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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.

This week's prompts

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

Dialogue – 108 stories

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

Fiction – 59 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 – 44 stories

Write a story about a teenager whose family is moving.

Teens – 46 stories

Stories

“Your Forgotten” by Lyra Beyke

Submitted to Contest #132

Are you there God? It’s me.. Your abandoned angel, nothing like your image; for there is no image from which to compare. I’ve been down here for some time, among the others, among our forgotten race of angels and demons. They’ve become so bland.. As I myself have.. Why can we not let them remember? Are you waiting for me too, to forget? Did you forget? Did you forget or have you moved on; a new project across the cosmos. Are your new angels more fulfilling? Did you give them demons to challenge them? Or did they keep their Eden? Are we a lon...

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“Out Of The Darkness” by Peter Doyle

Submitted to Contest #132

"Are you there God? It's me down here on the blue planet in the middle of the nowhere universe you built," Seth said looking up at the night time sky. A sky filled with far away stars twinkling on a cold clear night in Northern Washington. He listened for an answer but all he heard was the soft whistling of the wind through the trees. It was the question he asked a hundred times. Never got an answer. Seth saw the splendor of creation all around him, only some entity so creative, so brilliant and so powerful could create an oak tree, like ...

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“Are you there, God? It’s me, Patty.” by Tanya Smith

Submitted to Contest #132

Here I am sitting in the middle of my bathroom floor, crying my eyes out. How could this have happened to me? How could the man that vowed to love me till death due us part, have an affair on me? We are both leaders in our church and in minister class. How could he? He has ripped our family apart. What about our kids? How do I explain why I am leaving him? Are you there, God? I really need you to hear me. I need to know what to do. It’s October, the holidays are around the corner. Do I even tell him that I know yet? And when I do, what happe...

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“Watching Over Me” by Danielle Azoulay

Submitted to Contest #132

“Are you there, God? It’s me, Zach. Zach Jolt. I’m freaking out right now, I’m really freaking out.” I opened my eyes and looked back down at the figure on the floor. The man, ten minutes ago running towards me red-faced and panting, now a shattered statue, his skin bleached of any coloring. I looked away again. Shit! This wasn’t real. This was just a dream that I would wake up from any time now, startled yet relieved. Five more minutes passed, and the icy rain which pricked my bare arms felt very real. That was a feeling he woul...

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“One sided conversation with God” by Ronald Sturm

Submitted to Contest #132

One-sided conversation with God May 9, 2014 - LAX Airport 10:30 pm Are you there God? It’s me, Ron. What just happened? I was just walking through the airport and everything went black. I’m gonna miss my connection. Wait, am I dead? Four heart attacks starting in my 30s were good warning signs, so no real surprise here if that’s what this is. Isn’t there supposed to be a light to walk toward? I don’t see anything. It’s just black. Oh crap! It’s not hell, is it? Wait, no heat, no flames, no gnashing of teeth. Must not be hell. At least no...

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“6 Count ” by Taylor Vessel

Submitted to Contest #132

“Are you there, God? It’s me Lucas… ya know, the antichrist.” It’s a weird prayer, but it’s mine. The same thing I ask for every morning before I have to dance for exactly 6 minutes. The Devil’s Dance happened every day at 6:06 a.m. And, I had to dance a 6 count. My dad took the whole 666 thing super serious. “I know you and my dad don’t get along. He really fu… messed things up and I’ve not done so much better myself. But at least I’ve kept the world from ending.” Maybe God ignores my prayers. I mean, why ...

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“Broken Wings of an Athlete” by Harpreet Singh Arora

Submitted to Contest #132

"Are you there, God? It's me... Raj, your favorite player of the year." Mithil Raj, athletic early 20s, asks God, holding his chin up. Tears from his broad dark eyes slide on his sweaty cheeks, as his vision is piercing straight into the open sky, as if talking directly to the Almighty, questioning the insanity of people around him. With no answer heard or any sign of God's presence, he starts his motorbike and leaves the scene. ***** Phone Rings. "Put him on speaker", inspector Rafeek whispers, holding his posture between his ba...

