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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

“HELP” by Barbara Burgess

Submitted to Contest #132

Are you there, God? It’s me. I met you at the Wailing Wall. Remember? I went to Jerusalem with my friend Cynthia and we both placed our hands on the wall. Cynthia told me we were supposed to pray, but all I could think of was you already know it all, God. You already know what I’ve been through. So I didn’t feel I needed to pray. I just said, you know it all, God, and left it at that, because, at the time, I didn’t have any answers. That’s one reason Cynthia, and I went on that pilgrimage trip together. We’d both been through so much, and we...

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“God, Are You Listening?” by Thomasina Rushing

Submitted to Contest #132

God, Are You Listening? Are you there, God? It’s me Charity. It has been a while since I last prayed to you, but I really need to hear from you God. At the tender age of 12 you allowed me to see your power firsthand. My mother went through a tough time in her life after learning she had a rare disease that caused her excruciating pain each time she tried to walk. She never gave up her faith or her will to live a normal life. One day she called me into the kitchen where she sat in her special chair. She said Charity do you believe in God? I s...

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“A Conversation with God” by Peter Stanley

Submitted to Contest #132

A CONVERSATION WITH GOD “Are you there, God? It’s me, no it really is me and this time I’m not messing around, this time I really am dying.” “What do you mean God that I don’t believe in anything? of course I do, let me explain”. My belief system is simple, wherever I am in the world, be it Christian, Jewish, Islamic or, when I used to go to Russia many years ago when it was a communist country and the belief system was Karl Marx then I would totally respect their system. In whichever country I ended up in I would attend the ...

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“A Place I Long to Know” by Tiffany Tilley

Submitted to Contest #132

“Are you there, God? It’s me… again.” I started. Lost in my own pain, I slowly opened my eyes to look around, open, close. I was reaching, searching for a sense of safety and familiarity. Like a newborn, seeking a warm bosom’s embrace searching for milk to nurse away these viciously gnawing stomach pains. I wish I could report back to Him some kind of beautiful news. Ya’ know, like;‘Dew drops on sunflower petals,’ and ‘Hummingbird songs in the distance.’No dice-– I offer this, a much more complex, yet relatable truth, brimming with univ...

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“Broken Love” by Anna Coon

Submitted to Contest #132

Are you there, God? It’s me Alicia. If you’re there, help me. I breathe, not wanting to open my eyes. I’m alive but too afraid to act it. “Play dead, play dead,” I tell myself. If he thinks you’re dead, he will leave. The latch clicks. My lungs empty. You’re safe now, I tell myself. My eyes are still closed. I wonder how long I lay there, on the cold linoleum. Minutes, hours, days? I push myself up to sitting and touch my face; tender. I pull myself up, using the pedestal sink as my climbing rope. Gravity pulls and my mu...

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“A Trucker's Prayer ” by Wilma Segeren

Submitted to Contest #132

A Trucker's Prayer Are you there, God, it’s me, Charlie. I’ve been sitting in this truck for two weeks, wondering if what we are doing the right thing. I wonder if it will accomplish what we are hoping for, but I’m missing my life at home, I’m missing my daughters seventh birthday and soon I will miss the annual family holiday weekend that has been our tradition for seven years. My wife’s face once smiling and trusting, with the innocence of a child, has become less jovial over the last week, her full lips don’t curl u...

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“Are You There God?” by Sandra Mayhugh

Submitted to Contest #132

“Are you there, God? It’s me, but you know that. You know that because you know everything, don’t you? You know everything. You know how I feel, how I act, how I will react. You know it all, but what have you done? Nothing!” Kathleen leaned her head against the back of the chair and sighed. She was angry with God, and she wanted Him to know. Prayer was a part of her life and always had been, and sometimes it was as simple as praying for a new doll or a bike. As upset as she was, she had to smile when remembering asking God to m...

