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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

“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...

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“Calendar on the Wall” by Unknown User

Submitted to Contest #25

Miranda could hear a dull thump. It was either in the next room or the front of her head, she couldn’t focus on it hard enough to tell. “Mmmmmghhh,” she groaned as she forced open her eyes. Without the strength to lift her head, the only thing her eyes found to look at was the button to her jeans, the plain gray button. Miranda concentrated on distinguishing the metal of the button from the dinginess of her pants. As that small field of vision became less fuzzy, she tried the next step of her usual calming exercises, she ...

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“The Joy and Magic of Decluttering” by Amanda Gauvin

Submitted to Contest #25

It was a Friday evening near the beginning of my summer vacation from teaching. I had decided I was going to spend what was left of my summer decluttering my life. It had been about three months since I broke up with my ex. I had another two months off from work, with no particular plans. And I was on a mission. I needed to put on my adulting hat and get my apartment in shape before I could bring any new guy into my life. If I wanted to find someone that actually acted like an adult, I would need to find a way to present myself as one too. A...

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“Oh Sherlock Where Art Thou?” by George Davis

Submitted to Contest #25

Oh Sherlock, Where Art Thou?—George E Davis Jenkins’ Bookstore on Main Street in Bickford, Maine is a place where Sidney McDonald spends much of his time. He is, to state a too familiar phrase, a voracious reader of mystery novels; especially the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. “Morning, Sidney,” Rose Devons, the clerk said. “Morning, Rose, how’ve you been?” “Since yesterday when you were in here, Sidney? I’m fine.” Sidney knew the self-service aisle ...

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“Help Yourself” by Bayleigh Hunziger

Submitted to Contest #25

Never in my life had I tasted a sandwich as magnificent as this one. The bookstore I was wandering through was promoting a new restaurant across town, and I, the lucky 50th customer, received a free sandwich of my choice. As I was wandering the aisles, I found a book that caught my eye, Self Help for Those Who Can’t Help Themselves. Normally, I skipped over this section just because I didn’t think I needed help, but this one seemed to draw me to it. I reached out to pick it up and read the inside flap. So absorbed was I that...

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“Out of Place” by Ellie K

Submitted to Contest #25

I rub my eyes, a bleak attempt at waking myself up enough to do my job. Too bad I left my coffee at home this morning. I stayed up until midnight last night, knowing full well that I would have to come to work today. Call it a poor decision, but I'm not about to miss New Year's for a few extra hours of sleep. I barely avoid pricking my finger on my name-tag as I pin it to my shirt. I look in the desk mirror the manager keeps at the customer service station. I straighten the pin, making sure the gold, metal-embossed "Veronica" is perfectly al...

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“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...

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“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 ...

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“When Dragons Need Self-Help Books” by A. L. Tippett

Submitted to Contest #25

Damn it. The tracker had followed her into the bookstore. Unfortunately, dragons gave off a particular scent that was easily identified by those who hunted them, even when they were in their human form. Sybil scurried down one of the many aisles of the brightly lit store, trying to avoid drawing attention to herself. If she could just blend in with the humans that perused the shelves for long enough to mingle their scents together, she might be lucky enough to slip away. The good thing was that trackers were not allowed to reveal them...

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“Overachiever” by Bruno Lowagie

Submitted to Contest #25

I wanted to be a writer long before I could read or write. As a child, I wrote down whole stories using glyphs that no one but me could decipher. I was one of those rare kids who longed for the first day of school, because that was the day every secret about reading and writing was going to be revealed to me.I grew up in the seventies in the small city of Ypres in Flanders —which is the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. My youth was quite uneventful. I went to high school in the eighties. I liked languages and sciences alike; my favorite cours...

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“WAITING” by Oluoma Akpotohwo

Submitted to Contest #25

For the first time in four years, her New Year’s resolution had changed from ‘I must keep waiting’ to ‘I will stop waiting.’ It was not an easy decision but she wanted to start all over again, she wanted to be alive again, she wanted to accept that he would never come back, she wanted to forget the hurt and pains of waiting every year and looking through her window every night hoping he would show up.“He’s not c...

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“Foresight” by Joseph Lombardi

Submitted to Contest #25

Frigid winter air ripped through a valley where a small village abutted a long-frozen river, buried amidst a sea of would-be verdant conifers had they not been snowed over. The air carried with it thin, wispy trails of smoke sucked out of the chimneys of the huts and houses. The smoke tangling and swirling, becoming evanescent and then inextant, faded into the harsh gray clouds that hung ominously close to the tops of the hills forming the valley. It was the night of New Year Celebrations in a small town in Russia, 1942. In one of the huts t...

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“Breaking Vice” by Megs Carol

Submitted to Contest #25

1. Be a better person There. He wrote it. Cemented it in ink.He leans back on his chair and stares outside the window of his office. The world outside is blanketed on white; he still can see the snow falling steadily from the sky, though earlier it had been much worse. 2.The number he has just written stares back at him, waiting for what his second New Year’s Resolution would be. If you asked him, he’d say this sort of stuff was stupid, but nonetheless, he was tempted to try. Last year he had lasted about two weeks before comp...

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“New Year Enlightenment” by Mukul Agrawal

Submitted to Contest #25

New Year EnlightenmentFeet seemed heavy and mind heavier as M was coming out of the Ashram of Swamiji (Priest/ Guru). It became almost impossible for M to push himself any further and he slumped over a bench few meters from the exit gate. It was a foggy evening in this part of North India– New Year eve. There was enough light to not call it a night yet. But, it was dark and foggy enough to conceal his inner conflict to the world. He felt a little comforted that his wife did not come with him though she strongly desired so. It would have been...

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“Something New” by Amelia Coulon

Submitted to Contest #25

Priscilla watched the long, slow burn of the cigarette in her left hand between her first two fingers with something akin to hatred. And desire. The taste of each draw was like poison on her tongue and the air she breathed in, a concoction of waiting death. She exhaled, nearly unable to wait to get the stained filter back up between her lips for another draw. After a few more puffs, she crushed the half-smoked stick against the nearby ashtray in disgust. It joined the myriad of other barely used cigarettes which littered the tray atop the pi...

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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.

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