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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

“Better” by Emma W

Submitted to Contest #25

"I'll do better this year." I say the words to myself in the gas station mirror, the cracks and scratches into it distorting the image of my face. It is a simple resolution, the same one I made last year. Yet here I am, dying my hair and changing my clothes in a gas station bathroom needing to get anywhere but here. I don't know that grand larceny counts as doing better. I don’t know that dying my hair and changing my clothes and trying to get as far away from here as possible to avoid spending my foreseeable future in an iron cell counts as...

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“My Biggest Regret” by Gillian Brayne

Submitted to Contest #25

It was pitch black. It came so quickly, and the sheer horror of the fall along with it. Who knew that once it came to that time, you would freeze. The thing that you had always prepared for, the moment that you were so sure that when you were thrown into it, you would make the right decision. I looked up into the ineffably blue sky; the sun gleaming hard and unsettlingly into my eyes. I laid quietly, absolutely still as the thoughts of what just transpired seeped into my mind. How did I get here? What did I do to deserve this? How is it that...

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“Do Resolutions Really Work?” by Dawn Mandzik

Submitted to Contest #25

New Year’s Day and the first day of a new decade. The roaring twenties decade. Let’s hope these next ten years are better than the ones a hundred years ago, Sarah thought rolling over in bed. Looking out the window she realized the sun was up. Stretching, she smiled to herself. The house was clean, spotlessly clean, and all the snacks and drinks were prepared. Everything was ready for their annual Resolutions Party. Not much to do but gather the paper and pens and wait for their families to arrive...

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“New Years Resolved” by Renee Ferrell

Submitted to Contest #25

Running around the bend, sweat beginning to trickle down his back, Alex bobbed his head back and forth to the music funneling through his earbuds. He was hitting his stride now, the best part of the run, the part that made you feel accomplished for getting out there, the part that helped you feel alive. The sun had peaked out from behind some clouds, and he almost closed his eyes, to have that moment of peace with warm rays of sun tickling his face. This was how he escaped, put aside all other thoughts except what nature provided, this was h...

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“One Resolution” by Jennifer Riley

Submitted to Contest #25

“So, tell me your New Year’s resolutions.” I glance up at Sam, my coworker, who is, as sometimes happens, not helping me shelve books so much as he is tagging along while I shelve books. “I didn’t make any,” I say, and point at the book on the cart I need next. “Will you hand me that?” He raises his eyebrows at me and hands it to me without looking at it. “You didn’t make any?” “Nope.” I put the book in its place on the shelf and go to the cart he’s sort of just leaning on, ignoring that he looks kind of cute just leaning there. Mostly ignor...

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“Angie's Last Shot” by Rudy Uribe

Submitted to Contest #25

Angie’s temperature rose to a blistering one hundred and five degrees. Nurses applied ice packs but they were ineffective against the raging battle taking place inside her body. She lay, comatose, a breathing tube rising and falling with each breath. Mark lifted her hospital gown. Her boney legs looked thick when compared to the ribs that outlined her sunken abdomen. She was a petite woman, but her hospital stay had taken its toll. Angie was down to eighty-eight pounds. She had lost nineteen since being admitted. For Mark, it had been twenty...

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“The Follow” by Holli Harms

Submitted to Contest #25

Jack finished his notes from the night before. It was 5:30pm and he was going to follow again tonight. He read again the pages of his new book, How To Move Forward In Life And Still Have Fun. He knew he was doing just that. It was a new year and he was going to take it by storm. His one and only resolution; take this year by storm. Sounds vague but Jack knows the details. He has been a reviewer for a small but up and coming online review blog for almost a year. Reviews for theatre; Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off which pretty m...

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“A Fool for April” by Lisa Verdekal

Submitted to Contest #25

He met April in January. The dreary month after Christmas when you’re broke and cold and the only thing to look forward to is Valentine’s Day, unless you don’t have a lover. And Dave was single. Dave was lonely. He was painfully shy, as his mother always said. That’s why you’re a bachelor, she’d added lately, followed by a laugh. Not really a James Bond though, are ya.Nope, Dave didn’t go from one woman to the next breaking hearts. He didn’t have a phone filled with ladies names and numbers. He’d had a few encounters with work colleagues tha...