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“A manifest against God ” by Nemira Alexis

Submitted to Contest #132

“Are you there, God? It's me.” That was my favorite proposition in my first 15 years, more or less. Every day, before falling asleep, I would talk to someone nowadays I no longer believe exists. Tears burnt my pale cheeks, but I couldn't care less as long as my words would have an echo in His ears. When I look back, faith takes the shape of a ghost, always invisible. Despite I couldn't see it, I let it haunt me. I would let devotion possess me because I was told it is an unforgiving sin to do otherwise. I'd pray each day for my mother to get...

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“The Cross I Bear” by Franca McManus

Submitted to Contest #132

“Are you there, God? It’s me.” Once – now it seemed a lifetime ago – he’d knelt in this very same spot and felt a visceral connection to Him. An ebb and pull, just like the tide. A primitive force. “- How’s she cutting?” That sounded ridiculous. He wasn’t ringing up some old, near-forgotten relative for a chat. He’d not bumped into Him, by chance, in SuperValu- doing his numbers for the Lotto. He exhaled, rubbed his hand over the stubble on his jawline. “The thing is… you’ve been distant lately, and…” Shite, now it sounded like he was ...

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“Are you there?” by Nicholette A. Guy

Submitted to Contest #132

Are you there, God? It’s me again. I think this might be my last time. I’m pretty sick of coming to you and nothing ever happening. My friends all make fun of me when I tell them I still think you’re real. Even my parents make fun of me. Everyone thinks Christians are losers, but I’ve stood up for you, even when you haven’t stood up for me. I still choose to believe, and if those movies about fairies hold any weight, you need believers to exist. Well, I believe and could really use your help this time. I know last time I said it was really i...

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“Afloat” by Nick Cevennes

Submitted to Contest #132

"Are you there, God? It's me! … Look at me! Recognize me! It's me, your…! …The whole of me! This broken me! …The one you've always forgot… to hurt too bad!" I watched from a covert corner as the man with his shirt off growled into the sobbing leaden firmament, while coping with the drastic convulsions of the ship. The storm made it impossible to keep eyes open except for a slit or take a step out the deckhouse. But I didn't want to leave. The man, the insurance salesman who had wasted forty years practicing the perfect regular life he had ...

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“Are you there god? It's Halloway again” by Cassidy Gray

Submitted to Contest #132

Are you there, god? It's me. I could really use your help right now, stuck in a sticky desk behind a hard door labeled detention. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Stupid Thomas Halloway’s Stupid Sandwich, but it’s too late for that now. A pink sheet of paper that sits neatly on the desk in front of me holds several lines of text. It reads: Detention exit ticket: Explain why you are in detention. Explain why you won’t repeat the offense. It’s standard, and the nerve of sitting in this room for the first time is replac...

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“Suzie Q” by Priyam Majumdar

Submitted to Contest #132

Are you there, God? It's me, Suzy Q, and I want you to stop Max from leaving me. I sat in a corner as if invisible while these thoughts ran in my head. I always give too much of myself. I don't know what I'm going to do now.Max seemed lost in his own rhythm of sorting and packing. Then, the room began to slowly fill up with emptiness. All that was once familiar disappeared one by one into large brown boxes that smelt of sharpened pencils. The silence was uncomfortable and unusual. Finally, I couldn't bear it anymore. So I got up and mad...

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“The Cave” by K.J. Hanson

Submitted to Contest #132

Are you there, God? It’s me… Josh. I know you’re probably busy and I don’t want to bother you too much, but, uh, I’m still stuck in this cave. Remember when we talked the other day, you said after it was over that I would ascend to Heaven. You know, or something like that. Well, I don’t mean to bug you, but it’s been like two days. I can’t say for sure because it’s as black as the pharaoh’s heart in here, but judging by how bored and hungry I am, I would say it's been two days. Which kind of puts me in a bind because I told everyone I would ...

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“In His Image” by Victoria Luu

Submitted to Contest #132

Content warning: language, abuse."Are you there, God? It's me, Rebecca." She was not the praying sort, but desperate times as they say. Her hands shook as she sorted the papers from the desk drawer. He had gone not ten minutes past and the adrenaline from holding things steady still carved its path through her nerves.Gripping the pages, the tips of her thumb and forefinger smarted from snatching the bread from the toaster just a little past done that morning. Burning the toast was a bit unusual. The berating, the disappointment&nbs...

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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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