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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

“The Alfalfa Men” by Della Killeen

Submitted to Contest #132

She was kneeling, repairing the damage to the front flower beds when she saw the first one. He was on the far side of the field, to the east of the house, up against the hedge. He was walking slowly across the field, arms straight down by his sides. He was wearing a red cap, but she couldn’t make out much more about him. One of Bill’s crew, no doubt. Bill owned the land that surrounded their house. It had once belonged to them, a small farm where they raised chickens and goats. They sold eggs and goat milk, made cheese and hand lotion and so...

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“The Stoning” by Howard Seeley

Submitted to Contest #132

“Are you there, God? It’s me. You know I’m a lonely woman, so please forgive me for what I am about to do.” Joanna glanced back the door, showing her an escape from this temptation, but she knew what lied beyond it was hell on Earth. Her agonizing journey began nearly a year ago when her father arranged for her to marry Joel. Had her father known the true nature of the man who was to become his son in-law, he surely would have cursed him, instead of giving him his blessing. Nearly every night since their marriage, Joel would go into town...

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“The Fourth Realm of Heaven Without You” by Talulah Pellon

Submitted to Contest #132

My father is a devote Buddhist, and my mother is more of an agnostic spiritualist, and though they have very different ideas about the nature of God, they got together because of their shared beliefs about economics. Mainly the belief that capitalism leads to the inevitable suffering of the majority. Ever since they married twenty years ago, they’ve known that they would eventually leave the planet to settle on a colony world with a different economic system. I’ve known it too.Since the day I was born, my parents have been trying to prepare ...

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“Aberystwyth” by Beth Walley

Submitted to Contest #132

I had been entirely alone in the carriage when the clunking electric mechanism of the hissing door alerted me that someone else was entering. I looked up from my book and read the broad sign on the platform – Bow Street. Beyond the sign, in giant, ugly letters on the side of a pretty little white farmhouse, someone had scrawled in black paint, WELCOME TO HELL. The sentiment was so far displaced that I laughed aloud to myself. It was a lone man who had entered the carriage. I glanced briefly at him – young, heavy set – stubble, slightly bucke...

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“Down in The Desert” by CHIEF John West

Submitted to Contest #132

I was on the edge of the desert in Northern Nigeria, when my car broke down. It was midday, and the sun was beating down at its hottest. This was pre-Boko Haram country where people now get slaughtered for doing nothing. The fan belt had snapped and was still circling around as if to show me, as I lifted the hood. I knew I was in trouble. I had not seen a human being since leaving Kano two hours ago and, looking about me, I saw nothing but sand. Seeing the sand was new to me. We don't have sand back in London which I had left a month ago. I...

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“The Man he Becomes” by James Grasham

Submitted to Contest #132

The sword was dull, almost black. Luthar passed it from hand to hand, trying to make sense of it. He’d not had the time after his promotion to inspect it properly, let alone practice with it. As soon as he’d retrieved his gear from his new quarters the party had set off at a blistering pace. The guild was a pack of angry wolves, bearing down on their prey. Now he sat in their hastily prepared bivouac in the freezing cold north feeling disappointed and confused. Yan was a good smith, one of the best in Teraditha, so why would he forge a dull ...

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“Having Faith” by Greg Gillis

Submitted to Contest #132

“Are you there, God? It’s me, Bobby,” the boy of five years old said as he kneeled down beside his bed. “Mommy and daddy are yelling at each other again, and I really need you to ask them to stop. I know you can do it because my grandpa says you can do anything. I don’t like it when they yell. It makes me scared. I guess that’s all for now. Thanks for listening. Goodnight, God. Oh, I almost forgot, Amen.” Bobby ...

