Menu

Prompts

Contests

Stories

Blog

Menu

✕

CONNECT

Editing Design Marketing Publicity Ghostwriting Websites

BLOG

Success Stories

APPS

TOOLS

Book Promotion Sites Book Review Blogs Booktube Channel Guide Book Title Generator Character Name Generator Independent Publishers Literary Agents Literary Magazines Pen Name Generator Plot Generator Publishers Directory Short Story Ideas Writing Contests Writing Exercises Writing Scholarships

ABOUT

About Reedsy Terms Privacy

CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#75: New Year, New You

For many of us, the last year was like living through a low-budget disaster movie — but the good thing about the new year is that it gives us an excuse to start fresh. And even though flipping a calendar doesn’t necessarily fix all our problems, it’s still good to take a moment and think about everything you do have the power to change.

In that spirit, this week’s prompts are all about fresh starts. From small, personal achievements to huge goals that will change the world, everything starts with the decision to try. What sort of things will your characters achieve this year? What sort of things will you?

This week's prompts

Write about someone who has finally managed to succeed at a long-standing New Year’s resolution.

Winter – 98 stories

Write about someone whose job is to help people leave their old lives behind.

Adults – 246 stories

Start your story with one character making a vow that they never would have made the year before.

Holiday – 102 stories

Write about someone who doesn’t remember their past — and doesn’t want to.

Thriller and Suspense – 205 stories

Write about two characters who each want to change the same thing, but resolve to go about it in very different ways.

Teens – 84 stories

Stories

“Froth Atop a Latté” by Deborah Gasking

Submitted to Contest #75

High weaving heather, thrown this way and that on each whim of the high weaving winds. Bright sunshine clowns tumble my stomach – tighten; slacken; contort. Piercing chills prickle my skin, skimming jaggedly in my flowing blood tubules. Warm breezes freshen my brow lines, lift the left and the right of my lips up into moon dimples. How I melt into nature’s forces as I sit. Of course I’m early. Usually I’m late. But this day and time, I’m so very early. Yet I’m forty years late. Carmen – she’s always been Carmen in my head. I’m no romanti...

Read story

“The Empty Space” by Patrick Druid

Submitted to Contest #75

Monica left the party in a hurry, her face red with the tears of shame. She looked back towards the big house where the party had been, hoping to find a a friendly face somewhere, but all she saw were the same people looked back at her. Some were the 30ish red heads holding flute glasses of champagne and various well to do husbands and boyfriends looking back through the windows and porches. It was almost as if they had formed a cordon around the house, making clear that she had been banished like Adam and Eve had been from the Garden of Ede...

Read story

“The Hunter” by Lenox Ndeda

Submitted to Contest #75

THE HUNTER “I may not know what actually, made him shrink that much,” came the voice of Sulfika. Now the one spoken of was the chief village hunter and in fact an ardent member of the craft. In my community it was common for all men to embrace hunting, I don’t want to say gathering because it only leads to cultural redundancy. Sulfika Lando, his full name that was accorded to him by his late grandfather Pio Gama Olotembe. The name Pio Gama was given to him by the villagers because he spoke of a strange activist, I opine think ably that he ...

Read story

“FINALLY!!!” by Agbesanwa Ayomide

Submitted to Contest #75

I typed in the last word and removed my hand from the keyboard so fast like it burnt me. I did it. Wow, I really did it. This is so unbelievable but since it is right in front of me I have no other choice but to believe it. I went to my contact list on my phone where I had stored the number I had gotten from the telephone book in the filling station. When I got the number, I dialed it and relaxed in my seat waiting for the unknown person to answer. ........................................................................... Hello?...

Read story

“A Kaleidoscope of Memories” by Elizabeth Inkim

Submitted to Contest #75

Whoever decided that cleaning was therapeutic was a liar, and nothing could convince Roslyn to think otherwise. At best, it was a mild form of torture. For the last few years, she had promised her mother that she would clean her room, donate some of her clothes, and file away her paperwork, and for the past few years, she simply could not find the time. Not that she did not tidy up here and there, because she did, she just simply hadn’t done a deep cleaning in a long while even though her mother reminded her about it often. Although if...

Read story

“Different road, same destination” by Emma Harris

Submitted to Contest #75

Jung Doseok My New years Goal: Spend less time on work and more time with friends. I spend too much time on my music producing and choreographies and other things. I want to spend time with friends but I'm always busy with work. Maybe I should try to balance out my work and home life a little more. I love sharing my music and other talents with other people! I love my job but, I do understand that I spend to much time on my work. I'll work on it. I've got a whole year! . . . Min Yoonki New Years Resolution: Waste more of my precious time...

