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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

“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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“POSITIVITY IN NEGETIVITY” by Mousumi Biswas

Submitted to Contest #75

POSITIVITY IN NEGETIVITY Erika stood in front of the mirror. She had grown thin and pale. There were dark circles under her eyes . She had become a shadow of her past self. She picked up the hair brush and passed it through her hair . Strands of hair stuck to the bristles of the brush . She looked at them with unbelieving eyes . She saw more of them on her pillow, when she woke up the next morning . This had become a regular feature . &nbsp...

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“Not a Resolution” by Alexandria Carroll

Submitted to Contest #75

CJ always loved being active. She had long, bright red hair, green eyes, and she was tall with an athletic build. When CJ was 12 years old, her friend Amy pulled her into the bathroom and offered her a cigarette. “You know what this is called, right?” She said as she put the cigarette in her mouth. “A puff?” Amy shook her head. “It’s called a drag.” She said as she lugged her feet across the floor. “You should try it.” CJ tilted her head to the side and plucked the cigarette from Amy’s fingers. She shrugged and took a drag. The young woma...

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“You Actually Did It” by Asher Matthew

Submitted to Contest #75

“Sigh, seriously? Again? You’re really doing this again?” questions Gabby to her friend and our main character Justin. “Yes! I swear to you Gabby, this year’s gonna be different.” says Justin. “You say that every year Justin. Doesn’t it get old?” questions Gabby again “Not to me it doesn’t. If you believe enough in your heart that it can come true, then it can come true!” answers Justin enthusiastically. “Oh dear Lord. Here we go again.” says Gabby with some level of concern. Justin Sky and Gabby Crimson have known each other since they we...

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“Angela’s Surprise Pandemic Wedding” by Peggy Gerber

Submitted to Contest #75

Angela zipped up her wedding dress, cringing as she looked in the full length mirror. This was not how she had imagined her wedding day would be. She closed her eyes and thought back to when she was a young girl dreaming of her perfect wedding. She could still picture it now. She would walk down the aisle on her father’s arm, her friends and family throwing kisses and beaming at her. Her tall, handsome groom would be waiting for her, tears streaming down his face, joyous and overwhelmed with her beauty. The whistling of the tea kettl...

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“The Vegeholic Slimmies” by Madisson James

Submitted to Contest #75

. “Oh my gosh. Nan is that you? You look absolutely gorgeous.” Nan twirled for her best friend April. “It is me and I knew I was going to surprise the socks off of you.” Nan and April were high school besties with a friendship that lasted them into their 40s. They lived in different states and only got to see each other once a year. “You must have lost like 80 pounds...” “Well 85.5 pounds to be accurate.” Nan cut in. April shook her head from side to side and looked her friend up and down. They were at the Airport. Nan was picking he...

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“Nathaniel's Grand Win” by Thirisha Solai

Submitted to Contest #75

“You did great out there, man, congrats,” Ryker congratulates his best friend, with a large smile gracing his face. “Yeah, thanks Ryker,” Nathaniel breaths out, still catching his breath from the school championship game. “Anytime, man,” Ryker smiles. Everyone in the Sacramento Eagles team lifted Nathaniel into the air. While chanting their school’s name in admiration for winning the most important basketball game of the year. The school was either high from winning the game or just high from the chocolate bars they were sell...

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“L.I.M.B.O.” by Melanie Little

Submitted to Contest #75

content warning: suicidal ideation Roland sits at his desk, sipping his coffee, watching as the sunrise overtakes the sky. From his office on the top floor of the building, he watches as the pinks, purples, oranges, (salmons? He thinks salmon), and reds change and shift in the expansive and endless blue. The colors touch the tips of trees and roofs of buildings first, the kisses of a careful lover, before engulfing the rest of the city below in morning. Roland's tie drapes carelessly ...

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“The carrier” by Marta Trales

Submitted to Contest #75

The first rays of the sun were slightly showing from behind the imposing mountains. The snow was glowing shyly creating an atmosphere of surrealism. Some ice particles were trying to change their fate of melting and shine brighter. Dying in seconds, each frozen drop was an atom of an impressive molecule of glass. From his well-hidden hut, Amos was watching the spectacle anticipating each second. For decades he had been watching this theatrical and fascinating process. In the end, his day to day occupation had the same characteristics, tragi...

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“Artful” by Conor Thackray

Submitted to Contest #75

“Read all about it! Read all about it! Spring-Heeled Jack spotted right here in London! First sighting! Read it here! Come and get it!” A shilling landed at the boy’s feet in his hat, and he nodded his thanks. His long black fringe flopping over his eyes, “Thank you Kindly sir,” He handed the gentlemen a newspaper, with the headline on the front and he took it without a word of thanks and began reading as he walked, not even looking Jack in the eye. It had not been a good shift so far. Despite the bustling crowds, no one seemed interested in...

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“Car Crash” by Ishika Jain

Submitted to Contest #75

“It feels like my past is haunting me. The things that I have experienced comes in my dreams. The car crash, the… the unfortunate death of my family. Why am I alive?” My patient asked me. I hesitated, usually, whenever people came to me and brought their problems, I was able to comfort them in a blink of an eye, but when the subject came to car accidents, I wasn’t so sure. “What are your interests?” I asked him. “I… I am an author, but now my write-ups have become hollow and lifeless. With only depressing thoughts." He said, his eyes...

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“The Withdrawal ” by Lenox Ndeda

Submitted to Contest #75

NAME OF THE STORY: THE WITHDRAWAL NUMBER OF WORDS: 2,327 words THE WITHDRAWAL “There are many ways of breaking a heart, stories were full of hearts being broken by love, but what really broke the heart was taking away the dream – whatever that dream might be.” – Pearl Sydenstricker Buck. “Surely better a stone in the manure than gold in the mountain stream among the tundra temperate regions during the winter,” this were the words that were silently playing in the mind of Caractacus. “Don’t worry,” came the gra...

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“Reincarnation” by Brammy Rajakumar

Submitted to Contest #75

A limo peeled away from the cracked curb, leaving the girl with twin black braids stranded at the mouth of a dark alley. A broken gate blocked her path. She shoved it open, letting it clank closed behind her, and stepped into the alleyway. Shattered bottles littered the cracked stone slabs before her. Inching closer to the dilapidated doorway at the end of the path, she felt a crunch underneath her feet. Upon lifting her boots, she noticed glass fragments from a crushed bottle. With a distasteful glance, she toed them aside and conti...

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“Passing Through Desert Rose” by Cindy Pereira

Submitted to Contest #75

It was a wide, baked plain west of the Badlands, deep in the heart of the Arizona Country. Against the pitiless, brassy glare of the mid-afternoon sun, the striking white of the settlement walls could be seen like a haze against the barren landscape. A few fingers of cacti and clumps of mesquite grass grew in the harsh soil, if soil it could be termed, otherwise for miles the desert stretched on, north, south and east of the Badlands, like an ocean of white against the pale blue of the sky.“Shore is a one-eyed burg, Ol’ Hoss,” a young rider ...

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“A Life's Mission” by Esther Andrews

Submitted to Contest #75

Trigger warning: abuse This wasn’t supposed to be her mission. Sheila wasn’t born into a happy, carefree life. Every time she pulled out her dusty, faded photo albums and scanned through the photographic evidence, she noted it was extremely rare to find an image that captured her smiling. In fact, in nearly every photo she appeared to be on the precipice of bursting tragically into tears. Throughout her childhood, the mantra Sheila’s parents frequently uttered was: “Children are meant to be seen and not heard...

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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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