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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

“You leave your memories, for me to take.” by Jana Diriyeh

Submitted to Contest #75

Henry Ashford sat rather tiredly in his office, waiting for the wanted patient. He didn't want the job, but he couldn't decline it. It was his job and he can never abandon helping people. But what if I die? And he laughed at his idea. I can’t. I shouldn’t. But nobody would notice anyway. Nobody would ever know. Except for my wife and son, who are memory-wise protected. His job was made to erase all people's memories, and erase his identity too. If anybody knew about his ability, he would be in trouble. He doesn't want to. He glanced at his f...

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“Tavern Dealings” by Maya V

Submitted to Contest #75

The night was reaching its peak at the old tavern on Conjuror's Row. Inviting orange light spilled out of the windows and onto the street. The air inside was mildly opaque, both in the sense that smoke billowed from the pipes of relaxing adventurers and that the atmosphere of the place was one that begged for anonymity. It was for this reason that the nymph lounging in one corner frequented the place. Her gaze shifted continually around the room as she nursed her drink: an amber-colored brew that never seemed to empty.Between muscled adventu...

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“Rite of Spring” by Matthew Eubanks

Submitted to Contest #75

After they put him under anesthesia for the brain surgery Gerry Lovelace could tell things were not going well. He had been near death once before with an infection and seen the green light and felt the warmth that he now understood to be the next step in dying.Something told him this time he was going to have to decide whether to stay or go. It seemed like dying would be painless, if he chose it this time.But when he started thinking about that Boggs would hit him. Boggs, his father, was there in his sleep, as real as he had ever been.“Put ...

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“Welcome To Your New Life” by Enriko Pratt

Submitted to Contest #75

Dr. O sat in comfortable silence, anticipating the arrival of their next customer. This time of year was the most popular for their services. Something about the Gregorian shift from one calendar to the next always made people want to forget. For as long as they could remember, it had been their job to help those who wanted to change, become anew. To leave one’s past in the past didn't come cheap. In this mortal world, money was an object of power; however, for Dr. O to truly exist within this world, money proved to be more of a requiremen...

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“It's a resolution” by Jeffrey Pope

Submitted to Contest #75

“Curse me! Should I ever again raise these damn thongs at anyone.”His voice was low, with an agreeable trace of huskiness. And filled with so much grief. Away from the lonely whip, and up the cinder block wall, nearly reaching the splendidly frescoed ceiling, there found his perturbed gaze, a photograph. “This is my resolution,” Those words, full of malice, left his dry, trembling lips with great difficulty. “…to you.”Whoever he was speaking to, was staring back. From the photograph, in gilt frame. In it a little girl. Seventeen. Her eyes sp...

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“The Two Vows..” by Casarina Alexander

Submitted to Contest #75

"I vow never to fall in love." The words tasted like a bitter pill, and they stung like a bitch. Addison and Parker looked over at me. They were worried, I know. Addison reached over giving me a side hug. "Don't say that babe. You would have never said that last year.." I snorted pushing her away. "Why do you think I said it this year?" She flinched at my words. "Listen, I didn't mean to come off hostile, it's I just can't have the same stuff as last year kick me in the ass." Addy sighed nodding. Last year I was in love and Engaged. It d...

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“Creation” by James Bepko

Submitted to Contest #75

There was a growing stillness in the world behind me around my head thickening and pulsing with life like an Emerald Green Vein pumping blood for the first time. Prepare to bear witness to fiery lakes prepare now for all which soon I’ll create. This path will include a way to end death meant to learn early before my last breath. “See child, I bestow this gift of life upon you at a great cost for everything must move in a circle. I’ve been all through time from beginning to end and changed everything but it happens again....

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“Knight Moves” by ErikAnne Davis

Submitted to Contest #75

"Alright, I'm never time traveling on internal reserves again!" Jake was staring at themselves in the mirror. The last time Jake had travelled back in time was five years ago after the murder of their brother Devlin. The price for that had been 15 years off of their life.Around that time Jake had been going through a transition process in an attempt to make themselves more androgynous. Unfortunately, for them, the mana in their system had been accelerating the testosterone causing Jake to take on a more masculine look than they were aiming f...