Read story

“Doorway” by David Francis

Submitted to Contest #75

Doorway The hall was sparsely furnished and smelled of damp. Electric heaters mounted on the peeling walls gave off a reluctant heat that barely touched the chill atmosphere of the darkened interior. Once, long ago, this had been a vibrant community hall, thronging with people and paved with good intentions. But that was when the neighbourhood was new built, fresh hope still abounded in the optimistic community settlement, and work was plentiful. Now though, like the hall’s peeling walls and neglected furniture, the community...

Read story

“The Godmother” by C Britt

Submitted to Contest #75

"Ahem." The green-skinned sprite sticks his head through the doorway. "Ms. Fata?""I asked not to be disturbed this morning." Her quill keeps scrawling notes across the paper, seemingly of its own accord."Ma'am, please?" The assistant's timid voice drifts across the room.Finally, she looks up at the sprite's wide purple eyes and lets out a sigh. "What is it, Makezzy?"He gives her a strained smile. "Lord Tremaine asked to speak with you. Says it's urgent."She raises an eyebrow at the boy. "Lord Tremaine did not want my help in life. Why would ...

Read story

“Old Life for a New One” by Chris Buono

Submitted to Contest #75

The dive bar is cold inside and smells of cheap liquor embedded into ancient floorboards and stale cigarettes of years past. The barflies all carry dour looks on their faces, dressed in cheap apparel. No one looks at me as I, a young man of twenty-three, nervously walk toward the back. They may as well be trapped in here- their own purgatory of drunken loneliness. My footsteps almost echo off the stained wood and brick wal...

Read story

“House Hunting” by Tanja Cilia

Submitted to Contest #75

“This is the year I will get out of here.” You call it the Psychiatric Hospital. I call it the Funny Farm – funny as in weird, not funny as in ha-ha. The day I checked myself voluntarily for hospitalisation into a psychiatric ward, I didn’t quite know what I had let myself in for. But my state of mind – or rather the voice reverberating in my brain – told me it would be the best thing to do. I was the only remaining sibling from a family of seven. Our parents were dead, and I was all alone… no one on either side of the family had want...

Read story

“The Re-building of Me” by 🐔zen Chicken 🐔

Submitted to Contest #75

There’s always going to be a jerk in your life. I should know. I dated one. In my defense, Mark Robinson didn’t seem like a jerk. He was a famous celebrity, and celebrities are supposed to be nice. They always are on-camera. I was just one of the rare ones that tried to be nice off-camera, too. But Mark was not like me in any way. Not that I could mention it, though. Mark's reputation was crystal-clear to the public. Most people didn't want HGTV celebrities to be terrible people, and Mark and me were some of the best-known House Hunt...

Read story

“Simply The Rules” by You'd Think A Writer Would Have A More Creative Name .

Submitted to Contest #75

1919 wordsRated PG; gun violence, bloodI roll my pen back and forth along my desk to stop the annoying buzz of silence in my office. The shimmering crystals inside it jostle. They were taken from the first star ever created. You can get them in bulk at the gift shop downstairs. It takes away the mystique, doesn’t it? You can just pop down two floors, grab one of these babies, and now you own part of a star. Humans would go crazy for just a glimpse at it. Not that they can touch it. Their fingers would explode.“729*8, your new patient is...

Read story

“Stand up” by Aaina Aleszezyk

Submitted to Contest #75

“Listen, I’m sorry. Last night I was inebriated,” Said Joss to his injured wife. Though he did not look guilty as such, but his wife was inclined to forgive him. Marabi looked at him and fell in love again. His auburn hair and eyes reminded her of sunset and of their long romantic walks on the beach. Maybe, after all, it was a mistake. Maybe he’ll never repeat his mistake. Maybe he still loves her. But at least once in her life she wants to be sure, she wants to get rid of maybes. She walked over to him and threw her arms around him. H...

Read story

“BACKWARD NEVER” by Lerato Moeketsi

Submitted to Contest #75

Trigger warning: abuse When Janet woke from what seemed like a dreamless deep sleep, her eyes caught the blinding light through the window. Struggling to open her eyes she pulled herself upright, clutching feebly at the blanket for support as she yawed. She had no idea where she was or how she had ended up in this unfamiliar place. A man was sitting beside her. Blinking her eyes to clear her view, she tried to search through her mind who the stranger could be but nothing came to mind. “Where am I? What’s the matter with me?” Janet was...

Read story

“Forgetting” by Rhonda Norris

Submitted to Contest #75

Forgetting By: Rhonda Norris Liam was a family man who had just moved back home to his birth state with his family. A wife who loved him dearly, three daughters who looked up to him, two grandchildren who he adored, and one more on the way. He worked hard every day to make sure everyone had the life of their dreams. Little did he know his life was about to change, Liam was traveling home on roads he had travele...

Read story

Load more stories

$50

Prize money

735

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 08, 2021 EST

Won by R. A. 🏆

Title: The Violinist

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!

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