Sledgehammer Writing Contest

January 2026 prompts:

Character: Artist

Action: Lifting up

Setting: All alone

Prop: Pear

(Untitled)

by Jasmine Sears

Willow’s entire life hinged on this exhibition.

Willow called herself a sculptor, but nearly a decade after graduating with her MFA, she was staring down middle age with only a handful of offbeat gallery appearances to her name. The consignment store she cashiered at hadn’t given her a raise in three years, and Willow was about to be priced out of her cramped studio apartment.

The invitation to tomorrow’s grand opening of a ritzy new gallery had come as a total shock. One of Willow’s former — and far more successful — classmates had found herself double-booked and pulled some strings to give her spot to Willow. Sure, the pedestal was tucked into the back corner of the last room in the gallery — but it was hers.

A breathless Willow rushed through the back entrance of the building, hoping she wasn’t too late. Setup officially ended at 9pm, and the bus had dropped her off at 8:57. A maintenance man scowled at her as she stepped into the storage room.

“Yer the last one? With the big crate?”

Willow nodded.

The man glared for a beat too long. “I’ll unbox it for you, but I’m off the clock after that.”

Willow’s heart sank as she looked at her masterpiece sitting on the floor, four feet and an impossible force away from its spot on her pedestal. The blown-glass Earth in the shape of a pear was far too heavy for her to lift by herself, but the gallery was deserted.

She had to try.

Bending, crouching, grunting, Willow tried to remember her weights class advice. Lift with your legs? Arms straight?

The crash was inevitable.

The next day, Willow’s exhibit was the talk of the event: glittering shards of blue-green glass in the outline of a pear from pedestal to corner.

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