Write about a person trying to learn a new skill or hobby they find intimidating but want (or need) to learn anyway.

Posted in Nonfiction on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 47 stories

“Manual Not Delivered” by Sarah Harris

Submitted to Contest #15

Groggily she pushed back the warm blanket and pried herself out from between the sheets. On weary feet she plodded from her room down the hall to the nursery. Using the glow from the night light, she peered into the mahogany crib at the little bundle of joy that had become a little bundle of screaming. This scream sounded like all the other screams. Was he hungry? Wet? Gassy? Did he want to be held? Rocked? Sang to?She opened the blanket swaddled around him and felt his diaper. Heavy. She picked him up and put him on the changing table. The ...

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“I am a twitter newbie” by Gaynor Jones

Submitted to Contest #15

The skill I have chosen is using Twitter. I have absolutely no idea how to properly use it. Every news broadcast you watch, every facebook page you read, everyone is on Twitter. Celebrities, presidents, well one we know quite well uses Twitter on a regular basis to keep the internet updated and get his points and views across. Twitter now has 126 million daily users worldwide. The average user is between the ages of 18 and 29. According to reports, Twitter is losing users, but their profits are up. According to sources, the company made $711...

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“Eddie's Dilemma” by Christine Tapper

Submitted to Contest #15

Eddie had wanted a gap year but dad knew better. “Join the family business son.”He arrived at our new house as his dad’s apprentice. A trustworthy friend had recommended the pair so we left them in the kitchen, to fit taps above the sink and make the right connections to the piping below. While they toiled with spanners and wrenches and bits and bobs of plumbing apparatus, we went food shopping.When we arrived home the plumber’s white van had departed from our driveway and, much to our relief, they’d locked the front door. A quick inspe...

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“Luther, I Suffer” by Scrithe Mendacious

Submitted to Contest #15

“Arcturus, I need you to try harder.” The robot blinked at him. The robot was beautiful. With no friendship, with no purpose, what was it to do but perfect itself? There was no philosophy for robots but aesthetics. The man raised his eyebrows. “Get the Matrioshka Brain to do it,” Arcturus said. “I cannot.” The man sat back and picked at the lapel of his lab coat. Crossed his feet. Uncrossed them. “Mat can’t do it because she’s busy sustaining the entire city. As much as I wish we could install a few hundr...

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“You Hopped Into Our Hearts” by Madelene Holm

Submitted to Contest #15

This Easter my husband’s sister, Sandra, decided to, without asking us, purchase a baby bunny to surprise my little Peggy with. I am furious with Sandra for not talking to us about it first. This is no way to treat an animal, but it’s ours now and I have to take care of it. Peggy is only six and it’s preposterous to put any responsibility like that on her. The problem is, I know nothing about rabbits, lucky for me my coworker knows a lady that runs a rabbit and other small animal rescue centre. And she has agreed to help me.Peggy, my little ...

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“Together we build our hobbies ” by Feylica Chan

Submitted to Contest #15

"Riku, you can't just sit there forever. I know you're on watch but I won't let you just sit there all night. We'll be fine for a couple hours." King Mickey had said, and he was right. The hours were ticking by like seconds while the stars thankfully shone brightly in the night sky. It was a beautiful sight, a sight that let's people forget all of their sorrows or painfully remind them. Depending on the problem. "I know, I'll be sleeping soon." Riku said, his eyes still glued to the starry night sky. They had been on the road to dawn to...

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“Just Because I Am a Girl” by Paige Kostyniuk

Submitted to Contest #15

When I was a little girl growing up in a small Ukrainian country town, there sure wasn't much to do, but get into some kind of trouble. It was more interesting, more exciting than baking in the kitchen with your old Grandmother. I can remember the best times I had in a little country town called Two Hills. There weren't too many girls out there that enjoyed getting dirty or doing the fun things that the boys liked to do, but for the very few of us that did, we would have the best times of our young adolescent lives. Dirt biking, building for...

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“The Stubborn Plant” by Mark Newman

Submitted to Contest #15

Jack was a precocious toddler, a smart ass teenager and a gifted adult. Gifted in the art of marketing. And if it were not for his stubborn streak he would have done well for himself. So it came as a surprise to Jack that his employer had to let him go just so the company could move forward.They had given Jack plenty of opportunity to adapt, to see their reason, to come around. But, alas, Jack’s stubbornness won the day.So Jack finds himself in the unemployment line and thinking of what to do next. He had already exhausted all avenues of emp...

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“Driving Forward” by Nathalie Vidler

Submitted to Contest #15

I had a nightmare about it last night. In my dream Mom was driving us home from out of town when she suddenly passed out while driving. I was sitting next to her in the passengers’ seat and had to take control of the car while leaning over her prone body. Somehow, I managed to stop the car without getting all of us killed. In this dream cell phones were not a thing. I had three of my younger siblings in the back of the car. It was dark and no one was going to see us. I had no choice. I had to move my Mother into the passengers’ seat and driv...

