Menu

Prompts

Contests

Stories

Blog

Menu

✕

CONNECT

Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites

BLOG

Success Stories

APPS

TOOLS

Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships

ABOUT

About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#25: Resolutions

Did you know that the ancient Babylonians are reported to have been the first people to make New Year's resolutions? In March, when the crops were planted, a 12-day festival known as Akitu took place. During the festival, the Babylonians made promises to their gods, and believed that if they kept to their word, they would be bestowed good favor in the coming year.

This would have been about 4,000 years ago, and while the format may be different, New Year's resolutions are still going strong!

This week's prompts all revolve around resolutions. Oh, and for that last prompt, check out this blog post for some of the most popular self-help books to inspire you.

This week's prompts

Write a short story about someone writing Valentine's Day wishes.

Valentine's Day – 49 stories

Write a short story about someone reflecting on their previous year's resolutions.

Holiday – 33 stories

Write a short story about someone who refuses to write New Year's resolutions.

Winter – 37 stories

Write a short story about someone accomplishing one of their resolutions.

Holiday – 54 stories

Write a short story about someone in the self-help aisle of a bookstore. What book do they pick up?

Short Story – 90 stories

Stories

“The Resolutions of Rebecca Rand” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #25

I, Rebecca Rand, being of sound mind and of my own free will do not – well, make a will. I’ve already done that, though I hope to be hanging around making a pest of myself for several decades yet and I really ought to change that bequest to the Donkey Sanctuary, seeing as it closed two years ago. I’ll get around to it. But this is about resolutions. Okay, a bit late, but there’s still a lot of year left. And this morning, Amelia asked me, “Have you made any New Year Revolutions, Auntie Becks?”...

Read story

“New Year Resolution : Be There for a Friend (Late)” by Chenchen Du

Submitted to Contest #25

Her love died in early spring. She wrote that she would be there for her love in her new year resolution earlier that year.That was around six years ago. So as you can imagine, she didn’t accomplish what she promised to do. Now she is walking towards her love’s grave, trying to do something else that ended up unaccomplished on her subsequent new year resolutions as well.Be there for her, albeit too late. Her love’s funeral was hosted on a spring morning, where the newly homecoming birds chirped with enthusiasm. A pair of swans that...

Read story

“Anxiety Disorder and You” by Juliana March

Submitted to Contest #25

Jane March was a junior at Denver High when she saw a therapist for the very first time. She walked into the small building with high hopes that the woman she was seeing could help ease her stress. The SAT's were in a couple of months and she was worried non-stop. She wanted to go to an Ivy League school like Brown, Harvard, or Yale. Jane walked past a large painting of a beach done in pointillism by Georges Seurat. Jane loved to look at paintings and decide which styles they were. She walked up to the front desk where a woman with a s...

Read story

“The Resolution in my Soul” by Elena Welsh

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #25

The start of a new year is not a novelty for me anymore. The air that fills lungs with pollution and hope, the echoes of colour illuminating the sky and raucous laughter that reverberates between houses and keeps you awake well past midnight. All of this is familiar to me, worn into the grooves that line my face and flowing in the webs of blue that protrude from my thinning extremities. I once felt such excitement with the coming of another year, a prodigal “new beginning.” I haven’t written a New Year’s resolution in twenty years. At a cer...

Read story

“Dr. Paul Weissand's Power of Perseverance” by Amy DeMatt

Submitted to Contest #25

As an undergrad, I worked in the college bookstore, a place where I witnessed the unlikely. It was a pleasant bookstore, old-fashioned for the most part, with dark, exposed wood and warm lighting in the stacks. The main portion was modern, with recessed lighting to attractively display college memorabilia, nostalgic felt pennants, sweatshirts and joggers, bumper stickers and the like. During the first two weeks of school, the store was always flooded with new st...

Read story

“Ambiguous Grief” by Zach Young

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #25

The year was 1989. I was born to an optimistic mother and a pessimistic father. It was my father who kept things in balance but I guess it wouldn’t be fair if I said that my mother didn’t do the same. My father. What can I say about my father. Not much to say. It was 2014, in January, the beginning of a new year. I was 25 years old and had just come out of addiction. I’d relapsed a few times, probably more than that, probably too many times to count. My mother had already passed years earlier, so it was my father who always took me...

