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The Quick Restart
As I read through the submissions for Quick Restart, I was struck not by perfection, but by persistence. Each piece carried the quiet tremor of someone who had fallen, paused, reflected — and then chosen, deliberately, to rise. That choice, if you ask me, is where literature truly lives.
In many ways, this anthology feels like a conversation between cultures, generations, and inner selves. It reminds me of the resilience we so often inherit — whether from a grandmother who rebuilt her life without complaint, or from the quiet British stiff-upper-lip endurance that teaches one to carry on. Yet here, in these pages, resilience is not silent. It speaks. It writes. It dares to be vulnerable.
The writers featured in Quick Restart have not simply told stories; they have offered fragments of truth. Some pieces ache softly, others arrive with urgency, but all share a common thread — the refusal to remain defeated. That honesty is rare, and it is precious. To every contributor: thank you for trusting us with your restarts. To every reader: may these words remind you that pausing is not failing, and beginning again is not weakness — it is grace. After all, life rarely offers clean slates. It offers courage. And that is quite enough.
-Ruchi Acharya
Editor-in-Chief, Founder
The fury phoenix of the contest, The Quick Restart, has been announced
Behind the selection, editing, curation, and design of The Quick Restart isn't just a stack of manuscripts. It is a collective pulse of resilience. It’s late-night deliberations, coffee-fueled reading sessions, and the awe of watching hundreds of writers admit, "I fell, but I’m getting back up." Every contributor in these pages faced that terrifying, empty white space and chose to fill it with courage. They didn't just write; they restarted. And that act of beginning, again and again, is the heartbeat of this book.
The Quick Restart is more than a collection of New Year’s resolutions or witty aphorisms. It is a love letter to the second wind. It celebrates the stubborn, beautiful hope that keeps us moving when the momentum fades. Through this anthology, Wingless Dreamer honours the messy middle just as much as the fresh start. Whether you are reading this to find your own spark or to celebrate a piece you wrote, remember this: the finish line is a myth, the start line is everywhere. You showed up. You turned the page.
You decided that yesterday’s stumble wouldn’t define today’s stride. So go ahead and take a deep breath. Pour a fresh cup of tea or crack open something sparkling. Settle in and let these stories and poems remind you that it is never, ever too late to begin again.
Cheers to the new you.
The Wingless Dreamer Team
We are thrilled to unveil the voices that defined The Quick Restart. This contest challenged writers to look past the calendar date and find the true anatomy of a beginning. The submissions we received were nothing short of inspiring—stories of resilience that felt lived-in and verses that sparked with the electricity of a second chance. These works remind us that to restart is not to erase the past, but to carry it forward into a brighter light.
A huge round of applause for our grand winner:
JANUARY - GABRIELLE PICCIRILLI
Gabrielle Piccirilli is a poet and novelist-in-progress from West Norriton, Pennsylvania. She earned her BA and MA from Villanova University, completing a minor in creative writing, and continues to build a body of work that blends memory, narrative, and the spaces between silence and story.
1st Runner Up
THE UNBOUND PROOF - ASHOK JAHAGIRDAR
Ashok Jahagirdar writes to map the uncharted territory of the self. Believing creativity is our native language, he crafts verses that serve as both compass and proof—gentle reminders that the cage was never locked.
2nd Runner Up
IF IT WAS THE WIND - JENNY GARUFI
Jenny Garufi is an internationally acclaimed author, speaker, and healer devoted to helping people create inner peace through simple, embodied practices. After healing herself from years of chronic illness, she has spent two decades sharing accessible tools for transformation. She is the author of A Short Path to Change, Soulful Alchemy, and The 3 Minute Shower Reset: 21 Days to Inner Peace, and a contributor to Sacred Stories Publishing, including Neale Donald Walsch’s God Talk. Her passion is helping people return to themselves through small, meaningful moments of presence.
FINALISTS
These four writers approached the theme of restarting with exceptional clarity and depth. From the quiet endurance of waiting for a sign to the active choice of walking through a new door, their work grounds this anthology in the reality of human resilience.
QUIET ENDURANCE - SARA GOTTARDI
Sara is a poet whose work explores restraint, time, and quiet transformations. Their poems favour precision, emotional density, and the spaces where endurance becomes choice. They are currently submitting new work to literary journals.
MEET YOU AT THE BAR - DEAN K. ENGEL
Dean K. Engel has written poetry, short stories, and a play that was staged by a small community theater group in Chicago. His writing has been selected for publishing by Secant Publishing, Oprelle Publications, Jade & Compass, Wingless Dreamer, Beyond Words Literary Magazine, and more. He’s an avid birder, gardener, and two-time cancer survivor whose writing often reflects his interest in the natural world and our place in it.
FORSAKEN - JENNIFER WEIGEL
Multi-disciplinary mixed media conceptual artist Jennifer Weigel lives in Kansas, USA. Weigel has been published in several anthologies through Wingless Dreamer and is the author of Witch Hayzelle’s Recipes for Disaster trilogy and a myriad of short stories, poems, art discourse, and more drifting around the Interwebs.
HOME - JAMIE SEIBEL
Jamie Seibel earned a Master's Degree in English with a concentration in Creative Writing from California State University, Sacramento. Her work has been published in Versification Poetry Zine, Wingless Dreamer, The Chamber Magazine, The Tiger Moth Review, Plum Tree Tavern, Poetry Pacific, Tule Review, Sierra Journal, and Ink: A Literary Arts Magazine. Her poem "Children of the Sea" was a top finalist for Wingless Dreamer's Seashore Contest. Overall, Jamie's work mainly focuses on mortality, transformation, and the environment.
Honor to our talented contributors
WITH WINTER CLOSING IN - ANDY BETZ
WHAT WE FORGET - ALEXIS ANDRADE
UNTITLED - LEOTIS HARGROVE
NO DEVIL BUT BOTH DEVILS - PORSCHE JONES
RESTART FROM THE HEART - ALEX ANDY PHUONG
JANUARY BLUES - HOWARD OSBORNE
WHEN THE PAIN SURFACES - UJU NWANGWU
MOTHERS’ TREE - LINA BUIVIDAVIČIŪTĖ
SOFT BEGINNINGS - DIMA IVX
MOURNING HALF OF MY SOUL - JOANNE MACIAS
STREET TACOS AND HORCHATA - RYAN RAHMAN
INVITATION - BILL SIMMONS
JOURNAL ENTRY 347 - A.G. TRAVERS
PRECIPICE - STEPHANIE WHIBBS GONZALEZ
AN AUTUMN WALK IN TWILIGHT - GAVIN BOURKE
IN A DARK BEDROOM WITHOUT A TELEVISION - KAYLEE RENÉE
IS LOVE ENOUGH? - ALEXANDRA GRANT
SAILING - KAMYN ASHER
IN PRAISE OF WONDERMENT -JOAN PENN
REINCARNATION #16 - LARA DOLPHIN
A NIGHT IN ELMER - VISHAAL PATHAK
NEW YEAR - A.J. CHILSON
A FORKING SERENDIPITOUS - ARDA ÜNAL
THE CHIPPED RIM - JENNY KATHERINE HART
TO ALL MY FATHERS - STAR GALASYN
GIRL SIGNS - TERRY BRINKMAN
WHEN THE PAIN SURFACES - UJU NWANWU
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