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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

“A Fresh Start, Perhaps” by Heather L'Huillier

Submitted to Contest #75

They say losing your memory is a bad thing, but I don't see it that way. I left the person I was behind. A fresh start perhaps... I awoke, startled by an unrecognizable sound. Some sort of clattering was happening off in the distance. As I sat up I looked around, "Where am I?" I tried to think back to the last thing I remembered, but my mind was blank. "Is this some weird deja vu shit or what?". I got up from the bed and flicked on the lamp resting on the side table. Cautiously I looked around searching for something-anything that lo...

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“Why would I want to remember?” by Isabelle King

Submitted to Contest #75

Trigger warning: mention of terror attack I remember when I woke up from this horrible horrible state. I remember feeling the cold temperature in the room. That was the first thing that I remember. I heard those horrible beeping noises beeping over and over again. I also remember the way I was sore I felt like there was a thousand needles puncturing me all at once. I tried to open my eyes but the light was so bright it was like looking at the sun. I was in agony. I don't know how all of this pain had managed to hit me so suddenly but ...

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“Medical Mystery” by Samuel Liddicott

Submitted to Contest #75

I looked at the cast iron frying pan. It seemed heavy enough for the job. It wouldn’t dent either which meant I could still use it to cook breakfast after. That is, if I remembered how to cook breakfast. Which I would, wouldn’t I? ************ “Sir, sir. Can you hear me?” A combination of flashing lights and people moving about the room met my unsteady gaze. Was that smoke I smelled? “I…I think so…” “He’s conscious” a voice replied “Sir, we’re going to move you onto a stretcher and take you to the hospital. Everything is going to be okay...

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“Cracked Sunshine ” by July July

Submitted to Contest #75

The flag was planted. And then BOOM the world lit up like fire and lights and the contents of happiness spilled everywhere and it was a mess. Smiles were contagious and everyone was infected with this disease of joy and pride- because it was 1969 and the Americans had reached the moon. But not me. Not me. I let the gravity that was such a force here increase the speed of the shovel as it plummeted into the soft brown earth dirt and scooped another heap of it onto the small casket. It was gleaming like a silver bullet in the July sun, and it’...

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“Full Circle” by Debbie Teague

Submitted to Contest #75

“We cannot see our reflection in running water, it is only in still water that we can see” – Zen. Timid Jason dreaded the walk home from school, but it was a dread he would have to face. His two older brothers had gone into the military and were no longer around to protect him and the school bullies knew that. He waited around after classes let out, hiding in one of the stalls in the bathroom (standing on the toilet so no one saw him) until he thought it was safe, then left the building and started the trek home. So far so g...

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“Tread in My Shape” by Breahna Lesemann

Submitted to Contest #75

It’s strange when everybody in the world knows more about your past than you do. It’s a bit disorienting to wake up cuffed to a hospital bed and be interrogated for crimes that I didn’t remember committing. People never forget those crimes. I’m haunted by newspaper articles and distrustful cops. Most of all the cops. They thought I was faking it when I first woke up in the hospital. Then when they realized I wasn’t there was a nationwide debate over whether or not I should stand trial for my apparent crimes. It was a whole big thing, ...

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“Escape” by Arshia Sheraz

Submitted to Contest #75

Jenny resigned from her job and came out of the office, totally engulfed in her own thoughts, walking merrily towards the bus stop. Suddenly, the car stopped and she was forced into the car while her screams were muffled by a hand over her mouth. Next thing, she remembered was shutting of the car doors before she collapsed. When she gained conscious, she found herself tied to a chair. She had no idea where she was and how much time had passed. She started struggling with the ropes on her wrists tied at her back. She shouted but her voice ech...

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“there is no before. ” by The Word Collector

Submitted to Contest #75

I sit down on the old wooden seat, wrapping my coat tighter around myself as the icy breeze kisses my frostbitten cheeks and tousles my hair. The snow falls hard and fast, obscuring almost everything in sight. I smile.Who am I?I don’t want to know.Where am I? I don’t care.I just sit there, enjoying the silence and the snow, until I drift into a peaceful sleep. I am woken up by the sound of wheels, driving along the frost-covered road. The snow has stopped and I can make out a hazy shape in the distance. It seems like a bus, its headligh...

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“Elmira and the Serum.” by David Dicaire

Submitted to Contest #75

Elmira and the Serum Elmira Steep lived in Section Five in Hemisphere One. There were five hemispheres on the planet now each in their own separate dome. Outside the dome was dangerous as the air was toxic from the accidental nuclear bomb that was exploded. But, that was ancient history. Elmira had married and produced two children all that she was allowed to have under the new restrictions. Her daughter was very intelligent and was scooped up and became a member of the medicine team in Section One in Hemisphere T...

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“The traceless existence of NN” by Ann Sable

Submitted to Contest #75

In the empty compartment, NN put her bag on a seat across. The train ride was to take three hours. It was raining outside; stripping the featureless station of any remaining uniqueness. The train was scheduled to depart in three minutes. NN glimpsed at her ticket. Destination: Hechingen. That did not tell her anything. She received it and the booking information per post, as always. The envelope contained only printouts, no note from Sitora this time. A ticket to 'Hechingen' and two booking confirmations for hotels, one for three d...

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“To Scar and Shatter” by M.J. Weisen

Submitted to Contest #75

When the wind would roll through the mountain's trees, and they would creak and groan like old rocking chairs, he felt the least alone. When he would light the rusted lantern that hung before the threshold of his one-room cabin, and the smoke would flee to the darkening sky, he didn't feel alone. At night when he sat in the silence of his makeshift home, and through the lantern's leaking light, he stared at the chasmic, jagged scars that covered his skin and he would wait for the swirling of broken thoughts in his mind to fade into an uneasy...

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“A Night in the Hospital ” by Breonna Robusto

Submitted to Contest #75

The hospital had significantly quieted down from the frantic movement of the morning hours. The darkness filling her room, mixed with the lack of activity coming in and out, allowed the dread that she had been trying to suppress to fill her. The dread was like a fire, one that had been smoldering ever since she had awoken under the bright lights of her first room. The moment her nurse left, she took one shuddering breath that provided enough oxygen to set that fire ablaze. It had taken so much of her energy to stay still and fol...

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“To Know Myself is Knowing You” by Natalie B

Submitted to Contest #75

Aviana I have trouble with emotional regulation. I cry consistently, over everything. When I receive good news, such as being promoted or when I was accepted to the school of my dreams. On the other hand, sadness in the form of my partner saying something evenly remotely hurtful or overthinking my work. With words and situations, everything is magnified. I'd like to wonder what my life would be like without mental illness. Ever since my diagnosis, I assume everything is wrong with me and my mental health is an excuse when things go w...

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“One First Date” by Sophia Loosle

Submitted to Contest #75

My name is Erza and today, May 3, is the day I turn eighteen. My best friend, or girlfriend, or something, Addie, lives in the house next door and she turns eighteen a week from today. We've always been close, so when i wanted our relationship to be more than friends I was confused at first. Addie has drifted apart recently. It makes more sense if I go back to around a month ago when I first told her I had feelings for her. “Please Ez, please. Don’t tell me,” that’s what Addie said. Right before I was about to gather the courage to tell her...

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“My Father's Son” by Kay Lane

Submitted to Contest #75

“Dad’s dying.” The words echo in my mind, bouncing around before they finally sink in. “What’d wrong with him now?” I ask. “Lung cancer. The smoking finally caught up with him. I just left the hospice home he’s at. It’s not loo...

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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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