Read story

“Flowers For Amber” by Seth Wandling

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #25

Whatever kept drawing him back to the debris field attached itself to him like a parasitic shadow, like a whole new part of him. It had been six years since Ismene reluctantly donned his radiation suit and stepped within the sites boundaries for the first time. A part of him liked to think that if he knew what he knew now, he would never have agreed to be a part of the team to explore the twisted and burned remains of the alien craft. The other part of him, the weaker part, knew that was a lie.He dressed alone, his well practiced hands mindl...

Read story

“How to Be Human” by Eva Leppard

Submitted to Contest #25

“Just this one thanks”. Collie smiled expansively and widely as she handed the book to the man behind the counter. She saw him recoil a little from her expression, then stifle a giggle, and she realised that she had already made a mistake. Damn it. Quickly casting her eyes over his aura she felt a momentary flush of satisfaction. Brown. Good. Served him right.Although given she was the only one in the bookshop on this rainy morning, having him collected by the Seekers or having a nervous breakdown would be awfully inconvenient, now she came ...

Read story

“Attic” by G. K. Derickson

Submitted to Contest #25

New Year’s resolutions are stupid. If you’re going to do something just do it. That’s Jays philosophy. Rain pours against the window as a crack of lightning lights up the sky. He sighs dropping his book onto his lap, tired of reading the same page over and over. He really should finish cleaning up the attic, it’s as good as a time as any, but every time he starts, he’s reminded of all the things Kat will never finish. It’s been three years since she died, yet he still hasn't do...

Read story

“The exaggerated process of buying a self-help book ” by Aaliyah Shanks

Submitted to Contest #25

It’s been hard on my own. I knew the real world wouldn’t be easy but I never imagined it to be this difficult. The even harder fact of it all was that I had nobody to guide me. Going to college had always seemed to be a decade away. Now here I was, enrolled in classes to become something big. I didn’t know what to do. It was like I was moving with the direction of the wind and the rain. My soul begged for the solution to all of my problems. I would look for it anywhere and everywhere. On Friday, just as I walked into class, I overheard...

Read story

“After Midnight” by Christine Astor

Submitted to Contest #25

I refuse to make resolutions this New Year’s. Why should I? There are twenty-six minutes to midnight and nothing inspiring me to endure them. All that awaits me on the other side of midnight is a new day in a new year. It's an empty promise. I have nothing to celebrate. How can it matter when I have no one to kiss after the countdown? Those bastard doctors lied to me. They gave me hope. They flaunted their statistics and pumped me so full of survival stories, I almost forgot Nadia had cancer at all. I had every reason to trust them. Pe...

Read story

“Resolve Has Many Forms” by H.K. Slade

Submitted to Contest #25

Ripping the vest off felt like cracking the top on a pressure cooker. Garcia let her body armor drop and join the pile of equipment on the floor. She stood in front of the window unit and let the blessedly cool air wash over her. Her undershirt, sodden with a shift’s worth of sweat, caught the cold. It took less than a minute for a chill to hit the deputy. “Better than Ir...

Read story

“Reflection” by Sam Kirk

Submitted to Contest #25

Worried that I might be late for class, I took two steps at a time as I rushed upstairs towards the classroom.“Sociology canceled” – the sign on the door read.It went on to explain that the professor fell ill at the last minute and that a make-up class would be scheduled and announced via email at a later time.Sociology was a two-hour long class, after which I had Politics. A dilemma presented itself. Since I did not live on campus, I could not go back to my room and nap for the next two hours. Instead, I would have to wait for the bus, whic...

Read story

“Watchful Eyes” by Sage Henry

Submitted to Contest #25

Her fingers skimmed across the titles, gently, as if her fingertips could pull the stories through their spines. As if the right book would call out to her, pull her in. She might be able to find comfort in the words. Or perhaps she would only drown in the letters. They would surround her, summoning thoughts from inside her as if she was the one to contain the info they so desperately sought. She twisted around the corner, winding her way through the aisles. She knew exactly where she was going, but she didn’t need them to know. The peering ...

Read story

“ENGAGE!” by Tonnye Fletcher

Submitted to Contest #25

"Pshaw!" What was the point? Terry thought.At 43, he was too old for fairy tales and happily ever after dreams. He had lived enough of the real world to know it was a fool's errand to wish, to dream, or to make those ridiculous "New Year's Resolutions" . . .every time he had tried, there was never success. . . ."Might as well let fate have its say. That's how it's going to be anyway. No point in fretting about it." he said aloud to himself.He wasn't sure why he was letting this work challenge get to him. He usu...

Read story

Load more stories

$50

Prize money

263

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 24, 2020 EST

Won by Emily Sperber 🏆

Title: 10 Things To Do Instead of Writing New Year's Resolutions

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!

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