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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

“Working Towards a Daunting New Year's Resolution” by Morgan Douglas

Submitted to Contest #75

Every year people make resolutions for the New Year that they plan to carry out but never do. Things that may just be out of their reach or things that get sidelined by other obligations. They say to themselves that next year will be the year that they finally follow through and that tends to be pushed back as time goes on. Whether it be something like losing weight or saving money instead of spending it all. New Year’s resolutions are hard to accomplish.  For several years Greta had put off applying for college thinking she was not go...

2 comments 2
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“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...

0 comments 0
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“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...

6 comments 6
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“I don't want to remember m'y past” by وداد أكرم

Submitted to Contest #75

Samer felt pain in his entire organs trying to open his eyes for the first time in six months , but the feeling of helplessness accompanied him in his attempt but nevertheless opened them to feel the smell of medicines, to find around him a lot of medical devices .Try raised his voice but the doctor didn't hear him at first.He raised his voice again, speaking in Arabic, the doctor heard it but did not understand what Samer saidbut the doctor said: "What are you trying to say?" Samer realized It's in a foreign country, and he spoke ...

2 comments 2
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“The Girl” by Navneeth N

Submitted to Contest #75

I follow my mom down the aisle, dragging my feet behind her. She beckons at me to hold a dress that she’s picked, and I sigh, holding my arm out.  I walk down the aisle and don’t even have to say “excuse me”.  Everyone is distancing themselves from each other, and faces are bent into perpetual scowls, as if they have a score to settle with the pandemic. I stifle a laugh, wondering if the pandemic could be thought of as a tangible thing. A few scowling faces look at me questioningly, wondering why I’m laughing in a time of peril.&nb...

1 comment 1
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“Just a social visit” by Merel Cooijmans

Submitted to Contest #75

1251 words ‘Kelly.’ She looked up from her desk. ‘Could you come in for a minute?’ Her supervisor asked. Kelly stood up from her chair and walked over to Nick’s office. He sat behind a small desk that was overflowing with papers and had a computer in the middle. ‘Sit.’ He said to her. Kelly sat down in a plastic chair across from him. He sighted and leaned forward. ‘Kelly.’ He said seriously. ‘I have a job for you.’ Kelly smiled. She knew what he was going to say, she have had this conversation before. She was at the top of her agency an...

2 comments 2
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“Leaving Baybridge” by A.L. Shilling

Submitted to Contest #75

Cassie sat in the plastic chair and looked around at the group in the circle. The man next to her smelled of fish; the woman across from her twitched nervously and ate her fingernails then spit the pieces into the middle of the circle; the woman two seats away on Cassie’s left rocked back and forth rhythmically, driving Cassie nuts.Cassie knew they were all here for the same end result: to create a new life for themselves, but this was going to be a tough crowd. Cassie had led these groups for three months now, and each new group that came t...

0 comments 0
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“The Trajectory of Your Destiny” by Cassie Poormokhtar

Submitted to Contest #75

“Hi, welcome to my video! If you’re watching this, you’re taking the first step toward your new life. Congratulations! This is a scary, but highly exciting time in your life. And I’ll be here to guide you through the process.”         Smiling so wide his too-white teeth caused a small glare from camera light, an overly tan man with a sleek haircut and a tank top stared at me through the screen. He faded into a white screen. A title card appeared: New Year, New You: A New Way to Experience Life! Instru...

1 comment 1
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“Blind Love” by Lydia Shona

Submitted to Contest #75

Trigger warning: suicide   I stare into the oncoming train lights.    After Sam and Devon, I had vowed that in this life, I would never love again. Damn my heart that I follow with such blindness. My head is swarming with memories that hold so much pain. I can barely stand. I can scarcely breathe. My heart strains like a sack of grain almost splitting in half.    Reason tries to make my feet move, but I am rigid. Nothing can stop me. Nothing can knock me over, not even this train. I am ready to meet oblivion. Finally...

3 comments 3
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“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...

3 comments 3
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“Can You Help Me” by Gemma Clarke

Submitted to Contest #75

I was in a delirious state of mind when my phone rang. It was the state that only a very drunk or very lonely, aged, and rather confused mind could get into easily. I was neither but still found myself in this state whenever Miriam had left me for too long. Somewhere in my dark oblivious state the therapist in me still dragged my unwilling mind to a somewhat conscious state while I got unsteadily to my feet picked up the phone and answered it. I drew back quickly and winced as my front desk assist...

13 comments 13
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“Behind closed doors ” by DREW LANE

Submitted to Contest #75

Janice fixed her scarf with hairpins, behind her ears and across her temples, to make a hairband. She adjusted the bun at the top of her neck and hid the remaining of her camomile strands under the silk patterns - without metamorphosis, she struggled to slip into her evening role.She rolled down the iron curtain of her dry-cleaning shop and switched the sign on the door to “Closed”. Her hand glued to the top of her headscarf, and her long pleated dress floating in the wind, she rushed down to the bar at the corner of the littered street. Che...

5 comments 5
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“A Better Man” by David Brown

Submitted to Contest #75

On the semi-terraformed planet of Mars, a middle-aged man enters the Red Rover Casino via an oversized pair of sliding translucent carbyne main entry doors. The traffic noise from the protected electric vehicle and pedestrian path briefly mingles with the ding-dong ringing of electronic slots and the metallic jingle of token payouts before the doors glide shut behind him to latch with a buzz. Ever since the invention of the Liberty Bell slot machine in 1895, the basic function of these mechanical monstrosities has remained essentially unchan...

2 comments 2
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“Crash ” by Marion Donnellier

Submitted to Contest #75

cw: suicide-related content A glass of fizz in one hand and a sad little shrimp in the other, I vowed to drive a red car this year. Even as I said those words, I surprised myself at how dull it was, perhaps even a bit greedy. A year ago, there was nothing I could have wished for that I didn't already know would happen. I had carefully planned my life and it was all going to happen, as I dreamt it. I could have wished for nothing more and so I wished for nothing. New Year's eve annual renewal philosophy is ridiculous. I, too, have often wishe...

2 comments 2
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“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...

7 comments 7
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$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!

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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