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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#31: The Ordinary

The very last line of the NBC sitcom The Office is spoken by former receptionist Pam Beasley. She says: "There’s a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn’t that kind of the point?"

This week's writing prompts embrace that sentiment, and challenge you to write stories that take ordinary, everyday tasks and turn them into meaningful pieces of short fiction.

This week's prompts

Write a short story about someone doing laundry.

Adults – 94 stories

Write a short story about someone tending to their garden.

Spring – 77 stories

Write a short story about someone cooking dinner.

Nonfiction – 56 stories

Write a short story about someone going to the corner store to buy an everyday item.

Nonfiction – 64 stories

Write a short story about someone heading home from work.

Nonfiction – 81 stories

Stories

“Laundry Room Visit” by Frank Turner

Submitted to Contest #31

Marcus had no clean underwear left. In fact this was going to be his third day in a row wearing the same pair. Marcus wasn’t normally such a slob but this had been a bad month. It was a month of seeking frequent refuge in his bed, laying a large bath towel down so as to not dirty the fitted sheet and mattress, and masturbating himself to sleep, sometimes for the night, sometimes for an hour in the middle of the day. There wasn’t any circumstance that would appear to necessitate such repeated retreat, but just a lot of feeling bad about himse...

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“It’s just clothes” by Laura Garcia

Submitted to Contest #31

Quarters and telenovelas. Spanish radio stations every now and then. People sorting, waiting, talking, coming and going. All accompanied with the constant hum and buzz of machines running. It’s laundry day, a mundane nuisance that he would’ve gladly tackled out of the way before it happened. Now, this was....hard. This was his lungs slowly turning to stone where it would’ve been a song in his head as he took the basket out of the trunk. It was only one load, filled halfway, but it somehow seemed so heavy. People mind their own busi...

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“Bleach” by Yair Ron

Submitted to Contest #31

Sarah hummed to herself as she hung her wet clothes to dry on the rack. One by one she took them from her basket, placing each carefully on the five taut steel wires, making sure they had the room they needed, stretching them just so. The morning sun warmed her skin pleasantly, and Sarah smiled. The clothes would dry quickly.Her nose tingled, filled with the fresh smell of summer and flowery soap and sharp bleach. It was a clean smell, a new smell. Sarah liked it.She was hanging the last piece when her arm stretched too far. A twinge of pain...

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“Mother’s Memories” by Tammy Letart

Submitted to Contest #31

So today is Mother's Day! Woo-Hoo, a day dedicated to just me. ME! ME! ME! ME! Me and my crazy maternal emotions that is! Mother's Day is a day to honor your Mom, but as a Mom myself, I found it to be a day to thank God for my own little blessings. As I end this Mother’s Day dropping tears in baskets of laundry, I will share my beautiful day with you. My (now ex) husband had been out of town on business and sadly he was absent on this day that means so much more to me, more than any one man will ever know. Why will he never fully understand ...

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“The Normal Cycle?” by Isabel Flynn

Submitted to Contest #31

I must tackle the laundry today, or I’ll never do it. I’ve delayed washing his clothes now for five weeks. It’s just been all too much. I’ve put aside his one good cashmere pullover to nuzzle at night when the loneliness and grief set in. It helps.Okay, here we go. My expensive eco-friendly washing powder, 1 scoop.Set the dial on normal wash. Start.Now sort the darks from the lights just as my poor old mother taught me.His lovely check shirt, how smart he always looked. In go ...

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“Spiteful Panties” by Amanda Mitchum

Submitted to Contest #31

George often went on weekend trips with his friends to the casino about an hour away in the town of Cherokee. It didn’t bother Maggie too much because she didn’t really want to go. She just didn’t see the point of working herself to death only to spend her paycheck gambling it away. So, when he’d leave, she’d busy herself in the garden, do some scrapbooking, or play with the kids. They had a pretty good relationship by most standards; not much arguing, date nights out, vacations with the kids, and occasional flowers. ...

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“WHY SHOULD I WASH THAT FILTHY LAUNDRY?” by RADIUS HAVWAALA

Submitted to Contest #31

Bridget threw some delicious hip swings while angrily shooting off her mouth like an autumn peacock. “Why should I wash all that filthy laundry?”. “It is the shift Bridget, just obey,” Dainess paled her face like a malaria patient as she tried to calm her friend. The two were employed as maids at SAFE GUEST HOUSE in Kabwe’s mine area. The laundry being referred to consisted of beddings. An eccentric white woman had used them for months without any form of laundry. &nbs...

