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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#78: Keeping Busy

I’ve noticed that hobbies often get overlooked in fiction. Unless it plays a major role in the plot, many main characters don’t even get a hobby — supporting characters, even less often. Yet hobbies are an important part of many people’s lives, especially in lockdown. They’re the things we bond with our friends over, the pastimes that refresh our spirits over the weekend, and the activities that give us some of our greatest joy.

So this week, hobbies are going to take center stage. From mainstream to obscure, let’s analyze our character’s most interesting quirks and explore the many things they can obsess over!

🥇 Winner

“Life's Leftovers” by Christina Marie

🏆 Winner of Contest #78

It took us almost two months to comb through dad’s house, sorting the pieces of his unpursued passions into piles. Keep. Sell. Donate. Trash.He didn’t have much in the way of food, but cookbooks in mint condition spilled out of his kitchen cupboards. Mystery novels were stacked neatly on his bedside table, suffocating under layers of dust. Princess Di’s biography and Stephen King’s The Shining lay face down on the coffee table, spines cracked towards the ceiling. Poets hid, forgotten, behind the basement bar. Daunting masterpi...

227 comments 227

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⭐️ Shortlisted

“the writer's design” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #78

I wrote a story about shoelaces and city skylines where the protagonist loved a boy and the boy died. None of that was important or rightly belonged in my heart but I titled it Oblivion and asked my sister to read. There was a fear in my heart as she took the book to read. I was afraid, as most writers would, of how she would perceive the story. Would she understand the gravity of the story or the dilemma which I'd created for my characters? I stood behind her as she read. My little fox was by the fridge, his oversized ears at ease. ...

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“Murder at Ex-Ir Con” by Amanda Fox

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #78

The Extreme Ironing Convention was infamous in Preston. For the last eight years, extreme ironers from around the world fell upon the city. Their antics in the streets caused emergency calls for days. Ironing on top of city buses. Ironing while hang-gliding over downtown. Ironing while belaying down the cupola of City Hall. Every year, there was one incident that truly left its mark on Preston. This year, the incident would be the death of Shawn Morrison. I looked down at Shawn’s body, his face brutalize...

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“Betty” by Karen McDermott

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #78

People don’t seem to notice Betty much in the daytime. But when night falls she glistens blackly, slithers up my arm, crawls across my neck, to perch on my shoulder with her whiskers tickling my earlobe. You know how sometimes a laptop pop-up when you’ve watched too much of a series in one sitting asks if you’re still there? When I feel Betty’s saliva pooling on one of my collarbones I know it’s time for us both to go to bed. She watches as I brush my teeth, fascinated. I have no qualms undressing before her now, having long ago given up try...

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“Margaret's Perfume” by Angela Brown

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #78

As time inched closer to 5 o’clock, the ambient keyboard clicks on the accounting floor scattered and slowed. I fired off a few email replies and slid back my headset, rested it around my neck and rubbed my eyes until I saw spots. I had no real problems with this job during my five months at Goldleaf Bank, only that the place was so colorless and dull that I felt myself turning more and more into a potted plant. And an artificial plant at that, since my cube was flooded with cold hospital lighting with not a window in sight to remind me th...

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“The Model Railway” by Gerald Daniels

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #78

THE MODEL RAILWAY "It's a hobby that'll keep you interested for years, you'll never finish the layout you know, it'll keep growing with you" My father's words contained both enthusiasm and disappoi...

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“Wreath” by Kelly Pawlik

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #78

Cora snipped a few branches of eucalyptus and smiled. She was pleased with the plant, which flourished under her care. Normally Cora would have placed the greenery in her basket, but she already had a large collection of assorted pine and fir branches next to her work table, and this wreath was a simple one. “I’m really not sure why you won’t even try it.” “I don’t want to, Mom,” sighed Charlette as she fussed with the end of her long blond braid. Cora smiled, remembering her own similar nervous habit from so many years go. She turned back ...

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This week's prompts

Start your story with one character trying to convince another to take up their favorite hobby.

Fluff – 177 stories

Write about someone who keeps an unusual animal as a pet.

Teens – 178 stories

Write about someone who still practices a skill that used to be necessary but has long since been replaced by technology.

