WomenWomenReddit AMAJudy Blume

Judy Blume AMA: Author Reveals Who She Looks Up To, Early Views On Sex, In Reddit Q&A

9 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Judy Blume
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By 

Deputy Editor, HuffPost Women

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NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 07: Author and producer Judy Blume attends 'Tiger Eyes' New York Premiere at AMC Empire on June 7, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images)

When Judy Blume, author of much-loved books like Forever and Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret announced that she'd be doing a Reddit AMA, we could not have been more excited.

Blume appeared on HuffPost Live last week to discuss the movie adaptation of Tiger Eyes, which is now playing in select theaters, and took the time to demonstrate the proper execution of the "I must, I must, I must increase my bust" exercise. Suffice it to say, we think she's pretty great.

But that segment wasn't enough to keep us -- or the rest of the Internet -- satisfied. Last night, hundreds of Redditors logged on to post their questions, comments and experiences, many sharing the huge impact Blume's books had on their lives.

Here are nine things we learned about one of our all-time favorite authors from her Reddit question-and-answer session:

  1. She didn't plan to become a writer: "Had no idea it was even possible to grow up to write books," she wrote. "I wanted to be a cowgirl, an actress, or a detective."

  • Beverly Cleary is one of the women she most admires -- but they haven't ever met. (We would give so much to attend a dinner party with those two.)

  • She had no idea her books would create such a stir -- five of them have been on the American Library Association's lists of "frequently challenged books." I really didn't know I was being controversial. I was young and naive."

  • The character of Margaret from "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" is based on herself...

  • ...but she doesn't think that "Margaret" -- which is arguably the novel she's best known for -- should be adapted into a movie. "But, hey -- if the right girl came along who knows?" she quipped.

  • Her readers' loyalty is the most rewarding part of her career.

  • She sees her talent at writing as a gift. "I've no idea how writing works," she wrote. "My son says I'm the least analytical person he's ever met. I think I'm just an instinctual writer. It comes and I go with it. It's from some other part of the brain. I'm just glad it's still coming..."

  • Her early views on sex were mostly shaped by her fear of getting pregnant:

    • I'm a 50's girl. We were supposed to be virgins when we married. I guess not everyone was because three girls in my high school class were pregnant at graduation. And that's what kept me and my friends official virgins -- fear of unwanted pregnancy. We were sexual without intercourse.

  • Her work helped her through a miserable marriage: "Writing saved me every time," she wrote.

    • Read the rest of the Reddit AMA here for more on the inspiration behind some of Blume's books and what she's up to next.

    Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Weigh in below, or join the conversation on Twitter @HuffPostWomen.

