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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#36: Dear Diary

"April 4th, 1984." So begins Winston Smith's first diary entry in the George Orwell novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Of course, this dystopian tale isn't the only one to involve diary entries. Bridget Jones's Diary, Gilead, The Yellow Wallpaper, Dracula, and I Capture the Castle are among a long list of other books told at least in part through diaries or journals.

This week's writing prompts challenge you to write a short story in the epistolary format.

P.S — On April 3rd we're hosting another LIVE Write-In on YouTube at 4pm EST! We'll guide you through a series of 20-minute writing sprints to give you the boost you need to stay productive. During the breaks, you can share your progress, talk about your struggles, and ask our hosts any questions you may have.

Join us on YouTube HERE at 4pm EST. We hope to see you there!

This week's prompts

In the form of diary/ journal entries, write about someone who's just decided to take up journaling.

Adults – 117 stories

In the form of diary/ journal entries, write about someone on a long-awaited trip.

Holiday – 56 stories

In the form of diary/ journal entries, write about someone who's just experienced a big "first."

High School – 94 stories

In the form of diary/ journal entries, write about someone who's up late at night because they're having trouble sleeping.

High School – 237 stories

In the form of diary/ journal entries, write a story that provides glimpses into a person's life at different ages.

Character – 135 stories

Stories

“The Nightmare Muse” by Smudge Himmel

Submitted to Contest #36

05/06/3019I must write this down, if only in an effort to quell my fears. If I write it down, perhaps I will not dwell on it, and that is all I can hope.I have just awoken from a nightmare. Not my usual nightmares, which haunt my sleep with the images of those long-ago days, those horrid creatures with their long pale teeth and thinly fleshed limbs and lolling eyes. Those are shallow imitations of this nightmare. In dreams, most things take on an ethereal quality. There is that film of separation that lets you know it is a dream. Tonight the...

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“A slightly chewed HB pencil, an exercise book cut into thirds and never-ending boredom does not a journal make.” by Unknown User

Submitted to Contest #36

April 6rd 2020. Nothing to write. I am bored, this sucks, there is nothing to do and journals are lame. April 6th 2020. There is still nothing to write, we haven’t left our cells in three days. My TV is broken and I can’t watch Married at First Sight. Not that I like it, but it is better than nothing. April 10th 2020. My pencil broke and I had to wait a few days to get another one. We were let out for a few hours into the yard yesterday. I tried to do laps, walking around and around the fenced off area, but that was driving m...

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“I Started My Period Today” by Games With Friends Patterson

Submitted to Contest #36

Sunday, November 20, 2011I started my period today. 4 days earlier than last month. This is day 2 of my 3-day cleanse and it's going okay. No weight loss yet. Would love to weigh 110 pounds by Christmas which is a little over a month away. Started roller skating again so we'll see. I mostly feel disgusted with myself for not working out consistently over this past year but with my mother living with us, it's been a real challenge for me. Looking extremely forward to the day when she moves out!Thursday, January 12, 2012I started my period tod...

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“Illness through the years ” by Sarah Chaika

Submitted to Contest #36

My Dear DiaryHi me from the future! I just got this cool diary and I’m going to try and write you messages for future me (you) to see. I don’t really know what I’m going to say but I will write whatever is on my mind. 4/12/2015Hey, I don’t really know what I’m writing but everything lately has been absolute hell, my dad passed away and my mom’s getting sick, I have no friends but I want to write out everything that’s happening because I don’t know what else I can do to cope, I’ll write whenever something mildly happy happens although I ...

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“To Help A Lost Child” by Jan Querubin

Submitted to Contest #36

Dear Diary,It’s been three weeks since I’ve last written here. It’s funny because the last time was also the first time and so many things has happened since then. I guess I really just can’t commit to writing.That says a lot about me but hello, here I am again. I never really thought I’d be coming back to write here but I figured that I should since I couldn’t sleep. And for some reason, I brought this journal with me here.What I wrote last time was of the same reason. Trouble sleeping had been pushing me to do things I don’t usually do. Bu...

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“A Writer's Resolve” by David Chico

Submitted to Contest #36

April 4th, 2020My hands can’t stop shaking. It’s getting hard to even hold my phone and type right. With every tap on the touchscreen, my thumbs feel stiffer and stiffer… Is this the right choice? Should I just turn back, take another path? My heart aches, can I really take this?I think back to why I am doing this. Is it for them? I remember how hard they fought. Their cries of fury, hate or passion echo through my mind, bringing back memories of many years ago. Each clash of swords and each word uttered resounds in my ears, as if the advent...