Fiction – 133 stories

Set your story at a convention for a hobby most people have never heard of.

Fluff – 70 stories

Write about someone who keeps picking up different hobbies but never manages to stick with them.

Character – 177 stories

Stories

“Life's Leftovers” by Christina Marie

🏆 Winner of Contest #78

It took us almost two months to comb through dad’s house, sorting the pieces of his unpursued passions into piles. Keep. Sell. Donate. Trash.He didn’t have much in the way of food, but cookbooks in mint condition spilled out of his kitchen cupboards. Mystery novels were stacked neatly on his bedside table, suffocating under layers of dust. Princess Di’s biography and Stephen King’s The Shining lay face down on the coffee table, spines cracked towards the ceiling. Poets hid, forgotten, behind the basement bar. Daunting masterpi...

227 comments 227

Read story

“the writer's design” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #78

I wrote a story about shoelaces and city skylines where the protagonist loved a boy and the boy died. None of that was important or rightly belonged in my heart but I titled it Oblivion and asked my sister to read. There was a fear in my heart as she took the book to read. I was afraid, as most writers would, of how she would perceive the story. Would she understand the gravity of the story or the dilemma which I'd created for my characters? I stood behind her as she read. My little fox was by the fridge, his oversized ears at ease. ...

Read story

“ “The Ferocious Fire”” by Zaira Shahid

Submitted to Contest #78

There are certain moments in your life that seem so unimaginable, so terrifying even when lots of time has passed. Certain course of events change you forever. Such incident happened to me when I was faced with a life and death situation a few years back. Such moments where the life of someone you so deeply care about so deeply love are at stake is when you forget that you are only human. Such moments are so adrenaline filled so awe-inspiring, that they leave you completely stunned in the aftermath. The fire that almost consumed me and my be...

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“Metamorphosis ” by Benji Bobo ©

Submitted to Contest #78

It was dark inside the bag, It was dark, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t hear the voices outside. "It is not a pet. It is the food you feed to "real" pets such as birds or lizards." Explained the staff member who had killed many of us, by flicking us through the cage of the evil monster Louisa, who was what humans called, chameleons, or "Real pets"."I still want him, he would be the perfect pet, and do me much more use than being thrown into the cages of predators." Said a mans voice. "Twenty-five dollars." Said the employee. ...

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“Paper and Ink” by Writer Maniac

Submitted to Contest #78

Douglas sits down at the rickety chair in front of the rickety desk, the legs of both threatening to fall off at any moment. But he was determined to use them till the very end, to be faithful to them like they had been to him. They had been his companions and the only ones who truly cared, and he wasn’t going to let them go that easily.He takes a sturdy sheet from the stack of papers, the smell immediately reminding him of the thumping of small feet running towards the front door when the bell rang on a Sunday, and then fighting over who ge...

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“While Writing ” by Robert Grandstaff

Submitted to Contest #78

While Writing Sitting alone in my office, I began my latest short story when this happened. “Hi dad!” said my daughter Tyler, age 9. “Hi babe,” I said. Not looking up from my computer. “Whatcha doin?” she asked. “Working on a story.” I said. “You sure have a lot of hobbies,” “I don’t think so. I really don’t have many.” “Look at all these different books. You should know how to do everyth...

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“The Remaining Fragments of My Mother's Love” by ✰ Jennie ✰

Submitted to Contest #78

“Mom, I’m home.” “Shhhhh. One must not disturb the creative flow of an artist.” I stared aghast at the once beautifully adorned living room. Now a giant easel was propped up in the middle of the room. The fluffy Persian rug from mother’s adventures in antique collecting was splattered with paint drops. Grimy newspapers littered the floor, also dotted with paint blobs. Regal paintings from the Baroque time period that had once been hung up around the room were now stacked in a pile in the corn...

141 comments 141

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“To Hell With Time and Money” by 𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝐿𝒶𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒮𝓌𝒶𝓃

Submitted to Contest #78

Author's note: This story is here because of an amazing person called Rayhan. He asked for a new story-which I had not given you Reeders in a long time- and I delivered.(WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE? GO FOLLOW HIM BUT FIRST READ THE STORY!)What's wrong with him?You touch your head and groan. There is a steady stream of blood running down it. Then you see your sloth. After rethinking your life choices, you wrench the sloth out of your bed and start screaming at it in slow motion, because it's a sloth and it's slow. The only language it ca...

