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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

“The Outpost” by Cody Mitchell

Submitted to Contest #75

I’ve been alone for 30 years now. Well—30 years here, about three months in Earth-time. This crimson planet travels around its sun at a mind-boggling speed—3 days to make a trip around the sun as opposed to 365—but just like on Earth, you don’t even realize you’re moving. You can really only tell by the position of the sun, or the gradual movement of the stars in the night sky. I never really thought about how my home was just a rock floating through space until I landed here. - The first 15 years flew by. I had to familiarize myself wit...

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“The Clarity of Blurred Vision” by Jen Byrne

Submitted to Contest #75

Clarity was the first thing I felt when I woke up. My view, once worn and dim was now refreshed and optimistic. A long breath escaped my lungs that released a pressure I didn’t remember the cause of. I looked around the white room I was in, oddly enough it gave a sense of purity rather than the stereotypical clinical feel. A small folded piece of paper sat against the lamp on my bedside table, it was the only thing in the room that did not belong. I unfolded the paper and inspected it closely. I recognised my writing but could not locate ...

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“My last letter to you” by Surajit Pathak

Submitted to Contest #75

For five years now I have been trying to fulfil my New Years’ resolution. Every New Year I try to strengthen my resolve to complete my resolution but somehow I lacked the courage to do so. However, this year will be different. I have only one objective-This world has to hear me. It has ignored, ridiculed and molested me for many years and I spit on it for its cruelty towards me. The final countdown has begun. One hour until midnight. One hour until I fulfil my long standing New Years’ resolution. One hour until death. A hallowed existence ...

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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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“Agent of Second Chances ” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #75

“Hi, my name is Todd.” He was tall and lanky with a bent tooth smile. He just appeared startling Henry Schuster. Henry was deep in self-pity when he tossed the quarter into the well at Angel of the Mount Park. This park was a scenic retreat from the big city, set in the Los Angeles foothills with a winding trail to the top of Angel Mount. There were benches cemented into the ground at various intervals. Todd, who are you?” Henry asked once the initial shock had worn off. “I am an Agent of Second Chance.” He he...

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“Next” by Shana Cohen

Submitted to Contest #75

Next!” The voice droned from behind the dusty desk stacked with papers, some in neat piles and others in disarray. The young man was plain under his inconspicuous mustache that hid any emotion. He pushed his thick-rimmed black glasses back into place, closer to his brown eyes. “Next!” His voice tolled out to the line of people waiting outside of the abandon warehouse’s storage room. “We don’t have all day,” his voice flat and unyielding to anything other than monotony. An oversized woman in a brown oversized coat came around the corner and...

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“A new beginning” by Joane Unknown

Submitted to Contest #75

There are two types of people. Those people who do things in life for other people, and live their lives for others and not for them. And the other type are the people who left the society’s standards and lived their lives doing what they love, and sadly, these kinds of people are very rare because of the society we all live in. People are always headed by other people that are “role models” for them, and by doing that, they end up not living their life how they dreamed to. People don’t really realize that until they are an age that your lif...

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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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“The Cold Room” by Joseph Shaw

Submitted to Contest #75

Cathy lived alone. The house was much too big for her, and much too empty, but it suited her purposes. There was a cold room in the basement, which she considered to be of the utmost necessity. Her father had left the house to her when he died. She was his only child, his only family, for that matter. Cathy’s mother had died before Cathy had known her, or before she could form memories, anyway. Cathy was twenty-one years old when her father passed. She was twenty-three now. Her father had loved her more than anything in the world.Cathy was a...

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“Never Wanted It” by Janie Cruz

Submitted to Contest #75

Niall sat anxiously in the room, waiting for someone to come get him and tell him it was time. He checked himself in the full length mirror and chuckled. He swore he would never do this. Not anytime soon, at least. Yet here he was. He thought about their first date. ***flashback*** “Ann?” “I’m coming, I’m coming!” He chuckled as he heard her run down the stairs and into the living room. His breath caught in his throat. “What? Is my hair messed up?” she asked. Niall shook his head and laughed. “No no, Pet. You….You...

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“The will to forget” by A. Nelson

Submitted to Contest #75

Every since the age of 5, oddly I could never remember what happened the year before then. I just thought it was because I was young at the time, and so mind really didn’t pay that much attention to what happened the year before. I couldn’t remember what my previous birthday was like nor could I remember Christmas or thanksgiving. But then again,I thought “I was young” , so it didn’t really faze me. Although I will say sometimes after each year, after the clock struck 12:00 indicating the next year, I would notice that my mother and ...

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“Crossroads” by San T.

Submitted to Contest #75

I am still confused about how to deal with the impasse and what to make out of the situation. I am always the one who needs rescuing from love’s mess. I never thought I would have to play the savior one day.Yes, I played Cupid for them. I always have, for many. So, when it came to my two best friends, it went without saying that I would be the one bringing them together. But it never changed the fact that I sucked at love. I still do.Forever confused, forever messy, either my love interests left me, or I did, out of boredom or out of a missi...

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“Sacrifice” by Joane Unknown

Submitted to Contest #75

Trigger warning: rape Have you ever been a kind of person a year ago and the other year, you change completely? Well, that has happened to me too. I started the year by saying that I will only care about my career and I won’t have any babies or relationships. I am Lucy and this is my story. I was living in Berlin, I moved there in 2016 because my career made me to. I was a programmer. I was living in an apartment alone. I was that kind of person that was a hard worker on Mondays till Friday, and during the weekends I was hanging out wit...

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“NEVER IS AN AWFULLY LONG TIME” by Claire Tennant

Submitted to Contest #75

From the vantage point of the balcony, Ruth stood motionless looking towards but not concentrating on the fireworks display. The horrid year was being ushered out, and the New Year welcomed in. The sky looked pretty but her heart was not in the celebrations. Her sister and brother-in-law were beside her, clearly in a world of their own. Suddenly Sean, sensing Ruth’s demeanour, stood beside her. Theirs’s was a good relationship: the non-DNA brother Ruth had wished for. Sean put his arm around her shoulders...

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“Only a Victimized Soul Begs a Vow of Death” by Abhipsa Panda

Submitted to Contest #75

"I swear, in front of the holy sinful fires and my lifelong bullies that we shall not drink water until-" "You moron!! I ain't dying for this. Shut up and say something else." "..." "Why on earth have you shut your blabbering all of a sudden?" "..." "You idiot!!!! WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING!!" "mmmmm..." "Talk otherwise right now I'll throw you into this fire." "They walked across the stale gray day, lights flashing in their eyes, noise blaring in their ears-" "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU SAYING?!!!!" "You only said to 'shut up and say something ...

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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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