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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

“Be Good for Goodness' Sake” by Iris Silverman

Submitted to Contest #75

Before this year, I wouldn't have paid much attention to people’s laziness. I wouldn't have dwelled on the crowded chats in the lunchroom about the latest story on The Daily Mail or a patient they shouldn't have been talking about. And I would have turned my back when I saw staff treating break-rooms like private bedrooms— in a couple of different ways, if you know what I mean. It was just what people did. And I figured that nothing could really change people. But this year, people’s laziness began to cost lives, un-masked chats in the lunch...

3 comments 3
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“Fatima” by Scott Skinner

Submitted to Contest #75

Two people, Brian Miller and Maud Berdeck responded to the Craiglist solicitation that I authored while sitting on the toilet at the store. My name is Tilden, and I’m a Dry Cleaner. I hated telling people that because, inevitably, they would ask how I got into the business and if I didn’t feel like lying, I’d have to tell them the truth; It’s the family business and I was spoon-fed the job just like everything else in my untroubled life. The Craiglist post offered the reader a chance to leave their old lives behind. I wrote, I can help ...

4 comments 4
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“Dark Spot” by Brooke Griffith

Submitted to Contest #75

I try to ignore the dark spots, black holes...the voids that fill my mind. I think back and back and there is nothing. No memories. I close my eyes and everything is black. “Iris.” I don’t open my eyes at my name even though I am sure that I should. Instead, I sigh, and wait for the words that I know will follow. I will ignore them like I ignore the darkness. “Look, we can’t get anywhere in here if you stay in there. In your mind I mean. We’re here to talk.” The therapist whose name I don’t remember groans on about how I need to ‘open ...

3 comments 3
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“The Room” by Amir Sher

Submitted to Contest #75

Jake woke up laying on a cold hard concrete floor. He opened his eyes and looked around, but it was pitch black. He looked up, down and sideways, hoping to catch a glimpse of light, but it was too dark. Dark and dead quiet. He raised and sat on the cold floor, hugging his knees tight and trying to remember where and who he was. He could not recall what he did and where he was before waking up. He held his breath, trying to tune in any sound around him. Suddenly he heard something. It was very quiet, but it sounded like someone or something b...

6 comments 6
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“I like my old life but I probably should have a new one.” by Sambulo Kunene

Submitted to Contest #75

"No, no you weren't an alcoholic. You sometimes drank too much."said the therapist to his patient that he had helped for over 15 years and realizing that he had to unload his patient. Can you imagine paying off your mortgage as a result of helping someone cope with the pain of unresolved issues in their lives? There is something called a guilty conscience, ladies and gentlemen! In this case it struck Scot, Mr. Scott Zwingli when he realized that he looked forward to some of his patients more than he did his wife sometimes!Agnes had been his ...

2 comments 2
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“Down a Narrow Lane” by Paige Leppanen

Submitted to Contest #75

“We’d have never taken that oath before—” “Quiet, Sarah. They’ll hear.” Anthony shoves his clammy hand over my mouth. I consider biting it but know that we can’t draw attention to ourselves. The time for childish retaliation is long gone. Anthony seems to sense that I’ll remain silent and slowly moves his hand back to his side. We continue to walk, side by side, down the narrow lane. We have a little over a mile to go before we can speak freely. This is part of the test. They dumped us off and are now watching us as we trek to the House....

2 comments 2
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“What Happened?” by Megan Boehrnsen

Submitted to Contest #75

Bright lights welcomed her as her eyes blinked open for the first time in what seemed like forever. The white light was blinding, obscuring her view of the room that she was currently in. The sound of beeping reached her ears as her vision slowly came back to her to reveal where she actually was. White walls and the smell of antiseptic assaulted her senses all at once, overwhelming her as she slowly shifted within the bed. The sheets that covered her moving along with her, making her stop and look down at the white spread. "Cassidy?" T...

2 comments 2
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“THE LAST PLANET STANDING” by Hebert Poll Gutierrez

Submitted to Contest #75

"We have learned to fly like birds, to swim like fish; but we haven't learned the simple art of living as brothers." (Martin Luther King) Solar System, December… A day I don't remember but I don't want to remember either... Dear God ( Head of the Space Resources Department): When I announced that I wanted to leave the Solar System... the conflict began. Mars follower of the slogan: Do as I say and not what I do, became concerned.  He knows  I'm leaving to avoid further contradictions with CSPDC ( Common-sense planet-destroying ...