144 comments 144

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“Always changing” by Avnee Writes

Submitted to Contest #78

One day I’m doing soccer and one day I’m doing baseball. I can’t select a hobby to do. I’m so overwhelmed by what is going on in my life that I don’t know what to do anymore to keep me busy. I keep on changing because I feel like if I keep on changing my hobbies I will finally find something that I will succeed in. My dad has always told me that one day I find a sport or class that fits my personality the best. Until then, I’m gonna keep on looking. I see all of my friends doing sports. One of them is doing baseball, one of them is karate, o...

135 comments 135

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“Living With Leo” by Writer Maniac

Submitted to Contest #78

A bloodcurdling roar wakes me up from my brief nap, and I almost fall off the bed. Leo looks back at me, his brown-furred face framed by a thick mane, which I noticed was in dire need of a trim. He is as majestic as ever, his teeth in full view, threatening to almost eat me whole. Almost. I get up, cursing myself for thinking that I would ever get a break, and go to the kitchen, feeling Leo walking behind me with interest, knocking down one thing or another in the process. He really is growing quite big. I go into the fridge, ...

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“Murder at Ex-Ir Con” by Amanda Fox

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #78

The Extreme Ironing Convention was infamous in Preston. For the last eight years, extreme ironers from around the world fell upon the city. Their antics in the streets caused emergency calls for days. Ironing on top of city buses. Ironing while hang-gliding over downtown. Ironing while belaying down the cupola of City Hall. Every year, there was one incident that truly left its mark on Preston. This year, the incident would be the death of Shawn Morrison. I looked down at Shawn’s body, his face brutalize...

Read story

“A Book is a Dream That You Hold in Your Hand” by Nainika Gupta

Submitted to Contest #78

*Nainika’s Note* Ok, to those of you who have seen Smurf’s: The Lost Village, tell me you didn’t immediately think of Smurfette when you read this prompt? Like the beginning of the movie when they were showing Smurfette trying all the trades of the individual smurfs but always doing horribly? This is completely unrelated to my story, (which by the way I wrote literally in less than two hours, so it’s not the best thing I’ve written) I just wanted to point that out - and maybe you didn’t make the connection, and my brain will perpetually be t...

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“Blissfully Alone*” by . .

Submitted to Contest #78

“I have not been–As others were– not seenAs others saw–I could not bringMy passions from a common spring–”-"Alone" by Edgar Allen PoeIt was an undisputed custom that thoughts had become obsolete and were not to be valued. The entirety of the world left autonomy behind, embracing a life of ignorance. There was no greater happiness than that of relieving yourself of the pain which is to comprehend. When the dust settled, though, nearly everyone was devoid of intelligence, of thought, of any sense of happiness. They had been wrong, it seemed, f...

180 comments 180

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“Hobbies Wanted. ” by Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #78

Stamp Collecting I started stamp collecting when my grandfather died and left me his collection. The lawyer’s name was Mr. Lud and he smelled like pineapples and every time he walked into the room my mom would bury her head in her purse and I’d hear her say, “Pineapple pansy,” which overall sounded very rude. I don’t think she liked Mr. Lud, mostly because she called him that and she didn’t get the house. Grandfather Lettuce left it to her sister, my aunt, Gladys Lorraine. In my mother’s opinion, Gladys Lorraine shouldn’t have gotte...

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“Unanswered Questions” by ✯𝐋𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫✯

Submitted to Contest #78

As curious and inventive as he was, Collin wasn't your ordinary scientist in training. He was a bit—mischievous, and clumsy at the same time. Every time he has failed, it wasn't his fault at all. Just that his hands are the troublemaker in all these cases. He has never meant to do any of them...or ever meant to make them mad, but it's just his terrible karma.✺✺✺I know all about him because he was my lab partner and my trusty friend since the first year of our of "Art and Science University" for our bachelor's degree.But talking more about hi...

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$50

Prize money

736

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 29, 2021 EST

Won by Christina Marie 🏆

Title: Life's Leftovers

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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