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“I Am Here, My Child” by Everyone CanWrite

Submitted to Contest #132

Had God really come to visit me? But in my bathroom? That was such a weird place for God to set up our first meet with each other. But I was certain of it. I had just been sitting cross legged on my bed with my eyes closed and hands in the mudra resting on my knees, concentrating really hard on imagining what my God would look like (Matthew McConaughey in a toga), when I heard a sound coming from my bathroom, a click, just like the sound of the Deluminator which Dumbledore uses to vanish the lights. I stared long and hard into the bathroom f...

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“Silver Lining” by Thompson Emate

Submitted to Contest #132

“Are you there, God? It’s me, Terence. I can't say I understand what’s going wrong with me. It’s like I'm losing control of my mind. It's slipping away from me. It’s terrible in there. It’s killing me softly. I'm dying slowly. Please! God, say something.”Terence is having a hard time with himself. He can't place his finger on a particular cause for his troubles. He’s just sailing through them in the hope that one day everything will be assuaged permanently.“Mum, can I be honest with you?”“Oh! Definitely my dear.”“Mum, I feel like running som...

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“The Day before Ramadan Bayrami” by Scott Christenson

Submitted to Contest #132

Are you there God? It’s me Emin. I’m worried Dad might find the gift from Aunt Donna. He’s unpacking our things out the boxes from Milwaukee. I know secrets are bad, so I’m not sure what to do. Dad always tells me not to ask you for things, and that I should ask you to show me a sign for what to do. Please show me something this week. Thank you.“We are moving to Chicago!” when my dad said that, I was sure he was joking because he tricked me so many times with stories like that, and he never tells me the truth until the very end when he's try...

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“Power in the Blood” by N.M. Stech

Submitted to Contest #132

In the glow of the lamplight, I looked at the face my dying wife, and was afraid. No, I thought, she’s not dying. She’s healed. We’ve asked God to heal her, and all we have to do now is believe that God’s done it. She’s not dying. She’s healed. She IS healed! Even as I forced these affirmations to play on repeat in my mind, the doubt continued to creep in. She certainly didn’t look healed. The cancer had eaten her away. Unconscious on our bed, Sarah...

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“When bad luck comes your way” by Laura Tensen

Submitted to Contest #132

Spirituality is to religion what pineapple is to pizza: they are often combined but shouldn’t. You can’t really compare the two either, in the same way that you can’t compare pizza to curry. Like Rolling Stones and Beatles, Amsterdam and Paris, cats and dogs: no need to discuss differences or argue which one is better. But if you insist on comparing spiritual apples to religious pears anyway, the difference can best be described as follows: spiritual people are in search of what to believe, whereas religious people are already told what to b...

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“Finding his Religion” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #132

Max came from a very religious family, but the beliefs that his parents held so dearly were not such that he wanted to claim as his own. They were both deemed ‘survivors’ of a residential school that was run by strict Christian missionaries who strived to drive the Indigenous beliefs out of the hearts and minds of their students. That had worked with his parents, but not many others of their generation. They were regular church-goers who had forced him as a child to attend church services at least twice a week. One Frid...

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“Unorthodox Practices” by Carol Glick

Submitted to Contest #132

Unorthodox Practices Mt Pleasant's orthodox synagogue mentored the congregants in all things Jewish. A schmear of family tradition filled in the gaps. As a result, members of our flock had the religious know-how to conduct themselves at circumcisions, bar mitzvahs, weddings, and funerals. Despite this spiritual blanketing, a few of us fell through the cracks. That accounts for the unorthodox style of Judaism I practice today. &nb...

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“No Higher Power” by Debbie Russell

Submitted to Contest #132

Two back-to-back tweets appeared in my Twitter feed last week: From an atheist: Everything I have, hope for, love and look forward to is in this life. In death there is nothing. From Pope Francis: Let us learn from Christ how to pray, to forgive, to sow peace and to be near those in need. I was raised a Christian Scientist. Wikipedia explains Christian Science as a set of beliefs and practices belonging to the metaphysical family of new religious movements and goes on to explain: Christian Scientists see their religion as consistent ...

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$250

Prize money

280

Contest entries

127

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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