Menu

Menu
Prompts
Contests
Stories
Blog
Directory
Contests
Magazine
FAQ

Write a story in the form of a list of New Year's resolutions.

Posted in Holiday on Dec 30, 2022

Submissions are closed

Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy account.

Sign in with Google
Sign in with Facebook

Or use an email address:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 38 stories

A Beaut's Room for Survival

Shortlisted for Contest #179 ⭐️

1)     Start fresh and carry onCongratulations, you beautiful breathing thing. Stray bullets from the celebratory gunshots missed your skin on New Year’s Eve. The curfew applauds your compliance, and as promised, you’ve reaped safety.Now, put out that cigarette. You know he despises the sting of your bitter breath—as if his strikes anyone like a wreath of roses. Those “welcome home” kisses bring about the exchange, and his demand repeated through time builds up in volume. This year, don’t wait till his actions speak ...

15 likes 5 comments 5
Read story

2152 Resolutions

Submitted to Contest #179

Meyer. Just Meyer is what I go by. I’ve spent the entire year trying to live up to the promise I made at the shrine in 2152. Like everyone in Shokertown, I headed over to the shrine at the New Year to pray and give thanks for the year before and hope for good things to come. The line last year wrapped around the corner from the temple entrance. The weather at the New Year was always sweltering. People were fanning themselves, but no one left the line. When I finally reached the shrine, I clapped my hands and prayed...

14 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

January 1st

Submitted to Contest #179

It was January 1st. Samantha sat at her kitchen table in her old pajamas and ragged bedroom shoes. A blanket still covered her shoulders like a warm fuzzy cape. Her hair was thrown up in a messy bun that she had slept in. Frizz shot out in every direction from her head. Her coffee was warm in the cold kitchen. She cupped her mug with both hands looking down at her new dotted bullet journal, opened to the first page where she had decided to list her goals for the upcoming year. She had listed her few resolutions already the previous nig...

14 likes 3 comments 3
Read story

Meredith's New Year's Resolutions

Submitted to Contest #179

Swear off dating losers (i.e. stand-up comedians) and instead find a nice guy with a stable job and a decent credit score. Do not respond to James’s texts, calls, or emails. Even if he’s charming. Even if he’s desperate. Ignore James when you run into him in public. Especially if it happens to be the same bar where you’re waiting to meet your Tinder date.  If you can’t ignore him, be as cold as possible and let him know that your life is so much better now that he’s out of the picture. Don’t believe him when he says his comedy career is...

14 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

New Year Tango Daylight

Submitted to Contest #179

(Note: Contains references to surgery.) Herr Arthur Shaupenfrauf, I have compiled a list of your New Years resolutions for the year 2024. Listen very carefully. It might not matter too much, as so much as happened. But I want you to be cognizant of the fact that not everything that we have been through these past few years has been that bad. Ultimately, we have survived. Though we may not have the ability to achieve all ten of the things on this list within a sufficient period, I want you to know that life is still good. I have been watchi...

14 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

YOU COULD BET YOUR LIFE ON IT

Submitted to Contest #179

Bucky McKeever was sick and tired of not having it all. Everywhere he looked, he saw men living large; high on the hog, if you will. As a low-level manager at a large investment firm, he was surrounded by the high-voltage energy of day-trading and financial wheelings and dealings. His boss, Mr. Jonathan Stevens, a man of only 35, was already a multi-millionaire; a graduate of Wharton Business School and a mergers and acquisitions expert, he could earn more in one deal than Bucky made in a lifetime.  As the New Year approached, Bu...

14 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

New Year--Same Me

Submitted to Contest #179

New Year Resolutions: I will no longer allow others to steal my happiness. It is my responsibility. No one else’s. When Jimmy calls, I will not answer. I don’t care how cute he looked in that bow tie at the New Year’s Eve party last night. I don’t care that my knees still buckled when he touched my lower back to walk around me. I don’t care that his aftershave is still embedded into my pillow and the smell of it makes me shiver. He broke my heart. He doesn’t deserve me. Besides, if he wanted me back he wouldn’t have been sucking face with...

14 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

Mission Impossible: Family Edition

Submitted to Contest #179

Edit with the Docs app Make tweaks, leave comments, and share with others to edit at the same time. NO THANKSUSE THE APP Faye Darling promised herself that she would change her family to become the close family they once were. It was New Years and was also the time of year to make your resolutions, whether it's to start that diet you’ve been putting off or to learn a new skill. But for Faye it was different. She had a mission to get all seven of her family members to eat a good dinner together. Now you must be wondering why Faye...

