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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!

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Write about someone who still practices a skill that used to be necessary but has long since been replaced by technology.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 – 176 stories

Stories

“Finish Me” by Samuel Munk

Submitted to Contest #78

Dearest David,If you gave me a voice, I could tell you how I feel. You play such sweet music on your saxophone, or your guitar, or your piano. If you stuck with one, you could be really good. You compose stories in text files buried in your C:/ drive. I read them all. You should finish the one about the princess trapped in the castle. I hope she gets out. You should finish that painting you started last August. The one with the little boy. You left him there just standing in the meadow with no face, poor thing. Someday I’ll tell you all this...

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“Albert, The Alligator” by Scarlet Scribe

Submitted to Contest #78

Albert, The Cayman Alligator I was a babysitter to a rowdy boy, a know-it-all girl and a boy still in diapers at two years old. We lived in an apartment on the second floor of the house where I babysat. My husband worked swing shift on his job so our schedules seldom agreed but I had our beautiful, solid black cat to keep me company when he worked nights. I did not enjoy my job but it literally paid the rent and utilities. One morning he came home as I was eating breakfast before going downstairs to work. He poured himself a cup of...

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“Dogs Can’t be Magic!” by Sabine Loire

Submitted to Contest #78

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was finally at the Magical Pets Convention! Ever since I started my career as a dog-blesser (someone who blesses dogs with magical gifts) I’ve tried to get a pass to this place. Sadly, every time I tried, they were sold out. Funny thing about this convention is, it’s a place for a bunch of people with weird magical hobbies to help pets. The funniest thing is that hardly anybody knows about this and the people who go to this convention. They know even less about the hobbies themselves. Often, they brush it off li...

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“New Place - New Things ” by Ntombekhaya Zibi

Submitted to Contest #78

When I first came out as a Lesbian my friends made a fuss about how 'we' lesbians fall for people that are either a city away or a continent away. Now, that was really funny back then, but that was until I fell in love with someone I've never met before and when it finally happened to me, I couldn't believe it. That saying was actually 98% true. Lesbians did love distance lovers. I sighed as I made it out of the Arrivals place at the Havana airport, José Martí International Airport in Cuba. My first time being here and I loved the atmosphe...

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“Type writer” by Jill Ritenour

Submitted to Contest #78

I found the old box in my grandma's attic. I opened it and saw the books stacked on top of one another. I sat myself comfortably on the creaky old floor that most would go crazy about these days and grabbed one up gently. What was I looking for; nothing more than unknown nostalgia. I did the first thing I always do when I opened the book; I smelled the pages. I realize it sounds incredibly weird. I have often felt if books were people I would fit the profile of perverted maniac, having already sat in front of a jury trying to justify the rea...

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“Flower Power” by Gloria Dawn

Submitted to Contest #78

Flower Power Lynn set down her glue stick, turning to answer the knock on her door. It was her sister Susan, armed with a box from the bakery down the street. “Ooh, something smells wonderful! What are you tempting me with today?” “I couldn’t resist the delicious aromas floating on the air when I walked by “Sweet Treats,” so we get to pig out on cheese croissants, still warm from the oven! How about a cup of coffee to go with them, or are you too busy?” “Are you kidding? I’m never too busy for coffee and goodies. Wait a minute till I...

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“A REAL HOBBY-HORSE” by Sivaram Govindaraj

Submitted to Contest #78

It was a Sunday morning. The doorbell rang and Shobha answered. There was a middle-aged lady with greying hair standing outside. The lady said “I’m Dr.Rita. You must be Shobha.” Shobha said “Yes. Please come in doctor. I’ve also heard of you – the doyen of social workers. We’re honoured to receive such an important visitor in our house.” Rita entered and seated herself on a sofa. Shobha said “My parents have just gone out to buy some essentials for the household. They don’t step outside these days due to the covid. They should be back short...

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“What's new Boudreaux” by Richard Hawkins

Submitted to Contest #78

If you are ever in South Texas and find yourself in the need of fishing, hunting supplies or a bite to eat look up Boudreaux Bait and Tackle. The sign out front reads Burgers-Bait-Bullets. There is a shooting range in the back of the store as well as a boardwalk along the parking lot with tanks you can fish in. The real surprise is when you meet the owner Matthew Boudreaux (just call me Bro) . Bro has made a career of changing hobbies and will gladly show you any and all of them, He has everything from archery to zumba and has a place set u...