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“Every Little Thing” by Talia Bond

Submitted to Contest #31

The sharp scent of laundry detergent permeated the dingy room as Ali carefully measured her horded stash. ‘Almost out’ she thought with a brief sigh. She dumped it into the appropriate compartment and pushed it shut with her hip. The cycles emblazoned in her brain, she mechanically pushed the buttons, added the required coins and pushed start. The familiar sounds of the pumps and the water soothed her mind, and she pulled herself onto the counter to wait. The annoying tones of ‘I’m a Barbie girl’ shrilled and she rolled her ...

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“The Beauty in Moments” by Micaela Beck

Submitted to Contest #31

The washer machine spits and howls as it attacks the clothes within its confines, the sound echoing across the tiled floor. No one in the LaundroMat pays it any attention. The old woman with a hunched back a few paces to my right simply fills in another answer on her crossword. The raging battle fought by the machine that gobbled my quarters is a never-ending fight. Once its current enemy is vanquished, I will remove my limp clothing, and another faceless per...

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“Lost in Laundry; Found in Love ” by Anna Harkin

Submitted to Contest #31

I live in apartment 22B in the building right behind Taco Bell. I have a cat, Muskers. I do college online and I work at the grocery store down the street. My roommate bailed on me last month so I got stuck with paying the whole rent. I am up to my elbows in student loans and my anxiety is off the charts. I can hardly afford to buy groceries every week and my mother stopped talking to me after I moved out. My life just keeps getting harder and I hardly have any motivation anymore. But that doesn’t mean my life completely sucks. All of my nei...

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“A Defective Load” by Tiffany Ogunsua

Submitted to Contest #31

Marion watched as a congregation of white fabric circulated a vacuity, every round marking the downtick of her focus… her brain activity… her will to live. Thoughts composed then disassembled, too frivolous to carry out. She watched as groupings of cloth were ferried about the small laundromat in baskets, eddying when people stopped in lines—shifting their weight from toe to heel. Then, finally, the basket would strand on some open surface or another—never the floor, though. Marion returned her gaze to the washing machine,...

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“Alone in the Crowded Laundromat” by Matthew Gustafson

Submitted to Contest #31

“Let me tell ya, there never seems to be an open washer when I come down here, and I mean never. This is like a once a week trip and I can’t seem to even faintly remember the last time I was able to snag a washer right away. It’s like the whole universe is plotting against me or something.” Marc said to the woman next to him. “Never have problems with dryers, funny enough. Always one of those available. But these dang washers, I gotta wait around a half-hour just to get the clothes in! Can ya believe it?” Marc turned and glanced at the woman...

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“A Marriage, Neatly Folded ” by Stephanie Yang

Submitted to Contest #31

The bundle of clothes is warm, dry. After gently putting the pile onto their – her – bed, Sharon bends over it and picked out a T-shirt. She always liked to start with the T-shirts – the repetitive and rhythmic motion felt so calming. Tuck the sleeves in. Fold the shirt in the middle. Rinse and repeat until all of them were in a neat stack. Here was a shirt that she’d had since college. Funny, that. It had been five years since Sharon had last been to an alumni event, but she was still was wearin...

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“Meanigful Chore” by Kendra Shaw

Submitted to Contest #31

Michelle sighed heavily as she watched the strong wind blowing the dead branches of the trees in her empty backyard; maybe spring would come soon and stay this time. She had always loved this window, but lately it seemed to be less appealing to her. She would watch her boys play in the yard, building forts, shooting Nerf guns, playing in the mud, wrestling, climbing trees, anything their little imaginations could muster up. This particular window allowed Michelle to watch her boys while doing her least favorite chore, folding all the ...

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“Messy and Beautiful” by Jessica Tomaselli

Submitted to Contest #31

Saturday morning - Vanessa struggled into the laundry room with her children’s hampers, looking for a place to stash them while still leaving room to sort the clothes. Above her the shower turned on, indicating that her husband, Daniel, had finally woken up. She knew he would be playing on his phone for five minutes or so while the shower warmed up. He looked at that thing more than at her. The other night she had seen him smiling at it in the way he used to smile at her. She missed those days. It annoyed her how long he spent in the bathroo...

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$50

Prize money

372

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Mar 06, 2020 EST

Won by Ariel Kalati 🏆

Title: The Memory Garden

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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