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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

“The Moon on a Stick” by Karen McDermott

Submitted to Contest #75

When I saw this Reedsy prompt, I decided I would tell the tale of how I became a writer.I was seven years old when my father, Tom, got a promotion and my mother, Debbie, told my sister and me that we would be moving to Hamley Court. Kelly took the news typically stoically, her only concern being whether that would mean her having to change schools. After Debbie reassured her, my mother began describing the house. Interior decorating plans were of no interest to me, but my ears pricked up at the mention of a garden. I had questions.“Does this...

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“Good Old Joe has Something to Confess” by Tom .

Submitted to Contest #75

You can call me Joe.It is not my real name, but it is a good name.It is an everyman name.Joe can have almost any identity, be any shape, age or size.Joe steps over the divides we erect between ourselves.Whether it be Regular Joe, G.I. Joe or just your run of the mill, Joe Blow; there is a space in all our lives for Joe. We can even wake up in the morning and drink a cup of Joe. Anyway I promised you a secret, something nobody knows about me, so to make this easier to tell, we can pretend it is just happening to Joe. Good old Joe, who just li...

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“Convincing Death” by Tolu Odel

Submitted to Contest #75

I watch her sleep.And I watch her sleep some more. And she continues to sleep. Holy mackerel! Well, mackerels aren’t holy, but, wowzers! Is this girl gonna sleep all night? Hurry it up lady, you may be mortal, but it’s not like you need eight hours of sleep.Wait a second. I look it up, only to find that indeed, mortal humans need around eight hours of sleep.***So, four hours later, why is this girl still asleep? She stirs.Then she starts snoring again.Call me impatient, but I got other peeps to take, so clearly I need to asser...

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“The Followers” by JASON PARKER

Submitted to Contest #75

The illness burned through my home like a forest fire. The twins were the first to fall; their once rosy cheeks struck pale by an unseen killer. Foreheads burned and toes curled and their mother and I watched helplessly. Hopelessly. No Doctor would come; most were waist-deep in the afflicted, if not sick themselves. We were utterly alone. We buried our boys in the yard. There were no church services anymore; no tearful eulogizing; no remembrances carved into stone. They looked like baby birds—tiny and featherles...

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“Knives” by Cari Rodriguez

Submitted to Contest #75

“Knives” I have this recurring, 3-second long flash of a woman carrying me and guiding a child behind a door. The woman moves, blurry, in auburn swinging strands that wash across my visual field. I can make out a warm glow on the crest of the wall above the door frame. The light wipes in from the hall, as the door hinges open, leading to a black room. The child shifts in her lace-y white gown beneath wavy, copper hair that dances like springs in a communal hopping, toward the dark wall. Through the light, the woman’s wobbly voice grips to...

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“To Be Him or To Be Me” by Kira Krieger

Submitted to Contest #75

"I didn't touch it, Arlin, and you can't prove I did!" Nebula yelled, stabbing Arlin with her index finger. "I don't care if you did!" He met her intensity. With a breath, he continued, "I just want to know who fixed my tablet." "Even if I did, don't think you could catch me with that lie. You've never thanked anyone in your life." "Not to you. You mess around with everything… what… what is the sound?!” They walked out of the hall into the main room of HQ. Nothing was there, but the noise persisted. They took a f...

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“Route 5” by Michael Boquet

Submitted to Contest #75

A deserted highway. A young girl, no older than seven. The girl is pale, too pale. So pale that she stands out against the surrounding shadows. Not glowing exactly, but sharply contrasted against the blackness and mixed green foliage behind where she kneels in the dirt. The girl begins to weep. The tears run down her face, but never reach the ground. They drop from her chin and disappear. Her sorrow and despair permeate the night air, bouncing off the tree trunks and faceless blacktop. The starless sky above the only audience to her sobs. ...