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“Entre Nous” by Heather Stream

Submitted to Contest #78

Being a writer, poet, artist, and lead singer of a rock and roll band was not easy for David. Back in the early 1980’s, hair was the prevalent look-long curly hair and tight spandex-y leather with a vocal range that could break glasses. Guitar solos made or broke a song and young women would buy tickets much to the chagrin of their rocker boyfriends. The 1980’s hair bands were the “in thing”; young women acting like proverbial prostitutes to get backstage to touch or even have sex with one of the band members. When it came time to put out, ...

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“His Dream.” by Minnie Malfoy

Submitted to Contest #78

“I don’t want to do it anymore…,” Ahmed implored at his wife, hoping she would let go of the random thing he mentioned in the middle of nowhere. “Just get on it! The bike won’t bite you,” Safiya laughed at her husband a little, she couldn’t help it. This man was tall and usually incredibly fearless but was scared by the idea of riding her motorbike. He still looked scared, so she said, “Okay, how about we take a break. I’ll ride it, you just sit on the back.” They got on together, and she stopped at a quiet field somewhere. &nbsp...

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“PET THAT?” by Ronald Gagnon

Submitted to Contest #78

"I am telling you Mad Jim....I swear it...He's got this "pet" he brings in here every night...They go and sit around that table , there...And he points to a darkened corner of the Buckets O' Blood Saloon, in Omaha, Nebraska..in which a table, and a few old chairs, was leaning partially into the light, otherwise shaded in darkness...I tell ya...one time I was taken my boot off...wore the dam leather right through on the right one....I was trying to figure out if I had to get new boots...or if I could use that old army trick....since we are al...

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“The Blurry Man” by Michael Amadon

Submitted to Contest #78

He’s called the “Blurry Man.” No, I don’t really know where he came from. I’m not even entirely sure what he is exactly, but he’s here, and he’s small, and he’s blurry. I don’t even know if he’s a man or not—can small blurry figures have a gender? Possibly. I don’t really know anything about him. When’s the first time I noticed him? Well, I guess I have to say a few months ago. It was such a small thing that I actually didn’t realize I saw him until I remembered later. It was past midnight, don’t ask me the exact time because there’s n...

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“To Move a River” by Sam Ackman

Submitted to Contest #78

How does one person move a river? It’s force continuously pushing, crashing along the easiest path to flow down, wearing down obstacles in its way. Her heart fluttered like a butterfly trying to escape as she eyed up the black, solid door in front of her with an air of determination. With lips pressed tightly together, she walked into the room where she did not belong and she had no interest in being. Opening the door, the burst of babbling conversations rose to her ears and her eyes squinted as bright lights cut in shar...

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“Blue Fingerprints” by Kalina Atanasova

Submitted to Contest #78

In the year 5324 A.C. on the planet Cunvinda 55 or something, nobody really knew anymore since all called it Earth 3, Maeve was sketching a small skeleton on a piece of yellowish paper, covered in big strange spots. Her car was advancing slowly in the traffic jam on air lane 34. The car of the 18-year-old girl hovered over the arid canyon engulfed in red sand for so long that the Toyota’s flaking grey paint began to mix with the sands bellow. The line of cars moved, so Maeve forced the engine, squinting against the sun, reflected by the skyr...

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“Life with Reggie” by Sue Marsh

Submitted to Contest #78

Life with Reggie Suzanne Marsh "You found a what and are bringing it where?" "I am bringing home a baby raccoon, I accidentally ran over it Mama. It is so little, I can't just leave the poor little thing here to fend for itself." "Okay, but you take care of it." "I will Mom, no worries." Now I had something to worry about; any time my son said: no worries Mom. I knew I would be stuck with taking care of the raccoon. I already resolved myself to that fact. I had no idea how to care for a baby raccoon. This is a wild animal, I decided I woul...

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$50

Prize money

735

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.

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