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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#261: Gratitude

Unfortunately, it's true what they say — all good things must come to an end! Today marks my last Friday at Reedsy, and my last week as the host of Prompts.

Before I get into this week's contest, I'd like to take a moment to thank this wonderful community, for sharing your creativity and enthusiasm with me over the past few years. I have been truly moved and inspired by your entries, and am consistently amazed by the talented, prolific writers who make up Prompts. It doesn't escape me how lucky I am to have read and enjoyed thousands of your stories, and to have been given a glimpse into the worlds of so many authors. It's been a great privilege.

With that in mind, this week's contest is all about gratitude. Whether your characters are thankful for a gift, a person, or a change in circumstance, I hope they find a way to express it.

You'll meet your wonderful new Prompts host Isabella next Friday; but for now, all that's left to say is — thank you!

This week's prompts

Write a story about a character trying to find a way to express their gratitude to someone.

Character – 62 stories

Write a creative nonfiction piece about something you're grateful for.

Nonfiction – 69 stories

Write a story about a cynic who has been told to start a "gratitude journal," and does so — begrudgingly.

Funny – 55 stories

Write a story about an unsung hero.

Character – 53 stories

Write a story in the form of a series of thank you cards.

Narrative – 64 stories

Stories

“The Enigma of Heroism” by Chris Baird

Submitted to Contest #261

Phil Conklin was eighty when he died. His death hit Joe McManus like a sledgehammer blow to the stomach. For forty years, McManus joked that Phil would live forever. In his heart of hearts, he believed it was true. A two-year battle with lung cancer reduced Phil to a shell of the man he had once been. When Joe visited him two days before he died, Phil’s white hair was so thin it resembled the remains of a spider web, blown a...

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“Immortal Links” by Kyle Van Camp

Submitted to Contest #261

It was time. It was time for her to take her hand off the wheel and open the door. It was time to get her feet to move. It was time to take that first step, to feel the solid sidewalk under her heels. She could feel her hand tremble as she touched the door handle. She pulled away suddenly and turned back to look straight down the street. It was a beautiful place. A suburban neighborhood with all the charm of the American dream. She could tell some of the neighbors spent almost too much time on their yard. The grass was well manicured in very...

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“To The River He Went ” by Molly Milsom

Submitted to Contest #261

Limbs flailed as the little boy desperately tried to keep his head above the water. The sand bank had dropped unexpectedly and now his non-existent swimming skills were the only thing keeping him from drowning. The little boy cried out, panicked. Water splashing into his eyes, burning. His arms slapping the water. “Help me!” He said, gargling water in the process. His heart was beating so fast in his chest, as if the organ was trying to keep the boy afloat itself. As if the heart was saying “Look here! If i beat fast enough perhaps...

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“Tuna Cans” by Horace Auldwyn

Submitted to Contest #261

It was dawn now, a time when despair could not yet contend with the promise of first light. Bright rays squeezed through the attic window and cast Arthur’s face in a shadowy crosshair. Thoughts began to trickle between the thick debris of sleep. Beneath his eyelids, he began to stir. Something was close. The dam burst, sending a bolt through Arthur’s system. In an instant he took cover behind a pile of boxes, hitting his head on the sloped, wood-planked roof. Beyond the glass, a four-legged silhouette peered into the attic and paused for a l...

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“Beyond Thankful” by Vatoyia Gardner

Submitted to Contest #261

It was the weekend before Valentine’s Day in 2002. The country was still in mourning over the events of 9/11. The new security protocols at the airport were frightening but necessary. One week before taking a flight to spend the weekend with my husband, I had a vivid dream. I don’t read too much into dreams, but because of the state of the country and my personal situation of my husband being deployed stateside, I was on high alert. In the dream, I was at the airport and missed the flight I should have taken.&nb...

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“Out of the Ashes - Allowing for Transformative Compassion” by Kathleen Cramer

Submitted to Contest #261

This story may trigger emotions if you've been in an event where lives and/or property were lost. The title was inspired from Gregg Braden's "Ancient Essenes' Message on the Three Words From 2500 Years Ago" video on YouTube. Write a creative nonfiction piece about something you're grateful for. The call came on my cell phone around 12:45 PM. I was at work, on a lunch break. The voice on the other end of the phone said, “Don’t even bother coming home. You won’t be able to.” That’s not a call you want to receive.&nbsp...

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“This Body of Mine ” by Rachel Williams

Submitted to Contest #261

cw: this story contains subjects regarding mental health, self harm, eating disorders and body image issues. As someone who hit another major decade last year, the (once) dreaded 30s, there are many aspects of my life that I am grateful for. I could talk for days about the endless support I have received from my now tight knit group of girlfriends who are always at the end of a phone if needed. I could mention the health of my family, the fact that my parents are still with me when so many around me have grieved the loss of a loved one. I c...