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“Three Words Unspoken” by Cassandra Durnin

Submitted to Contest #75

It was late, the city finally starting to sleep. Streetlights flickered here and there, and things of the day had died down, giving the Night her chance. His chance of another target. However, things were looking grim, nobody around for him to… finish. The darkness didn’t help, wrapping him in a cloak of anger, making the gin on his lips burn hotter, burn faster. Half the glass was gone, enough to warm him, but not so much that it would hinder his deed, a careful precaution. But after wandering the streets frustrated and cold, he almost gave...

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“Exit Agency” by Adriana K. Maxwell

Submitted to Contest #75

Exit AgencyHalf down. No refunds. Prices vary by customer. Contracts sacred.--And of course, it’s a parking ticket, because that’s how Simon Barell’s day/week/life goes. It’s just the way the joke would go. He gets in, rests his forehead on the wheel for just a few seconds, just to breathe, before looking at the paper to see how much money he’s going to lose and how much his wife is going to yell at him.There’s a card that slips out. White fancy paper with shimmering gold script: Leave It Behind: Exit Agency- Half do...

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“Curtains” by Joane Unknown

Submitted to Contest #75

Our curtains. They hide so many things for us, only to show the others how “amazing” we are, and how “happy” our life is as a family. We are role models. We are always perfect. The Lopez family... Mr. Lopez is a business man. A handsome man, with an amazing bank account. And his wife, Ms. Lopez was a fashion model that had her own business. They had a happy marriage and a happy child. Their child’s name was Isabella. She was such a beauty. Her mom, Selina Lopez, saw that and wanted her beauty to be seen by everybody. She started doing ...

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“Death Meets A Life(Coach)” by Iona Cottle

Submitted to Contest #75

“It is time for you to go.” The shrouded figure leant heavily on their scythe and peered out from the depths of their hood. An outsider might’ve suggested that the hump in its back was old age, and the pressure of the millennia of work that it had endured. In truth, it was boredom. “But I wasn’t ready!” the obese woman cried. “I was going to the Bahamas next month!” The figure looked at what was left of the woman in the corporeal world. The bag from her takeaway chips was still perched on the arm of the sofa next to her, with half a do...

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“Curtain Call” by Ari Fargo

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #75

Trigger warning: Suicidal ideation 1. She’s four the first time he sees her. Most people didn’t start the life-long relationship with him until later on, but a tumble in the pool is all it took for the two of them to meet. He sits on the edge of the pool, watching her splash, arms breaking the surface vigorously. The California sun beats down on the water, transforming the droplets into sparkling diamonds that burst upon impact with the concrete that surrounds the water. She goes under, and the ripples lap lazily at his pants legs. Minutes p...

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“I Want To Be Someone...Else” by Annette Lovewind

Submitted to Contest #75

Aleena was a troubled girl. It wasn’t her fault entirely just hung around the wrong sort of people. She began stealing because she can and her words exactly “Fuck Capitalism”. Which is a completely different topic for another time. She loved the sense of freedom and excitement. The adrenaline she would get when she had smuggled things out in her purse and no one had noticed. The fear of walking through a sensor and the fact that maybe she might get caught. Aleena thought this type of behavior was freeing and it was quite addictive. Othe...

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“Wyatt’s Journey” by Zoe Magnusson

Submitted to Contest #75

Once there was a little boy. His name was Wyatt. Wyatt was not like other little boys, he liked going on adventures, and he didn’t really fit in. One day he was walking along the forest when he saw an old Treasure chest no bigger than a shoe box, half buried in the soil, But the lock was broken. He started walking towards it to take a closer look. “Well,no booby traps here” he said. When he Opened the chest, he found a small machine that seemed to be controlled by a little crystal that was slightly rose tinted. He picked it up and studied it...

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“Pellucid Plans.” by Adanna Anita

Submitted to Contest #75

“My story is scary, horrifying, and sadly true.So, when I was little my grandfather kept coming after my sister and doing ‘very bad things’ to her that I didn’t understand. I knew she didn’t like it and I had to protect her. I found a pocket knife in the garage of their house — one of those little red swiss army ones.I pocketed it and decided I would do what’s right.Next time he came for her, I defiantly pulled out that knife and stood between him and her saying he couldn’t do those things to her anymore. His face filled with hate and venom....

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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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