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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

“In Which I Dig a Pond and Hope for Ducks” by Ari Fargo

Submitted to Contest #75

I was born competitive. When I came out screaming, the nurse said I was trying to outdo my mother, the sounds of her labor having reached me in the womb and inspired throaty cries that made visitors cringe. Nothing’s changed - well, okay. I’ve stopped screaming for the most part, but I’m as still competitive as hell. Need proof? I race strangers to the door of the grocery store and don’t even TELL them we’re racing. One time, I was having lunch with someone I enjoy about as much as I enjoy stepping in water with socks on. He said “There’s no...

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“A Promise in the Storm” by Brianna Smith

Submitted to Contest #75

New Year: the time for resolutions and all that "jazz." But New Years is only one day in which you look back on your past year and see through all of your lies, and vow to become a better person. Well, my New Year's wish this year, "Get through 2021 so you can start this process all over again." The feeling of desired freedom and wanted independence intertwined into my thoughts. The thoughts blaring throughout my head like a siren interjected over the self-determination. Space - always given. Independence - I’ve always wanted. Freedom - In...

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“To Know Success” by Joy Andersen

Submitted to Contest #75

The clang of the hallway clock greets the cool air like an old friend. The sound hums through the space into the room and her lips quirk in satisfaction. She leans back against the cool leather of the chair, letting it sway to the left, to the right, and she closes her eyes. The room is still, peaceful. Just the slow swish-swish of her skirt crossing the base of the chair each time she passes over it. Swissh. Quiet. Swissh. Quiet. Vaguely, in the distance, there are some fireworks going off, but not here. The only other sound is the buz...

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“" A New Me "” by Emmanuel A Ahuloo

Submitted to Contest #75

It was a long time ago when the dust settle in the eyes of a young energetic boy named, Prince. He never knew that the shadow of the dark has a secret place for him.It all started when Prince was a little child, he lived with his parents in a nearby community not too far from his school. Prince was a good boy at home but sometimes when he goes to school, he miss behave and fright with his friends, his parents never knew that he was growing up badly. One morning, Prince left his house very sad. His father denied him from bringing lunch to sch...

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“Apartment 303” by George Ryan Holton

Submitted to Contest #75

William looked down at the woman’s olive skin. Even in the middle of winter it was perfect. Like she had just come out of the sun. His eyes moved down to her almond shaped eyes, high cheek bones, and small, straight nose, and was just as taken with her as he had been when he had first seen her four years ago. It had been summer then. William had lived in Apartment 301 for two years at that point, and since moving in had day dreamed of having a beautiful neighbor move in to fall in love with. Given his otherwise introverted nature, someone ...

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“To The Old and New” by Meher M

Submitted to Contest #75

Chapter 1: December 30. I read the date from my phone as I solemnly lie on my bed. Year-round, no matter how hard I tried, I never forgot this date. Instead of getting up and making myself breakfast as per usual, I curled back into my sheets, wet from tears shed not hours ago. I looked at my balcony window, blurred from the rain pouring down as if the world had been crying with me. I had a job to get to, people to meet, responsibilities to fulfill, but none of that mattered today. A tear rolled down my face, soon accompanied by m...

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“Dump the Garbage, Make Room for Glitter” by Anna Bush

Submitted to Contest #75

“As you continue to breathe and go inward, you notice that you are getting very relaxed,” the hypnotherapist said as she guided her client into a deep state of trance. While Hannah had been a hypnotherapist for seven years, she had spent her lifetime helping people rewrite the scripts to their lives. In junior high, she was like Lucy from Charlie Brown, with friends seeking her out during lunch period for advice. One even told her, as an adult, that she had saved her life. On ...

