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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#132: Time to Blume

On February 12th, Judy Blume turns 84 — and her bestselling book, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, is finally becoming a feature film this year. To celebrate, we’re featuring prompts based on the YA classic released over 50 years ago.


If you need a refresher, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret follows 6th grader Margaret Simon in her quest for a religious identity. Her mother was raised Christian, her father Jewish. They’ve decided not to impose one belief or the other on their daughter, but that leaves Margaret longing for a god of her own to talk to. 


Dive into this blast-from-the-past and relive your childhood reading by writing a story based on one of our five Judy Blume prompts.

🥇 Winner

“Inshallah” by Adam El Nabli

04/02/2022Mama has been to the hospital quite a few times before, but she always comes back home eventually. So, when she went to the hospital this morning I thought this time won’t be different. Baba even insisted that I go to football practice today as well. I’ve been playing for the Shooting Club in El Dokki, Giza, for almost 6 years now, so when Mama went to the hospital, Baba called the coach, captain Abdallah, and told him that she was ill. Captain Abdallah apparent...

102 comments 102 WINNER 🏆
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⭐️ Shortlisted

“The Gospel of Tea” by Hannah P. Simmons

My daughter’s house smells like a cup of London Fog. Black tea leaves and orange bergamot kissed with vanilla. The scent permeates everything, even her clothes, so she carries it everywhere. When people ask, she excitedly explains that it’s her favorite tea. My husband and I joke that she has been called to preach her doctrines to the coffee drinkers of the world. She’s already had a number of successful conversions....

79 comments 79 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Yellow” by Oma S. Ari

The first time we spoke about God was on a park bench in Munich. I was drinking lemon ice tea and you showed me how your dad used to pray. My dad, I explained, would not even let me watch Christmas movies as a child, as he worried the ‘religious message’ would corrupt my mind and make me join a cult. You laughed.Later that day we walked back to my place. My apartment was a mess; blankets and cups and pizza crust all floating in a purple hue from the sun setting over the rooftops across the street. You hung your jacket ov...

32 comments 32 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Our Father” by J.C. Lovero

(Note: Lola = grandmother)“Peace be with you.”“And also with you.”The cold water lingered on my forehead, traveling slowly before settling on the lines in between my eyebrows. Even though it had been over thirty years, stepping foot into the church was like riding a bicycle—you stumbled and swerved at the beginning until you got your bearings again. I looked down at the open casket, taking in a cleansing breath as I stared at your face, pale and peaceful. A stark contrast to how I’d describe you when you were...

28 comments 28 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“Prayer in the Dirt” by Jeffery Young

“Are you there God? It’s me, Jaxon.” The man was just a kid.  To me, at least. To everyone else he would be about nineteen. He had never grown up. Not really. He pressed his dull green eyes shut, little fleshy dams for tears and months of stress. He was dirty. The fatigue of constant fighting evident in the deep rivets, cuts, and bruises that criss-crossed his face. They were a part of him now. Even ...

17 comments 17 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“He Took His Wings, And Fled” by James Miller

It was in an impassioned service of worship at Water's Edge Evangelical Church, sitting at the far end of a packed pew, that Mateo decided he did not want to believe in God. He didn’t disbelieve. Rather, he didn’t want to affirm belief. If it came his turn to profess, he intended, like a nervous freshman on the first day of class, to answer, “Pass.” A sweating, invigorated preacher stalked the stage in pr...

12 comments 12 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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“The Regular” by Jasmine Crafts

My sister June and I can feel change coming the way some people can smell snow before it falls. When you’re about to leave a place, the electricity of impending change zaps around it. Things you never noticed before seem precious and things that you use every day have to prove themselves worthy of the space they’d take up in a box.  We have moved 23 times in the 18 years since I came along. That is how Da...

11 comments 11 SHORTLIST ⭐️
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This week's prompts

Start your story with a character saying “Are you there, God? It’s me…”

Dialogue – 112 stories

Write a story where a character is exploring their religious or spiritual identity.

Fiction – 61 stories

Write a story about a couple with fundamentally different beliefs.

Valentine's Day – 23 stories

End your story with a character saying “Thank you, God. Thanks an awful lot.” (sarcastically or not).

Dialogue – 45 stories

Write a story about a teenager whose family is moving.

Teens – 46 stories

Stories

“Inshallah” by Adam El Nabli

04/02/2022Mama has been to the hospital quite a few times before, but she always comes back home eventually. So, when she went to the hospital this morning I thought this time won’t be different. Baba even insisted that I go to football practice today as well. I’ve been playing for the Shooting Club in El Dokki, Giza, for almost 6 years now, so when Mama went to the hospital, Baba called the coach, captain Abdallah, and told him that she was ill. Captain Abdallah apparent...

102 comments 102 WINNER 🏆
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“The Devil Among Them” by Dustin Gillham

Are you there, God? It's me…  Daniella Dean screams a muffled plea beneath her taped mouth. Tears flow from her eyes. She hasn't eaten in days, and she doesn't know where she is or why he chose her. There were others that night he could have taken. Her best friend had been by her side. She recalls the fireworks and the eerie feeling she had just before he took her..  The dev...

55 comments 55
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“Down to One” by Deidra Whitt Lovegren

“Are you there God? It’s me, God.”“Which one?”“What do you mean which one?” “That’s rather arrogant of you. There are 33 million Hindu gods, 28 Buddhas, and 12 Olympians. For all I know, you could be a talking totem pole. So don’t be a primadonna. Just narrow it down for me. Which god are you?”“C’mon. I’m pretty sure you are still omniscient, even for a burning bush. You definitely know who this is.”“Male or female?”“Clearly, I’m a male.”“You’re wearing a dress . . .”“I...

