by Margot Hoffman

Submitted to Contest #233

The sun had set long before the tires blew out. A wash of flamingo pink and tangerine hues bathed the long stretch of road that seemed never ending. The desert was cruel, unidentifiable animal carcasses strewn off the side of the concrete with little care. Some, Wes assumed, had been eaten by vultures but the majority of the roadkill he saw had been left to decompose in the dry desert heat. The car had been shoddily fixed at a gas station back in Louisiana by a man with a face tattoo who seemed to know very little about cars. He had ...

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“The BAR ” by Josephine Damm

Submitted to Contest #233

The pavement is slick with water and between the high-rise buildings, the wind howls. Joe tugs his coat closer and leans forward as he continues up the street. He doesn’t recognize this neighborhood yet something about it feels familiar. There’s a steady buzzing in the dark corner of his head and it makes the skin at the back of his neck prickle. “What in the world is going on?” He turns his cheek against the sharp lashing of raindrops and squints at the streetlights bouncing off the puddles of water, giving the passing cars a distorted...

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“Refreshing” by Liela Brown

Submitted to Contest #233

When I banged open the doors to Lucky’s Tavern, patrons side eyed me like I was carrying a scythe and a black hooded robe. It got dead quiet. I let their gazes slide off me like rain off windowpanes. “Someone run off on their tab?” I asked. Cataloging the clientele, it seemed like the tooth fairy had visited this lot as often as her own children, but each time they’d given her lip that she’d repaid in kind with the ugly stick. I’d never seen so many missing teeth and broken noses scattered across the tables. A sign I was probably in the righ...

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“Simon's Decision” by Elizabeth Sloughter

Submitted to Contest #233

In the midst of a seemingly endless recession, Simon Brown quit his job as a mid-level banker at a dubiously wealthy international bank and drove down South in a beat-up 20th century pick-up truck to move in with his kid sister who was quite naturally feeling the effects of the downturn, most especially since she was an artist in her mid-twenties as well as a chain smoker. It all started in January, although the causes for such a move had likely been stirring for s...

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“Clarity” by Allegra Clare

Submitted to Contest #233

Sirena stood in front of the dark wooden door with no sign. She could feel her breath hitch in her throat and her heart begin racing despite her body being at a complete standstill. It’s just nerves, she told herself. You got this. You can do this. Anxiety was something Sirena had tread through her life, in which she could sometimes gracefully glide through bouts of perpetual fear, while other episodes felt like she was choking on a whirlpool of quicksand that continuously dragged her down the more she fought against it. The door stood in fr...

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$250

Prize money

230

Contest entries

78

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 19, 2024 EST

Won by Ariana Tibi 🏆

Title: Vegan Hamburgers

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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