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“The Cardinals” by Isabella Sopo

Submitted to Contest #36

Journal,I’ve been advised by my therapist to start keeping a journal. I have an anxiety disorder, it says so in that ginormous tan folder labeled “Jocelyn.” Female, age thirty, lived with mother. Then it says in big old parentheses, “Parents Divorced.” Parenthesis are never good, they’re therapist red flags. Parentheses say, “Hey therapist! This is the problem! Right here!” I’m single, but my little house, overgrown by ivy and weeds by now, got too expensive to keep, so I’m moving. My therapist, Mrs. Jane, who should be a lawyer she’s so goo...

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“The Flight of Emilie Brandt” by Leland Day

Submitted to Contest #36

October 10, 1928 9:25 PM The first transatlantic flight accomplished by a zeppelin begins in 15 hours. I’m privileged to be one of the twenty-four passengers to participate in this exciting venture. It’s been two months since my brother quite surprised me for my birthday with tickets for this flight. They must have cost a fortune! The ship, christened Graf Zeppelin, is the largest zeppelin built.To think, I’ll be making history tomorrow! -Emilie BrandtOctober 11, 1928 10:14 AM I have boarded the Graf Zeppelin! I share a small cabin wit...

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“Decades” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #36

1950It is nice here and they’re very kind. Miss Marshall the headmistress is strict but fair the other girls tell me, and she gave all of use new girls a special talk in her study, with tea and buns. I would have preferred lemonade but of course I didn’t say so. After all I’m a big girl of 11 now. I knew I was going to come to St Anne’s Academy. Mother and Father (I’m doing my best to remember to call them that at least in front of the other girls, rather than Mummy and Daddy) told me last year. There’s onl...

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“I See You Ceiling Fan” by Hema Nookala

Submitted to Contest #36

September 15, 2071 ‘Sleep has always been a personal failing of mine. It is not normal to stare at the ceiling for hours on end, eyes somehow not tiring of watching the white ceiling-fan overhead. The cyclic motion does not bring pause, it does not bring respite - they say counting sheep helps - you don’t know how many times I have heard that. But if the ceiling fan can’t put me to sleep, then sheep have little chance. The beeping doesn’t help either. It’s constant but it is not consistent. Every day something new, every day a different...

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“A Month Ago” by Dobby's Sock

Submitted to Contest #36

28th May, 20162030Damnit, this journal is too small for it. Reg has been teasing me about it and lo! I did it. Finally. Cherry burst. But the gentlemanly father that I have might not really like me talking this way, but what the hell, I do not really like Natalie, o I? Yeah, I believe I do not. But oh my god! She is so beautiful when she cries. I am not sure if I am supposed to say that or girls are supposed to look beautiful while doing that. Reg had warned me girls will talk or be clueless, but this was totally unexpected. Score to you mat...

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“Mind’s Eye—A Feast” by Skylar Schylar

Submitted to Contest #36

April 10, 2020It’s my birthday, I’m 98 years old! I must admit, my memory has failed and faded. Despite this, I am grateful for the investment I put in myself—86 years in the making. I am officially retiring from the squiggles of the present, transitioning to plunging into the antiquity. Over my entire life, ever since I was able to properly hold a writing instrument in my hand, I’ve captured the essence of my being through penmanship. I am immensely appreciative that I decided to journal over the span of my life because I can’t remember a l...

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“Night 37” by Perry Williams

Submitted to Contest #36

"I can't sleep. It's almost like I can hear the zombies outside the camp. I'm worried that they might get through the fence. Jerome and Felix are doing tonight's patrol, and that worries me. They're not really known to be the most observant guys here. They might not notice one of them sneaking in. I don't want to die. All I want to do is see the sunrise tomorrow. The view from the top of this parking garage must be epic. I've also finally made some friends here. Maybe I should go out and check on Jerome and Felix. In case I don't come back, ...

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“Nocturnal chaos ” by Destiny T

Submitted to Contest #36

Dear diary, 4th April 2020 So it has been a week since I used to see my mom's room lights still gleaming at eerie hours of the night way past midnightI very vividly remember all the events I had seen 6 days ago when I walked towards my mom's room in the quiet of the night, as I kept hearing some muffled voices in the distance coming from her room. I heard them grow more and more...

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“The Road to Butterfly Bay” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #36

So we’re off tomorrow. Off to Butterfly Bay. It’s not really called that, of course. Though come to think of it, I don’t know why of course. But it’s not even called Buddleia Bay which would certainly make sense. It’s called Budderly Bay. Sally always used to say it sounded a bit like swearing, and used it as a swear word, but our parents did the wisest thing and ignored her, and she took the credit for having first named in Butterfly Bay. She almost certainly wasn’t the f...

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$50

Prize money

639

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 10, 2020 EST

Won by Zilla Babbitt 🏆

Title: Kiss of the Snake

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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