57 comments 57
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“The Gospel of Tea” by Hannah P. Simmons

My daughter’s house smells like a cup of London Fog. Black tea leaves and orange bergamot kissed with vanilla. The scent permeates everything, even her clothes, so she carries it everywhere. When people ask, she excitedly explains that it’s her favorite tea. My husband and I joke that she has been called to preach her doctrines to the coffee drinkers of the world. She’s already had a number of successful conversions....

79 comments 79 SHORTLIST ⭐️
Read story

“California Dreaming” by Kathleen Fine

Miriam sets her suitcase on her twin bed and carefully begins to place her folded clothes inside, taking her time. Her pink bedspread and sheets are already packed up in a cardboard box across her room. She only has a few more hours left in this bedroom and she’s trying to savor the last moments she has in it. Miriam has conflicted feelings about moving. This has been her home for the past 14 years since she was born. W...

32 comments 32
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“NO TURN ON FRED” by Joe Malgeri

CW: themes of mental health and sexual violenceEach street sign had originally read the words, “No Turn On Red.” But, after I had finished with these signs, each one of them then read the words, “No Turn On Fred.” However, after a full year of my getting away with painting the letter “F” upon hundreds of street signs, a police officer had finally caught me right in the act.   One week following my arrest, while in court, the judge had asked me, “Why would a thirty-eight year old man do such a childi...

40 comments 40
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“Selcouth” by Abigail Airuedomwinya

SELCOUTH He said he was from France but there were a lot of French words he couldn’t quite pronounce. Take for example, on his first visit to the fancy restaurant down the street, he asked for le yaourt and cringed when the waitress frowned. He asked for tea instead, his voice low to the point of a whisper. To describe him would be to momentarily describe the afterlife: chimerical and dull. He had the mos...

10 comments 10
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“Flamewalker” by Alex Sultan

Emrys could do nothing but run in the aftermath of warfare. Broken homes and bloodied weapons left him an orphan. A lone child roaming the vast lands of Ashal. He ate what berries he could scavenge in the forests, drank the clear water from streams, and spent nights mourning the loss of his home. Tears would blur the moonlight at dark. He couldn’t run from the black bear that singled him out. A nearby monk heard his cries—a man dressed in a maroon robe rushed to his aid. The bear swiped, tearing into Emrys’ arm a...

34 comments 34
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“Goodbye to the Monster Under the Bed. ” by Emerald Lace

There is a monster under my bed. And I know… I know what you are thinking. That I am crazy, but it’s the truth. I met the monster, who calls himself Greg, although I have doubts that’s his real name, when I was only three years old. I’d accidentally left my foot over the side of the bed and Bam… Hello Greg.  Initially he’d tried to scare me, because either it’s his job or his enjoyment, but when he realiz...

20 comments 20
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“Yellow” by Oma S. Ari

The first time we spoke about God was on a park bench in Munich. I was drinking lemon ice tea and you showed me how your dad used to pray. My dad, I explained, would not even let me watch Christmas movies as a child, as he worried the ‘religious message’ would corrupt my mind and make me join a cult. You laughed.Later that day we walked back to my place. My apartment was a mess; blankets and cups and pizza crust all floating in a purple hue from the sun setting over the rooftops across the street. You hung your jacket ov...

32 comments 32 SHORTLIST ⭐️
Read story

“Last Day of Summer” by Haley Kanewske

What could that noise possibly be? As I fumbled around for my phone, I just kept hearing the same annoying thuds repeatedly. It was 4 a.m. who could possibly be up at this time. As I stumbled out of bed stubbing my toe along the way I saw a faint light coming from the neighbor's house down the street.  Was that the Johnsons’ house? Was that a moving truck? To be completely honest their son Thomas, who was a year younger than me has always creeped me out. I can say I am definitely not sad to see him and his family go.&nbsp...

27 comments 27
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“Olivia” by Hen Neralany

C/TW: Death.I hear them arguing outside my room.“Noah, PLEASE, we can’t leave him like this, we CAN’T be like this.”“Jade, look-Jade, just listen to me! Look at me! You are being emotional. You aren’t thinking rationally! We have a life here and-”“We HAD a life here, Noah, we HAD!”My mom lets out a wail. A loud and terrible sickly wail that grips at your heart and makes your hai...

9 comments 9
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“Blood Ties” by Kendall Defoe

“Are you there, God? It’s me…” She dropped the book and stared at her hand. It was the paper. The shiny, glossy paper of the supplement in Sunday’s newspaper. She had wanted another ad for her collection. I don’t know where they get some of their ideas from. Just too crazy. The cut on her pinkie finger had left a thin white line on the skin that began to hint at blood. It did not register in her mind until a smear of red...

11 comments 11
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“Hallowed Sound” by Thom Brodkin

Nate remembered one thing vividly about his first day there—it was quiet, too quiet for a teenager. Go a mile in any direction and there was hustle and bustle, but not here. Here the quiet was loud and that was unnerving. It was more than just the silence though. There was something else. Nate just wasn’t sure what it was. It might have been the gate, or the fence, or the fact that most of the neighbors were octogenarians. He couldn’t put his finger on why. He just knew he hated this new place. He, however, also knew he didn’t have a choi...

17 comments 17
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“Where I Am Going, You Cannot Follow” by Zack Powell

Content warning: Homophobia My family is moving today, and they're not taking me with them. From the bottom of the staircase I watch them shuffle in and out of rooms, hear them opening cupboards and drawers and closets, double and triple checking. My mother moves with the passion of a triathlete, crossing items off her laundry list. When my father trudges down the stairs and bumps into me with a heavy...

21 comments 21
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$250

Prize money

287

Contest entries

128

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 11, 2022 EST

Won by Adam El Nabli 🏆

Title: Inshallah

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.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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