1 comment 1
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“Good News” by Amir Sher

Submitted to Contest #75

Most people don’t know exactly when they will die. They go on living their lives as if it’s gonna last forever, never thinking about the end. My life is ending today, at 12:00 pm, to be exact. Six months ago, Doctor Faux told me I have six months to live. I pulled my smartphone and swiped the months on the calendar app six times. It was 12:26 pm on June 8 when I sat at the doctor’s office and received the bad news, so I added the event “Life is over” at 12:26 on December 8. It didn’t conflict with any other appointment. The doctor who was ...

4 comments 4
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“How to get away with loneliness.” by Peace Nakiyemba

Submitted to Contest #75

You wouldn’t know just by staring at them that Tomi and Bataa suffer from a similar fate. Tomi with her big brown eyes and her bright green braids against her ebony skin, easy laugh and perky voice and outrageous fashion choices. Or Bataa with her quiet studious look, enforced by her owlish glasses, husky voice, and short hair perfectly framed together in her chocolate complexion. But which fate you may ask; that of the friendless of course. Where they must spend weekends in and there are no invites to parties, where all games are played a...

0 comments 0
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“Hold On” by Black Raven

Submitted to Contest #75

I still remember...it has been fifteen years, and she won't leave my mind. Her delicate features and bright smile... She was the person I admired the most. Guess she changed me. How couldn't she, though? After all, it was my fault. I would always pick one her. Everyone did. My naiveness, that's what caused it. Determined to get her attention, I never once stopped to think about what I was really doing. 15 years ago She lay there, books sprawled all over the floor. I had tripped her again. The third time that day, I think. In my ...

6 comments 6
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“The Department of Afterlife Training” by Emily Hemmings

Submitted to Contest #75

I had been working for the Department of Afterlife Training and Reassignment for nine-thousand, four-hundred years, ever since dying in northern Mesopotamia at the age of seventeen. I do not remember my real name from that time - when spoken to, I was now called Uri - but I do remember how I died. I was one of the first human beings to ever drink themselves to death from the newly discovered drink of the gods: beer. It was not my choice to die, but the same could be said for most people.  And like most people, upon my death I had bee...

2 comments 2
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“~ The Unknown Past ~” by Rupkatha Dey Munshi

Submitted to Contest #75

The hospital was crowded with press and media when I reached. Important officials and politicians were scattered all around and the hospital staff were trying to clear out the paparazzi. I somehow made my way through the crowd with the help of my guard. Dad was still in his room on the 3rd floor. I went up to him and stood still for a moment. "D-Dad?" I finally spoke. But unfortunately, the greatest thing I feared for, had taken place. He stared at me blankly until the nurse told him "Sir, she is your younger daughter". I felt the ground sli...

10 comments 10
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“Pink Everest” by Reece Watson

Submitted to Contest #75

Adam woke up then looked around the room, not knowing where he was. He was breathless as he climbed out of bed. He crossed the room quickly and the sun was setting. A few minutes later, a woman crossed the room and came to stand beside him. The dim house light emanating from the kitchen was the only thing allowing him to see her. She was darker skinned, with brown hair and he saw that she was wearing a slip. Adam asked her,” Who are you? “ The woman smiled,” I’m Brii, your fiancée’.” Adam didn’t even care to know anything else. She was so...

3 comments 3
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“The Ivy and the Holly” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #75

Lois and Neil had decided that they would have to do something about Mrs Carter. About Ivy. Neither of them really wanted to, and both of them had been putting it off for months, but they knew it would have to be done. “It’s the kindest thing in the long run,” said Lois, when they discussed it, in one of the many discussions they had in that long, surreal week between Christmas and the New Year. They had discussed it before, of course, but those discussions had become more frequent and more serious. Even if you didn’t make resolutions as suc...

2 comments 2
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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!

Prompts | Many Hands | 2024-09

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Prompts | Many Hands | 2024-09

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