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“Portraits of Delight” by William Tate

Submitted to Contest #261

Portraits of delight! Oh, to squat down beside the second-to-last shelf of a midwest gift shop. A score of metal frogs of screw and nail with wild whimsy faces dwell here. They hold crude instruments and make up the members of a slipshod toadstool band. Their phillips head eyes and wire-bent arms holding cellos, trumpets, drums, and flutes of hex nuts and washers. One must imagine them playing chrome canticles for the royal courts of Midleaf Valley, or steel-pan jigs in the old saloons of Stained Glass Gorge. Perhaps their patrons reward th...

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“Gratitude Mapping for Dummies” by Even Andrews

Submitted to Contest #261

I lay the posterboard on the table in preparation to plot my gratitude map. I contemplate what topics I want to include to best describe what I appreciate about my life. After much thought, I write down in the center the word gratitude. Next, I write my wife and daughter near the top. I spread out other topics on my posterboard that includes my military career, college experience, time in Japan, the states I have lived in, the schools I have attended, the individual experiences most don’t get an opportunity to, and my successes and fail...

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“Survivor's Gratitude” by Cheryl Martin

Submitted to Contest #261

Survivor’s Gratitude In the bustling city of Eliot, there lived a man named Jack. Over the past several years Jack had become a hardwired cynic. To him, the world was bleak, filled with disappointments and false hopes. He worked as an accountant, a job he found monotonous but stable. His friends often joked that he saw the glass not just half empty but probably poisoned, too. Jack's cynicism wasn't without reason. A few years earlier, he had survived a near-fatal car accident. The physical scars had healed, but the emotional ones had left hi...

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“Overworked and Exhausted” by Rachel Ermutlu

Submitted to Contest #261

Darla had pulled over to the side of the road. She was changing her own flat tire instead of calling AAA like most people would. Her dad had taught her how when she was sixteen because he wanted her to be self-sufficient. She was frustrated because she was late for work at Lemonade and Lattes, the coffee shop where she worked. When she called her boss, Mary, she had told Darla it was fine. Mary had come in to open the coffee shop and she would stay until Darla could make it. When Darla got back in her car, she h...

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“Gregoria the Grateful” by Cristina Ochoa

Submitted to Contest #261

“No, I refuse. I simply refuse.” Gregoria said as she paced her bedroom. “I have absolutely no desire to write down what it is I am grateful for. How on earth am I supposed to know how to do that?”“Sweetheart, please. Come sit down.” Gregoria’s mother patted the soft quilt she had stitched together for her the previous Christmas. Mother hoped that patting the quilt might give Gregoria some clue as to where to start to be grateful. When Gregoria had opened the present, she had squealed and squirmed, wrapping the quilt around her and running a...

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“Finding Gratitude” by Donna Hill

Submitted to Contest #261

Finding Gratitude By Donna G. Hill 08/01/24 Veteran Everett Winstead was sitting in the office of Dr. Sicily Appradaeah, Psychiatrist, grumbling to himself under his breath. Filled with rage, contempt for all mankind, especially dogooder types, embittered. Tours in Viet Nam had left him with many detrimental experiences to overcome, but he considered himself a “real man, made out of the good stuff.” The only reason he came at all was because his only child, a daughter, Emma, insisted. His he...

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“David’s Flip” by Raven Stein

Submitted to Contest #261

November 18, 1992 — Gratitude JournalThis is so stupid. Okay. Wait, no. Let’s try that again. My name is David Sutherland and this is my Gratitude Journal. If you’ve stumbled upon this notebook, sorry. If you decide to continue to read the contents of this notebook, well, that’s on you and whatever godawful decision-making you’ve made in your life that has led you to this point. If you’re Future David rereading this for whatever reason, fuck you. Anyway. I’ve only had a couple of therapy sessions with Dr. Chambers, but evidently, that’s all ...

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“Today I Am Grateful” by Dalia Rubinowicz

Submitted to Contest #261

I walk into the waiting room, knowing full well how much of a waste of time this next hour will be. I take in this sorry excuse for an office - paint-chipped walls, outdated scratchy upholstered chairs, and the saddest looking people you will find in the tristate area. This drab setting, however, will not get my eye off of the ball. I can sell this miserable reality, wrapping it in paper lined with pure tragedy paper and tying it up with a bow laced with existential dread and crushed dreams. 60 minutes, an act of a lifetime, and I walk out w...

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$250

Prize money

303

Contest entries

97

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 02, 2024 EST

Won by Sandrine Hu 🏆

Title: Dear Aunt Beth

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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