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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

“ Wedding vows” by Coco Longstaff

Submitted to Contest #75

“I take you to be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.”“I take you to be my lawfully wedded wife to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.”"You have declared your consent before the Church. May the Lord in his goodness strengthen your consent and fill you both with his blessings. What God has joined, men must not ...

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“Welcome to the new you. ” by Moon Lion

Submitted to Contest #75

I smiled gregariously at the young couple that walked in, going around my desk to shake both of their hands. "Hello! Hi, please take a seat." I gestured to the chairs in front of my cluttered desk. "Did Amy get you anything? Coffee, tea?" "Oh we're fine, thank you." The young woman said, confidently taking a seat. She smiled in a friendly way at me, then glanced back at her husband or boyfriend. He stood for a moment, hands in his pockets, before sitting down. he was obviously from money: even his regular outfit (a t-shirt and jeans) hel...

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“Letters to the Girl She Was” by Maya W.

Submitted to Contest #75

***Trigger warning for drowning*** “We put down in writing what is happening in our minds. Once it’s on the paper we feel better, we feel better. It’s like some kind of clarity when the letter’s done and signed.” The roofs were high and mighty, like the cliffs of a mountain. Below them sat many multicolored houses with their own respective roofs to sit on and watch the glory of the sunrise from outside, but alas, it was late, and no one was out. No one, that is, except for two young girls sitting on the roof of a house, the one t...

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“Dear Earth” by Radhika Diksha

Submitted to Contest #75

New year, a time of resolutions and diaries. We all do write our dreams, enroll in fitness activities, make promises, make plans, and take loans. We dream and shouldn’t we. Dreams do make the passion within us, but Jessica had some other plan going on. She was an activist, an environmentalist, and a liberalist. She may not be good in academics or a good athlete, but her compassion was applauded by the great leaders. The year 2020 had greatly impacted her mindset, and now her resolution was the new beacon of light to her fellow environmentali...

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“Going Back” by W.W. Skybelle (Inactive)

Submitted to Contest #75

TW: child abuse, gun violence The bishop began his homily, but I was only half paying attention. I could feel sweat gathering in my hands. Did I really want to do this? A year ago, I would’ve said, “I’m never doing this!” But now, I wasn’t so sure. Last year, I had stumbled in here. I had no home. No family. Well, not anymore. As soon as my parents found out what I did, they slammed the door in my face and told me to get lost. No real family would do that to you. That thought seized m...

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“Miss Chagrin’s home for wayward children.” by 𝔼𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕟 ✳🏳️‍🌈

Submitted to Contest #75

~I was admitted here only a few weeks ago. Miss Chagrin’s home for wayward children. The title could be improved. The attendance could do some work too. I woke up with little to no memory of my life. I mean, I remember classes. I know the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. I remember rhetorical writing. If I try hard enough, I can even remember the name of my old school. But I can’t even know my own name. I walked to the cafeteria, my hope quickly dwindling. I didn’t think I’d find someone; I just wanted to find something. And now, ...

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“Frost” by FJC Montenegro

Submitted to Contest #75

Jeffrey opened the door and was greeted by the cool insides of the small hospital room, his sleeping father judging his delay from the depths of his slumber. The room looked the same as last time, as if it had been waiting for his return. He loosened his scarf, walked to the corner of the room, and hung his coat on the stand. His father was sleeping peacefully in the bed, the machines beeping a slow beat. He left his gloves on the nightstand by the picture Molly had brought last time she had visited. Jeffrey adjusted the picture so it could ...

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“Blood, Bone, and Broken Hearts ” by Emmie Greensgate 🏗🔚🔚👫

Submitted to Contest #75

Trigger warning: self harm Kara had killed him. I had loved him. I will never be the same. And so, hatred and vengeance boiling in my blood, I stood on the dark, shadowed street and, raising my knife to the moon, I plunged it into my hand. My blood ran down my sleeve, staining the white red. It dripped onto the rain-soaked cobblestones, my skin slashed but feeling no pain. "Aeti Aeito Amnada Asara," I chanted, tracing a circle on the ground with my good hand, drawn in my own blood. "I, Akiko Marsadi of the house Ry...

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“Bubba's New Life” by Daniel R. Hayes

Submitted to Contest #75

Jeff sat at his desk staring at a stack of applications that he had to go through. He hated this part of his job, but he knew it had to be done. Jeff started a unique service years ago to help people coming out of the military get used to normal everyday life. He got the idea from having to help his brother David assimilate back into society after years of service. When you're in the military for that long you get used to how things work. They had to follow a strict routine everyday, and sometimes they couldn’t even use the bathroom without ...

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“Victim of Drug Lords” by Zahra Daya

Submitted to Contest #75

Disclaimer: Talk of drug abuse. He clutched onto his mother’s arm tightly and staggered out the sliding panels. His mother seemed to be sighing and kept casting her amber eyes downward, as if embarrassed. “Jason, I’m telling you that it happened.” “Don’t be daft mother, of course, it didn’t,” he said with a short, almost-nervous chuckle. He stole a sideways glance at his mum, only to be met with lowered eyes. Jason’s dirty blond hair whipped around his ears in the wind. It hadn’t been cut in a while and he desperately needed ...

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“Summer's Grasp” by Meggy House

Submitted to Contest #75

Winter and Summer were born from the same bang, raised by the same Sun, abandoned by the same Moon, and moved onto the same Earth at about the same time. There was a Spring and an Autumn once, too, but as the temperature rose like the tensions between the first two, Spring and Autumn shrunk to the background. At about the time Winter discovered how to employ ice, Summer decided that drastic action ought to be tak...

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“Joy City” by Gaurav Shetty

Submitted to Contest #75

I am a Story Collector and Liaison for Newcomers here at Joy City. My day, rather my night starts as usual sitting at the reception desk. Mostly waiting for people to come in. Nighttime is a busy time for us at the reception but that day it was unusually quiet. There was no reason for it. Maybe everyone was happy down there. I knew that was impossible. But it was always good to hope for the best. That is when I saw him. He was a young skinny teenager with dark skin and wavy black hair. He looked perplexed as he walked up the stairs to the re...

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“The Mechanzia ” by Nauman Hamid

Submitted to Contest #75

It’s been years she hadn’t come home. The only thought her mother suppressed, was that she had a daughter. A daughter who was her life, a daughter whom she lived for, a daughter whom she wishes to see. She never had anything to focus on but the gift god gave her. It was four years after her marriage when she conceived her, an for that reason too, her importance in the family was exceptional. She was enjoying every single day of her life. Her father used to get deputed at many different places. Being a police officer it was his duty to obey ...

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“Aparajita - the healer ” by Alkaa Sharma

Submitted to Contest #75

Aparajita , a young girl from a modern town was not aware of her powers. “What powers??” was the question often pondering her mind. Yes , on the day of her father’s demise she felt some strange sensations in her chest and pelvic region, she did feel something within her that warned her that something was not correct.She did feel that something very bad was about to happen and unfortunately she cannot do anything about it. The spiritual world is a very mysterious world. It gives a delusion to a person who may feel spiritually on a higher...

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“walking sideways ” by KED KED

Submitted to Contest #75

Trigger warning - talk of murder and implied abuse. My lawyer advised – no, demanded, that I take a reprieve from the endless parade of reporters and journalists and well-intentioned acquaintances. That I allow myself some space to process what was about to come. A storm that had every intention to blow me over if I let it. I was overwhelmed. Weighed down by the burden of proof that lies somewhere within me. I cannot recall the horrors they need me to remember, though I’ve tried and tried. Dissociative am...

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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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