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“On Being an Eco-Terrorist, oops, Eco-Tourist Guide” by Christina Yin

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #15

Job vacancy: Eco-Terrorist. Apply now!Su-Lin blinked, and captured the notification on her Wrist Band Reader. She read the alert again. Job vacancy: Eco-Tourist Guide. Apply now!And so, she had applied though it was not her dream job. Su-Lin wished it had been for the position of an “Eco-terrorist”. At that moment when the notification flashed up, she had really thought that the Thirteen Original Malayan States’ Peoples’ Party was seeking the Space Colonisation Generation to impersonate eco-terrorists so that it could deal with them efficien...

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“Tiny Little Secretaries” by Terry R Barca

Submitted to Contest #15

I know -- it’s been done a thousand times, and I know you are getting ready to turn away but wait. Just give me a couple of minutes to explain. This isn’t just another half-baked science fiction story, this really happened, and it happened to me. To start with, there is a reason why there are so many stories going around about shrinking people, and there have even been a few movies on the subject -- Rachel Welch was in one if I remember rightly. People are fascinated by the idea of really tiny people. Sorry, I got a little sidetracked ...

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“kitchen cooks” by Bookstore Moon

Submitted to Contest #15

cooking has turned plastic. in a paper world food is no problem, who would like to eat all the food everlasting made or any food just for any such betrayals gone wrong. there is no one that will feed anyone; let alone be raided at a kitchen cost.rare cases would understand the punishment and starvation as perfection.anybody can take cooking classes and be expertsanybody would step out of line of the strength of authenticity of food to eat food of the world.food has always been a reward religion of life a belief and rule of human; I thought f...

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“What is an artist without art?” by Taylah Carmichael

Submitted to Contest #15

I often struggle with the depth of success. The concept of it is so subjective, based on opinions. How does one even begin about measuring it and how is it decided who has ‘made it’ or not? What units of measurement should even be used that allows you to adequately compare people to each other? Fame? Money? Accomplishments? The word accomplishment also is confusing. What accomplishments are significant and what aren’t? Once when I was eight years old, I won a participation award. I didn’t feel accomplished and still I doubt that would go tow...

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“The Day My Son With Autism Learned To Cook.” by Unknown User

Submitted to Contest #15

Hi, my name's Shyllo, and I have an Autistic son named Adrean, who has a passion for cooking. It all started with my son's fascination with the show Master Chef Jr., when he was nine years old. He would beg us to let him watch the show, and then one day I decided to set up prompted recipes on our fridge. I wanted to see how eager he was to learn this new skill. I first had Adrean learn how to make cold food recipes, like salads, sandwiches, and deserts. After he mastered those step by step instructions for each recipe I started him on learn...

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“The Art of Vulnerability ” by Emily Butt

Submitted to Contest #15

Interpersonal Skills - Strongly associated with emotional intelligence, interpersonal skills are the behaviours and tactics a person uses to interact with others effectively.-------------------------------------------------------------------------“Are you sure you'll be okay alone?”Her mother asks her this for the fifth time, pursing her lips at her reflection in the mirror. Her mother touches up her lipstick, rolls her mouth around, before turning to her daughter. There's that look in her eyes again, the same look her mother always has when...

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Write about a person trying to learn a new skill or hobby they find intimidating but want (or need) to learn anyway.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 47 stories

“Manual Not Delivered” by Sarah Harris

“I am a twitter newbie” by Gaynor Jones

“Eddie's Dilemma” by Christine Tapper

“Luther, I Suffer” by Scrithe Mendacious

“You Hopped Into Our Hearts” by Madelene Holm

“Together we build our hobbies ” by Feylica Chan

“Just Because I Am a Girl” by Paige Kostyniuk

“The Stubborn Plant” by Mark Newman

“Driving Forward” by Nathalie Vidler

“On Being an Eco-Terrorist, oops, Eco-Tourist Guide” by Christina Yin

“Tiny Little Secretaries” by Terry R Barca

“kitchen cooks” by Bookstore Moon

“What is an artist without art?” by Taylah Carmichael

“The Day My Son With Autism Learned To Cook.” by Unknown User

“The Art of Vulnerability ” by Emily Butt

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about one character’s fundamental misunderstanding of another character’s job.

Write about a character who is a reluctant expert on a topic they wish they didn’t know so much about.

Write about something you consider yourself an expert in, but do it from the perspective of a total novice.

Write about a character’s secret area of expertise, something most of their acquaintances would be surprised to learn they know tons about.

Contest #15

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

160

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: