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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#77: Snow Day

It’s deep into winter where I live and here that means one thing: snow, and plenty of it.

While I’m not the biggest fan, even I will admit that it makes great writing weather. There’s just something cozy about curling up with a blanket and a cup of tea, and losing yourself in the world of your imagination as flakes drift slowly past your window.

We won’t all be writing under those conditions this week, but we can still evoke that feeling. So grab yourself a mug of something warm, snuggle up with your laptop, and dream of the bite of winter wind on your cheeks…

This week's prompts

Write about two people going sledding for the first time in many years.

Fluff – 130 stories

Start your story with someone looking out at the snow, and end it with them stepping tentatively onto a frozen surface.

Winter – 233 stories

Write about someone who gets stuck in their workplace during a blizzard and decides to explore rooms they aren’t normally allowed in.

Winter – 162 stories

Write a story set in the summer, when suddenly it starts to snow.

Summer – 159 stories

Set your story in a remote winter cabin with no electricity, internet, or phone service.

Winter – 246 stories

Stories

“Ladies retreat gone wrong” by Sue Catrama

Submitted to Contest #77

Jackie woke on a beautiful sunny hot and humid August morning. Although the humidity was so thick she could have cut it with a knife the morning was glorious. She was waiting on her friends Emilia and Stephanie to pick her up and head to the airport for their long awaited beach trip. They started planning for this week long trip just after the Christmas holiday. Giving themselves plenty of time to have it paid off by the time they disembarked. For several years they have been planning a luxurious getaway, but life stopped them. During Christ...

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“Witless Woman in the Wilderness” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #77

There were a great many movie and TV clichés that grated on Sylvia Murray’s nerves, but if she’d have had to pick her worst bugbear it would have been the one she termed Witless Woman in the Wilderness. Otherwise known as the one where Our Heroine, in mortal danger, retreats to a remote cabin cut off from all access to the outside world and often with a very iffy lock in the bargain, and if there were neighbours, the kind that made the Addams Family look like The Waltons. But that wasn’t what she was doing. That wasn’t what she was doing at ...

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“The Winter Cabin” by Amalee Bowen

Submitted to Contest #77

I had worn a tank top in defiance of my sentence to exile. Everyone had heard the stories of the Winter Cabin. Judge Taylor liked to send some of the worst cases there. As long as they hadn’t straight up murdered someone. Apparently he drew the line there. I had briefly considered whether it was worth going to real jail for the rest of my life for murder to escape the Winter Cabin. All I knew was that the people who went in came out different. Without the spirit and fire they had gone in with. Well. They weren’t going to break me. Th...

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“The Top of the Hill” by Howard Seeley

Submitted to Contest #77

The Top of the Hill Howard Seeley It was early morning when John woke up. So many mornings have passed since he could first remember and each one was different from the rest. From hiding from monsters under the bed, waiting for Santa to arrive, sleeping with his first love, his honeymoon night, and now. John looked at the wrinkles on his hands and the gray hairs on his arms. Yes, many mornings have come and gone. Turning to his side, John eyes an unoccupied pillow next to him. A smile crosses his face as he smells the aroma of fresh cof...

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“Frozen Water” by Grace Jarvis

Submitted to Contest #77

The snow lightly fell, taking over the dark of the night. The bitter cold brought warmth inside the houses. Families cuddled a little bit closer, cherishing each other and remembering the love they have for each other. The first snowfall of the year was a special time. A time full of joy and comfort. The cold fingers, colds, and snowball fights would be worth it. There was more that would come from them than would be taken. By morning, there were three inches of snow covering everything. “Good morning, Mom!” “Morning, honey. Are you ...

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“Across the Street” by Teresa Beirão

Submitted to Contest #77

I’m not usually nice nor happy in the morning. Today, a cold morning that was expected to be hot, I feel even worse. The warm breeze that usually rises forgot to show up and what I see through the window seems to be anything but a summer day. It's cold, too cold. I could swear I saw a snowflake, but it’s too early to make swears. I hear an alarm ringing, followed by a creaking of the bed in the next room and a squeak of enthusiasm, which announces the end of my moment and gets my day starting. Clara woke up.“Good morning! Are you s...

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“the back room” by Hannah S

Submitted to Contest #77

The day it happened was blurry, but what i do remember is the moment that me and Rhea realised that we probably had to spend the night at the office, my car was snowed in and i always gave Rhea a ride home when we worked overtime. Rhea was my friend, we were both just part timers at that school; we helped with basic things like filing and printing. That school had a complicated filing system so we were only allowed to handle the basics like the co curriculums and mostly just punched holes and printed documents. We tried to walk through the s...