13 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

Mae goals.

Submitted to Contest #179

Therapy meeting #3 conclusion:“Write 10 resolutions for the year” . That’s what Jaina, my therapist told me at our monthly session yesterday. I’ve been going to her since….well, since…. Anyways, yesterday we were talking about our goals (like I have any) and she said that New Year’s would be the perfect time to write out some resolutions for the year and see if I can stick to them…... So here I am, on my bed, as usual. I have my torn-out paper from my broken little notebook-Mae gave it to me for my birthday last year, it’s all messy, but I c...

13 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

How to catch David

Submitted to Contest #179

How to Catch David “First things first”, she whispered to herself, “first things first, he MUST propose before spring.” She didn't write that down, though, for it was hardly a resolution she could put into life in his stead, was it? Yet he must. What could she do about it then? She nibbled at her pencil, which had already become an awful sight, such a nibbler was she. 1–she traced the figured carefully, more a drawing than the real 1–thus buying some time before she unraveled the list of what SHE needed to do, in order to catch i...

13 likes 0 comments 0
Read story

New Year, New (Dead) You

Submitted to Contest #179

Michael hauled another overflowing box to the curb and checked the time. It was 11:30 am. He’d been working for two hours, but two centuries felt like a more accurate description of the time spent. His arms felt like they were being used as pincushions, and if his back felt like his grandpa’s usually did, then he now understood why he complained about it so much. Michael’s eleven-year-old body coursed with exhaustion as he wiped a river of sweat from his forehead and took a quick moment to regret offering to help his friend, Joshua, clean ou...

12 likes 1 comment 1
Read story

A Series of Unfortunate Resolutions

Submitted to Contest #179

Resolution #1: Quitting drinking. Jamey Barnair had gone to the club to ring in the new year. He knew full well what his resolutions were and that quitting drinking was at the top of his list. Nonetheless he indulged in nightlife drinking activities because “it didn’t count until new years day was over,” or at least that is what he told himself to feel better.  He had cheap tequila shots back to back with a sexy single mother he had met on the dance floor. After the fourth shot he switched to drinking corona’s and before the club shut d...

12 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

2023, the Year of Decluttering, Tech, and Strong Relationships

Submitted to Contest #179

I stumbled through the past year listening to podcasts, watching Youtube videos, and reading self-help books in order to try to improve my relationships and my clutter problem. "Try" being the operative word. So, this year, I am announcing some self-improvement goals. Many of those goals involve the resolution to not do like in normal years and gain or hoard possessions This year instead I will also be more conscious of building relationships in addition to improving my technology use. First, my decluttering-possessions goals this year: I...

12 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Shakespeare's Second Act

Submitted to Contest #179

Shakespeare’s Second Act Hark! I hath risen. The year is but young: Two thousand the twenty-third, by modern count, and aye, I am living in it. Verily you ask how this transpired, so anon I’ll bid thee listen. In a word: witchcraft. I am familiar with such (toil and trouble, yea), yet never outside the realm of theater. Dead for centuries, until I heareth a voice calling me backeth. The voice of Jan. Jan is a witch—though only by night. By day, the lady tells me, she worketh at the “DMV,” though she shan’t tell me the nature of it. Jan...

11 likes 2 comments 2
Read story

Happy New Year's to Me

Submitted to Contest #179

December 31st. My New Year’s resolution: To get in shape. A classic. What better way to start the new year than by taking life by the horns and improving oneself? I’m going to put on a tight pair of shorts and a t-shirt from a 5K I ran a decade ago and charge into the gym like a firefighter arriving at the scene of a fire.  I can imagine it now. A bunch of sweaty meatheads grunting while they stand around on those rubbery floor mats. A half dozen or so new year’s resolutionists like me trying to look like we know what we are doing a...

11 likes 4 comments 4
Read story

🌟 Similar prompts

Start your story with someone making a vision board.

Adults – 17 stories

Your character always makes the same promise; to change. Will they finally make it happen this time?

Angst – 44 stories

Write a story about someone scrambling on New Year's Eve to fulfil their resolutions for the entire year before the clock strikes twelve.

Funny – 28 stories

End your story with a kiss at midnight.

Romance – 73 stories

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months. Learn more →

How to Write a Novel