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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

“Soul Reaper” by C. Fallaci

Submitted to Contest #75

He sat there, waiting. Waiting for the sound he hated the most to ring through the semi-empty white room.Beeee-There it was. The sound he hated the most. The sound that indicated someone had died. He stood up, he hated this part and waited for the soul to materialize before him.The young soul, blue in color, slowly began to form before his eyes. Beginning as a small orb and then slowly transforming into the small form of a human boy.He waited for the young soul to open his eyes, not pleased at how young he died. But nonetheless, it was his j...

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“Peaceful Waters” by Shannon Guinn

Submitted to Contest #75

If you stand on the hilltop and peer down below, your eyes will trick you into believing that the sky is below you and above you. That is because at the bottom of the hill is a small lake so smooth and still as glass that it perfectly reflects anything above it. Surrounding the lake is a canopy of colorful, flowering trees, providing shade to the outer edges of the water. The area is alive with birds, butterflies, and dragonflies gracefully swishing through the air. There are small patches of lily pads where frogs hop from leaf to leaf. Belo...

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“I Am Incognito” by Betsy Remington☕

Submitted to Contest #75

Rupert looked through the file in his hands before getting out of his car. New ID, check. Real estate listing, check. Keys for a 2008 Honda Accord, check. Directions for everything his client has to do for the next eight months while she waits for trial, check. Rupert opened his car door and stepped out onto the drizzle glazed street and headed toward the cozy diner. Mable’s was his favorite place to conduct this type of business. He even had his own booth in the back where he had a good view of the door.&...

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“Grizzly Sam Addams” by Howard Seeley

Submitted to Contest #75

Grizzly Sam Addams Howard Seeley The sound of the passing street car woke Sam up. As he rolled on his side, his tattered blanket fell to the curb. Huh. Another day. He scratched his unkempt beard, wondering how much lice were living in there with him. Sam picked up the blanket and stuffed it in his backpack. He stood and got his bearings. Howard Street and Arena Parking. Yup. Been here before and probably will be again. He started walking towards Baltimore Street. The 7-Eleven should have some good stuff in their dumpster. As he walke...

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“Finding Himself” by Ishita Nara

Submitted to Contest #75

Leonard was a son of a billionaire. His father had a well established business. Leonard's parents loved him more than anything in this world. He was a spoiled kid who was always reluctant to do something for himself. He never thought of being independent. He lived on his father's money. He was a party freak who was always surrounded by people. He had never experienced being alone. One night he,his family and his friends were having a party on a yacht. Leonard was drunk, he went at the top of the yacht. When he reached the railing of the yach...

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“The marriage problem” by Sasan Sedighi

Submitted to Contest #75

It was the fourth session that Sarah had with Mr. And Mrs. Harvey. They had married for over thirty-five years, and their two daughters had grown up and left home for a long time. But now, instead of enjoying their life and freedom, Jim and Karen were fighting all the time. They both were tired of their miserable life, and each was blaming the other. They ultimately concluded there was only one option left for them, and it was to get a divorce. But their daughters were strongly opposed to their separation. Their older daughter made an appoin...

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“Deep Leap” by Michael Hayes

Submitted to Contest #75

“You said you’d never do that in a million years!” As the saying goes, ‘Look before you leap’. I shrugged. I have seen the show ‘Love Trap’ many times, and wondered why people would go on these shows. The infamous show claims you will find true love by marrying another contestant they’ve never met or seen. I often watched the show, just to see their faces when they met their match. Sometimes they are pleasantly surprised, sometimes they try to mask their disappointment, and other times go Arrrgh. In sickness and in health. Death us do part. ...

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“Re:birth” by Ray H

Submitted to Contest #75

I help people. Or at least that’s what I tell myself. Nobody wants to remember the pain, the fear, the suffering that has been inflicted onto them in their lifetime. So they come to me, and I make it all go away. However, my technique is unorthodox, because it does involve removing old memories; happy memories. The thing with pain, you can try and try to forget it, and you achieve that, to an extent, I mean the thoughts start fading away, but why does the body still remember the feeling? It doesn’t need to be physical pain for the body to re...

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“The In-Between” by Linda Jenny Lambert

Submitted to Contest #75

He skated backwards, pulling me along. The blades bit into the ice. Crusp, crusp, like an ongoing song to which our souls had to dance. We lost ourselves in that moment until he twirled me around my center. One of his skates caught on my wings and we fell. I think it's called head over heels. “This is not what I had planned.” I clawed through the thin layer of flaked ice in search of my halo. Oh feathers, it was all hazy now. To little avail, I tried polishing it with my sleeve, then put it back on my head as it was. “What did ...

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“It is between you and me” by Anastasiia Antonova

Submitted to Contest #75

How does it feel to be the never-ending flavor of the month, to be on top every year? To be everyone`s dark shameful secret, promising not just pleasure but possibilities; to linger, to echo, to land on somebody`s moist lips jumping to an eager ear, worm inside and curl, purring, in the trembling jelly of a brain, growing into a tumor of a thought there, a thought evolving into desire? My secret is that the very essence of me crawls under your skin and makes its nest around your beating heart poisoning it with stinging snake kisses. I make a...

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“The Phone Call” by Estelle Westley

Submitted to Contest #75

"I'm going to call my sister today!" Sandy thought if she said it out loud it would make her more determined to take this step. She scrolled down her contact list for her sister's number. No! I wouldn't know what to say, it's been twenty five years, will she just cut me off or she might not even answer her phone. She put her phone down and decided to make herself a cup of coffee first and think of how she would start the conversation. I need the caffeine. Sandra's mother had passed away twenty five years ago and would not have been ...

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“What's next” by John Del Rio

Submitted to Contest #75

This all started because I swore something that I never would have the year before. That's not to say that I wouldn't have made this particular vow; it's just that before a few days ago I didn't know that there was a reason for me to swear to kill a yet to be decided number of people. I know that might seem horrible. Honestly I have to say that no matter the justification; no matter the type of people involved, it is a rather horrible thing that I am contemplating. So now i’m in the back of a patrol car he thinks to himself...

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“RESOLVE AND OUTCOME” by Sivaram Govindaraj

Submitted to Contest #75

As the New Year approached I was seated with my wife discussing the resolution to be made for 2021. She said “Before we go to that let us review how you did in 2020. You had resolved that you would cut down on swearing. You remember we kept the swear jar with coins near it in case you breached the resolution in the year 2019, but the swear jar was soon filled as you hadn’t kept up your word not to swear. You again decided to keep that resolution for 2020.” “Don’t you think I had largely overcome swearing?” She laughed and said “Let’s review ...

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“New Day, New You” by Daryl Oliver

Submitted to Contest #75

The card read, “Marcus Mitchell, Relocation Specialist, Dark Water Corporation.” There was no address or phone number on the card. The man who gave Wes the card was standing with no expression on his face. He wore a black three-piece suit with a red tie. His shoes were shiny as was his har that slid back and matched the suit in tone. And the one feature that stood out the most to Wes was the gold-framed aviator sunglasses which the man wore even though it was dark in the alley where they were meeting. “So, you are the person that’s gonna h...

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“A Liquid Past” by Adam Hughes

Submitted to Contest #75

The water splashed against the bowl of the sink, racing around the plughole and teasing its edges until finding itself slurped into the hole. The sound soothed John’s mind, temporarily displacing the hundreds of thoughts crammed in there. John placed his palms below the taps and splashed water across his face, hoping it would slap the thoughts out completely and dispel them from his mind forever. He knew, however, that the thoughts would return, and he found that he envied the water pouring from the tap and the way that it merely existed. ...

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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!

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