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“The Voice in the Room” by Stephen Taylor

Submitted to Contest #75

It was dark, so very dark – and quiet. The only sound was the faintest whisper of a breeze coming from somewhere, like the wind sighing as it caresses the leaves of a tree. The blackness in wherever he was – a room, a cell, a box – whatever, was total and sensory numbing, no light penetrated the gloom that he could make out. Why was he here? How did he get here? Many different questions started to crowd his mind, asking for answers that he could not give. The truth was - he did not really know who he himself was. Amne...

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“Before Yesterday” by Colin Devonshire

Submitted to Contest #75

“Eighteen today? A big boy now,” said June. “Yes, mum, does that mean you’ll allow me out?” “Jimmy, we’ve been through this. You can go out, you always could.” “I mean, on my own,” said Jimmy through clenched teeth. "Open your gift. Do you like it?” his Mum asked. “Thank you. It would be better if I had somewhere to wear it,” he answered, lobbing his new jumper onto the sofa. “Have you any schoolwork to catch up with?” “Most people my age have quit school by now. Why do I have to keep learning?” asked Jimmy. “We...

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“The long and short of it” by Laura Endeacott

Submitted to Contest #75

The dust travelled high up to the heavens and gusted tremendously in great turbine pools of acrid beige particles. Ground so dry, sweat drops would make the sand mites sing at the surface. The sun was almost calling it a day, as it leant on the tip of the mountain-scape. The hilly monolithic view as a background, made way for the sandy foreground, where no life seemed to teem but a common black crow and three black silhouettes in the distance, atop four legged beasts. Heat waves swung out like capes around these silhouettes and the beasts sh...

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“Brain wave” by Marian Reiley

Submitted to Contest #75

"All I remember is being in the middle of that road where I was found," the patient insisted. The attending physician looked up from his portable work station. "I see; so you can't remember anything but your name?" He asked. "No, all I know is my name: Alison," she said. The doctor typed for a little bit. "Well your tests don't show anything wrong with you," he said. "Are you sure you don't know why you were outside Grange Army Base?" Alison was feeling irritated. The florescent lights in the ER flickered. "No!" She said. "We've been o...

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“lost memories” by Patricia Green

Submitted to Contest #75

As John sat reading the morning paper he suddenly started shaking. The story was about local detectives going back into a fifty year old cold case, which involved a robbery of over a million dollars. The case was in the 1970’s and was never solved, although they had several suspects, they all had water-tight alibis, and nothing could be proven. John had no idea why the story had sent shivers up and down his spine, or why he felt de-ja-vu while reading about the circumstances. Now he began to worry, because he couldn’t remember anything about...

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“Blood on my hands” by David Francis

Submitted to Contest #75

Can you see the blood on my hands? Me neither, but I know it’s there. I can feel it, like acid on my skin. It writhes and burns, and sometimes, just out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of it. But not often. I don’t know whose blood it is, and I don’t know how it got there. I have no memory of it. I have no memory of anything apart from the last two days. Two days ago, I opened my eyes, and found myself standing in small general store, my hand outstretched to pick up a can of beans. It never made it. I just stood and stared at...

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“The Story Of A Princess and The Reincarnated Prince” by Andrea An

Submitted to Contest #75

“You--my dear, Anthony, you--” Although there was glass in between them and a big distance after that, Anthony could not help but step back. “You are him! We--we spent--” the woman tried to stand but the thick metal locks on her feet and arms restrained her from doing any movement. “Oh, don’t you remember? Of course you don’t--that wretched brother of mine let you forget everything!” She sneered. She looked like a wild animal that was ready to pounce and attack its prey. Nurses entered the room opposite theirs in order to restrain the woma...

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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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