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“ Counselor” by William Barlow

Submitted to Contest #75

I grew up in a poor-family setting where alcoholism was ever-present. My step-father did not like me, and I liked him even less. I spent much of my preteen and teenage years on the streets trying to earn money to feed myself. I sold newspapers on street corners, often staying out all night long. Also, I sold another newspaper, The Grit, which I received weekly through the mail. I took this door to door or sold them at the entrance of one of our local grocery stores. I sometimes ordered greeting cards and garden seeds from the ads in co...

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“Picked or Embedded” by Philip Ebuluofor

Submitted to Contest #75

He was Village champion in three occasions in traditional wrestling organized every three years by the elders in early sixties. During those era, real man was measured by the number of barns one has, how strong you are usually determine how many barns one has or wives you are qualified to marry. Mr. Aburi was and had all the qualities, that was how he landed his beautiful wife Mrs. Helen Aburi. The most beautiful girl of his era. He had seven kids with Helen before he died at age of 38 of complications herbalist controlling events in he...

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“Move Along ” by Christian Trotter

Submitted to Contest #75

Boy, Boy, Boy it was hot today I mean it was so hot it could make heat melt but not a surprised in the state of Georgia. See I wanted to stay my black ass inside my little apartment but, my Auntie needed my help besides she called me last night to see if I was free the next day, I couldn't lied she was my neighbor. I smoked a blunt and but put some gospel on don't judge me. Then I hear a knock at the door it was loud and hard as hell I opened the door with precaution thinking it's the dam cops because I was smoking that good good turns out i...

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“Not in His Attic” by Jessica Burke

Submitted to Contest #75

"Alrighty, Miss....Smith?" the secretary stared over her gleaming, red glasses into the waiting room, wondering which woman would change their life forever today."Yes! That's me, that's me," a short, mud-haired woman shoots up from of her dull, fading leather seat. She catches sight of the doctor who opens the mysterious door that leads to the path that will hold her future. His mold green eyes stared at her, almost insisting that she was making the right choice. Come. It was as if she could read his thoughts. Her black heels begin to clack ...

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“Life Changer” by Claudio Murgia

Submitted to Contest #75

It is on the first day of the year, every year, that my job comes into effect. For the rest of the year, I prepare. I am like that painter that spends days looking at her subject without touching a brush and then, when she is finally ready, finishes her painting with a few, rapid, master strokes. A person comes to me, they want to change their lives completely, and I do just that. On the first day of the new year they are someone different. My job is done, I disappear. Almost no one has regretted it and asked me to go back to their previo...

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“Opening Portals” by Samira Davis

Submitted to Contest #75

"Jackie, what do you think is happening to you?" Star Phoenix, expert child psychologist, gazed patiently at the squirming boy sitting in front of her. Star's office was all grey. A bleak, cold grey, which muffled the sunshine and made another monochromatic world which seemed to be drowning in silence. The cat clock's eyes ticked back and forth. Jackie Sloan was seeing portals everywhere since his parents went off the grid. He believed that one day, these doors would lead him to them. When asked why he couldn't open them yet, he always said ...

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“HR” by Chris Wagner

Submitted to Contest #75

My alarm clock screeched at me at 6:10 AM. When I reached up and stabbed the snooze button, a green hand fumbled for the off switch, and the clock fell from the headboard. "Good morning, Mr. Recruiter," purred my flat chested sleeping companion. "Think you can convince other humans to leave their home now?...Or do you need another reminder?" I groaned and sat up, pulled the clock out from behind the bed. "It's too early." "I can feel your body disagreeing with you." She shifted closer. I could feel her crotch t...

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“Just Listen” by Muskaan K

Submitted to Contest #75

There was something inherently awkward about the silence. At first, of course. By now it was a welcome companion to Dr. Jaime. She understood how to navigate the silence, how to let it sit just long enough before breaking it. It was a tool that every counselor, well, every good counselor, learned to wield deftly. And Dr. Jaime was the best. Deepi started to squirm in her armchair as she felt the silence taking over the room. It was only session 3, Dr. Jaime thought. The silence was still new to Deepi. It would take time for its purpo...

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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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