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“The Covered Sky” by Catherine Hill

Submitted to Contest #77

“Fiona! Ginny! Come now, I have sandwiches!” Lauren called out to her two children, who were squatted down at the edge of the ocean, catching the lapping waves into their buckets. All morning they were shouting about the imagined mermaids and sharks and octopuses that made their way into their little plastic buckets. Ginny would pretend to wrench them from the bucket and throw them back into the ocean and Fiona would run back to about the halfway point between the water and her parents to inform them...

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“A Drowning at Calvin Lake ” by Kanden Lang

Submitted to Contest #77

Trigger Warning: mentions of domestic abuse, alcoholism, drowning.Ren shielded her eyes against the light glinting off the snow. She swept her gaze over her surroundings, scanning the untouched blanket of white disguising the terrain beneath it.She hadn’t expected such a loud shattering sound to ring out into the woods when it happened. The ice, hidden under the same layer of powder as the rest of the landscape, couldn’t have been more than a few inches thick. The lake below couldn’t have been less than fifteen feet deep.He should have notic...

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“Stuck at school.” by Damian Nowacki

Submitted to Contest #77

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! James's Aralm clock was beeping. "ugh..." Gumbled James as he Turned it off. "come down for breakfast!" Shouted Mum. James didn't even move. "It's Pancakes!" James was downstairs in a flash. "Ha! that alwayse works!" laughed Mum as she put pancake's on James' Plate. james Poured some hot fudge over his. He ate it in less than you can say 'pancakes' and Rushed out of the house, ready for the school bus. The Bus arrived, James Jumped into it and Rode off, starting the Day in a happy sort of way. "why you're So happy then?" As...

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“Winter” by Lyddia Rose

Submitted to Contest #77

Peering out my window after shutting off my alarm, I can tell that there is at least three more inches of snow on the ground. There was six to begin with; so now, there is almost a foot. I tear my eyes away from the window before I can start admiring everything about the winter wonderland outside. I get dressed for the day, pulling on my warmest clothes, preparing for the inevitable freezing air. There is a fire going downstairs, but I don't have time to sit there. I scarf down a hot breakfast and grab my backpack from the chair next to me, ...

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“A writer wakes up in the evening.” by Michael Mannen

Submitted to Contest #77

A writer wakes up in the evening. He starts by looking at the snow. And he's trying to assess and write his feelings. And he's in a small cabin with no internet connectivity. He called for evenings: it's getting down as far as his writing is concerned. The dark scene around his cabin enshrines the peak around him. He is just here to relax. His project required quiet and silence. It's early in the season where he lives, so this implies only that it is time to write. And it is the best time to write. It is not the first series he has w...

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“Hopscotch on Ice” by Caroline White

Submitted to Contest #77

“Be careful,” my mom called. “Don’t worry,” I joked, “We won’t!” I grabbed Amelia’s hand and dashed out the door towards our hideout. I’m Luke Peterson. Me and my eight-year old sister, Amelia, built a hideout by the lake four years ago. She was three at the time and I was eight. Every winter, the lake freezes over and we watch the snow over the woods behind the lake. But the year when I was twelve and Amelia was seven… Well, let's just say that was different. Amelia slid her hat over her practically frozen ears. “It’s c-c-cold,” she said, t...

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“Winter Solstice Rhyme and Riddle ” by Mary LaForge

Submitted to Contest #77

Believing that she was on her way to Geraldine's, the Summer warmth on Sheila's sixteen-year-old shoulder felt safe as she walked the half-block from house to house. Instead, Death pulled up in a very nice car. HandsomeBoy peered out her way, and spoke. Before she knew it, it was Winter. THE SETUP HandsomeBoy was duly approved by this teen Sheila's elders, though they had never met him before. Sheila must have embellished how lovely of a boy he was. Sheila did this despite her being a mostly shy girl. Sheila's insecurities were sho...

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“Snow Dreams” by Gerald Daniels

Submitted to Contest #77

SNOW DREAMS January. The year one week old. Devilish winter day, spindrift circling madly about the courtyard, last season's perennial stems bent under a weight of snow. Fiona sitting in her chair staring out at the scene, stockinged legs outstretched on a woodpi...

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$50

Prize money

930

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 22, 2021 EST

Won by K. Antonio 🏆

Title: Burying David

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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