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“What We Promise Each Other” by Taylor P

Submitted to Contest #25

When dawn slips past her curtains, her eyes flutter stubbornly against the light. Distantly, she remembers the promise to rise with the sun; remembers that it was the sort of promise she couldn’t break. Remembers what she paid with that promise, and suddenly it’s not morning and she isn’t in bed. She is crouched on a parking lot curb in the dark, head in her hands, breath coming slow and then fast and then slow again. This was where he leaves her. Chest tight, lungs struggling, mind spinning. Head sliding lower and lower to the asphalt ...

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“Change is "Always" Easy” by Francis Mitchell

Submitted to Contest #25

It had taken a lot for me to be here this morning, sandwiched between tight, clausterphobic bookshelves. I loved books, but today they felt different. They didn't welcome me today. I had decided I'd pay a visit to Browning's Books last night after my lonely dinner. I didn't have a title in mind - just à very specific genre. I had my mind set on it and I thought it would be easy. Just a normal trip to the bookstore, right? Except I wasn't expecting the absolute whirlwind Lady Life was content on tossing me t...

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“Sam's Resolution” by Mark Trickey

Submitted to Contest #25

Sam never did like New Year's resolutions. It was not that he had nothing to change in his life. Nor was he never motivated enough to carry any resolutions out. It was more the feeling that everyone wanted to know what his resolutions where. Why did it matter to others?, he used to think. These where plans that he was making to improve himself, not them. Of course things changed when Julie came into his life. She...

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“An Awesome Accident” by Elaine Lee

Submitted to Contest #25

Zigzagging through the aisles of a popular local bookstore, a petite woman in a motorized wheelchair zoomed past every section until she crashed into a metal shelf of hardcover books. Suddenly her chair came to a screeching halt as the tower of books tumbled down, burying the 26 lbs. lady with a rare condition known as Osteogenesis Imperfecta (more commonly known as "Brittle Bones"), in the pile of hardcovers. Her tiny body flew off the edge of her seat sending her catapulting amidst the mountain of Neil Pasricha’s “Book of Awesome.” In that...

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“Our Best Date By Laura A. ” by Laura Acuna

Submitted to Contest #25

Our Best Date By Laura A.I was waiting in the living room of my parent’s house. Really, the only reason I was there in the first place was because my apartment had flooded, and my parents thought it would be cheaper and “helpful” if I stayed with them for a couple of days. I wanted to say over at my boyfriend’s house, but like my parents, he thought it would be a good idea to stay with them instead. Not that I mind, but my parents like to nag me a lot.But as of late, he’s been acting really strange. He’s been cooking more food at home, which...

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“Olivia's Choice” by SANDRA NELSON

Submitted to Contest #25

“Hey Mama,” Olivia tried to hide her exasperation at the third call from her mother this morning, “I’m at the bookstore. I’m getting the book right now.” “Oh, good. I just wanted to make sure you didn’t forget.” There was a rustling on the line before she said, “I just read that it’s on the best seller’s list and is a sure-fire way to get you what you want. Come on Livy, a new year means new choices.” Olivia grimaced and stood in the beam of light that illuminated the current focus of her mother’s life Ten Steps to Finding a Spouse Without U...

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“The Karen” by Kineret Aragon

Submitted to Contest #25

"Excuse me, miss! I want that copy and he won't let me have it! Isn't he supposed to let the customer get it?" said a woman in a obnoxious tone.I turned to see who the loud voice was talking about.A woman with a bright pink shirt, lime-green skirt and mismatching socks glared at me resentfully, pouting as she put her hands on her hips. She waited impatiently as if expecting everyone to jump on her command.The employee stocking the shelf behind me turned to me with a confused look on her face, her hands full with a carton of books as th...

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$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.

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