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“Oasis” by Wake Lloire

Submitted to Contest #132

The plush dinosaur sat on Kara’s bed, looking at her with a stern gaze. It’s velvet exterior a little worse for wear. Its one eye slightly scratched where her dog had gotten ahold of it when the pup was in her teething phase. The wire in its wings no longer holding them up. Kara had gotten the pterodactyl (or was it a pterosaur?) when she was six. Her grandmother had given her the bright magenta (or was it purple?) stuffed creature because she had been obsessed with dinosaurs, “like standing up at the children’s museum to correct the facil...

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“The Search” by Ravi Srivastava

Submitted to Contest #132

The Search When he returned from the congregation, he was very excited. He thought that he had finally found his mission in life. “Are you there, God? It is me, and I will find you," he said. If others in the past, and some even in the present time, could find Him, he would also do so. The day’s speaker had said---and the sacred books also told --- that once you had seen Him, you were in perpetual bliss, perpetual ananda. He reverentially took out His picture from its frame and holding it in his hand approached his neighbors. “Have you see...

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“The Encounter” by Pankaj C.

Submitted to Contest #132

"Are you there, God? It's me, Joe!" “Hey, Joe. What’s up?” Joe sat frozen in his seat for a few seconds or it may have been minutes. Then he turned around and looked at the back seat of his car which he quickly realized was foolish. Of course, he was alone! He was headed home from his office, alone, the same as every day. He’d got stuck in traffic which seemed to be moving slower than usual because of an accident or something up ahead - he could see the red and blue lights flashing a few miles ahead. The weather was cold, the...

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“Dew Drops on Peonies ” by MichElle Colpo

Submitted to Contest #132

(Warning: Contains Death related to Holocaust) “Our Father…who…which art in Heaven…hallowed be thy name—” “Start again, without stuttering.” Ruth could feel the tears welling up in her eyes as her mother’s lack of patience thinned. “Our Father which art in Heaven…hallowed be thy name….” ...

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“Mistakes” by N.R. Pierce

Submitted to Contest #132

Trigger Warning: This story contains the use of a gun. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” That’s what Jerome always said. He must have willed his way into jail cause that’s where he’s been since he accidentally shot his best friend in the leg. This would have been fine if his best friend wasn’t Cappie, Pastor Mackenzie’s son, which would have also been fine if Pastor Mackenzie didn’t have it out for Jerome in the first place.According to Grandma, after the incident, Pastor Mackenzie was overheard saying that Jerome should have been ...

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“Blue Baptisia” by Hannah Doherty

Submitted to Contest #132

Sweat beads at the powder-blue nape of my dress and rolls down my back – slowed only by the training bra my mom insisted on buying me this spring. “Are you ready to go inside?” she sighed and looked me up and down that morning – acknowledging that my body was developing into a woman’s, bearing less likelihood to the little girl she would always see. But why is it so hot in this chapel? It is August, but the committee added central air conditioning last summer, courtesy of the Bible School fundraiser. Grandma joked only certain gals (using w...

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“Strawberries & Milk in Paradise” by Ryan A.

Submitted to Contest #132

“…he’s just a drunk poet, floating through life, totally enlightened.” Oliver Ahmed’s brown ears, faded by the fog of winter, perked up at this, the rosiest corpuscles of his upper cartilage obeying normative physics – heat rising and rising. The wooden bar looked like the bow of a ship, the oak bending where his chest rested. He had just finished a professional drag of a Belgian blonde – the kind of sip that leaves an unarmed beer sweating along the entire upper half of its glass fortress. As far as intermissions between double vodka soda...

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“A Child's Penance” by R Orfila

Submitted to Contest #132

A Child's Penance Saturday mornings began early for me. I was usually the first up, at least in my recollection, and the Three Stooges were always there to greet me. Mom slept in a little while but never failed to present us with stacks of pancakes with syrup, crispy fried bacon and cafe au lait (half Folger's and half whole milk) with lots of sugar. The day was spent meandering about the street we lived on, Rhapsody Drive. Our house backed up to a slough, or ditch, or what we called a bayou. It was simply a shallow r...

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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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