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    Before You Go

    Readers Share: Books Every Woman Should Read
    'Are You There God, It's Me Margaret' By Judy Blume(01 of57)
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    Yearling | $6.99 | Amazon.com "It tackles religion, the awkwardness of adolescence, and the weird contraptions that women used to use when they first got their periods. (References to the "belt" definitely confused me as a kid.)" -Kathleen Massara, Editor, Huffington Post Arts (credit:Amazon )
    'The Handmaid's Tale' By Margaret Atwood(02 of57)
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    Anchor | $10.20 | Amazon.com"In the near future, the United States is overthrown by a group called the Sons of Jacob. The bank accounts of women and other undesirables are frozen, and a group known as Handmaids become the hosts for the future children of the ruling class. This book will haunt you, and is a reminder of how easy it is for extremists to take over... Once they do, the target is often women. (No thanks, Santorum!)" -Kathleen Massara, Editor, Huffington Post Arts (credit:Amazon )
    'A Room Of One's Own' By Virginia Woolf (03 of57)
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    Mariner Books | $10.40 | Amazon.com-Zoë Triska, Associate Editor, Huffington Post Books (credit:Amazon )
    'Diving Into The Wreck' By Adrienne Rich(04 of57)
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    Norton | $10.55 | Amazon (credit:wwnorton.tumblr.com)
    'The Wife Of Bath' By Geoffrey Chaucer(05 of57)
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    Bedford/St. Martin's | $12.32 | Amazon.com-Zoë Triska, Associate Editor, Huffington Post Books (credit:Amazon )
    'As You Like It' By William Shakespeare(06 of57)
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    Simon & Schuster | $5.99 | Amazon.com "I feel like he always includes extremely strong female characters, especially for the time period." -Zoë Triska, Associate Editor, Huffington Post Books (credit:Amazon )
    'Madame Bovary' By Gustave Flaubert(07 of57)
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    Bantam Classics | $5.95 | Amazon.com -Zoë Triska, Associate Editor, Huffington Post Books (credit:Amazon )
    'The Virgin Suicides' By Jeffrey Eugenides(08 of57)
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    Picador | $10.99 | Amazon.com"A much better pick for women than Middlesex...for some reason, he is REALLY able to capture what it is like to be a teenage girl in that book." -Zoë Triska, Associate Editor, Huffington Post Books (credit:Amazon )
    'Deenie' By Judy Blume (09 of57)
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    Delacorte Books for Young Readers | $8.99 | Amazon.com-Zoë Triska, Associate Editor, Huffington Post Books (credit:Amazon )
    'Little Women' By Louisa May Alcott(10 of57)
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    Signet Classics | $3.95 | Amazon.com -Zoë Triska, Associate Editor, Huffington Post Books (credit:Amazon )
    'Seventh Heaven' By Alice Hoffman(11 of57)
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    Putnam Adult | $11.28 | Amazon.com "A coming of age novel for those who came of age in the 1960s. Beautifully written story about a brassy divorcee (yes, that's what they were called) moving into a Long Island subdivision (think Levittown) in the 1950s that busts the myth of life behind the white picket fences."-Ann Brenoff, Senior Writer, Huffington Post L.A. (credit:Amazon )
    'The Women's Room' By Marilyn French(12 of57)
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    Summit | $12.00 | Amazon.com"The best novel of the women's liberation movement" -Ann Brenoff, Senior Writer, Huffington Post L.A. (credit:Amazon )
    'Fear Of Flying' By Erica Jong(13 of57)
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    NAL Trade | $10.88 | Amazon.com "This one rocked my world! It was ground-breaking -- uninhibited story of Isadora Wing." -Ann Brenoff, Senior Writer, Huffington Post L.A. (credit:Amazon )
    'Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage' By Alice Munro(14 of57)
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    Vintage | $10.20 | Amazon.com"-Meredith Melnick, Editor, The Huffington Post Nutrition and Fitness (credit:Amazon )
    'Housekeeping' By Marilynne Robinson(15 of57)
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    Picador | $10.20 | Amazon.com -Zoë Triska, Associate Editor, Huffington Post Books (credit:Amazon )
    'Frida: A Biography Of Frida Kahlo' By Hayden Herrera(16 of57)
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    Harper Perennial | $16.49 | Amazon.com-Kimberly Brooks, Founding Editor, Huffington Post Arts and Editor, Huffington Post Science (credit:Amazon )
    'The Twilight Series' By Stephenie Meyer(17 of57)
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    Little, Brown and Co. | $11.08 | Amazon.com "Just to know what 500 Million girls got so excited about!" -Kimberly Brooks, Founding Editor, Huffington Post Arts and Editor, Huffington Post Science (credit:Amazon )
    'The Awakening' By Kate Chopin(18 of57)
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    Avon | $4.99 | Amazon.com -Lori Leibovich, Executive Lifestyle Editor, Huffington Post (credit:Amazon )
    'The Bell Jar' By Sylvia Plath(19 of57)
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    Harper Perennial Modern Classics | $10.04 | Amazon.com-Lori Leibovich, Executive Lifestyle Editor, Huffington Post (credit:Amazon )
    'Bossypants' By Tina Fey(20 of57)
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    Reagan Arthur Books | $16.19 | Amazon.com-Lori Leibovich, Executive Lifestyle Editor, Huffington Post (credit:Amazon )
    'Franny And Zooey' By J.D. Salinger (21 of57)
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    Little, Brown and Company | $6.99 | Amazon.com-Farah Miller, Managing Editor, Huffington Post Parents (credit:Amazon )
    'The Lovely Bones' By Alice Sebold (22 of57)
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    Little Brown | $14.10 | Amazon.com -Ann Brenoff, Senior Writer, Huffington Post L.A. (credit:Amazon )
    'When Everything Changed' By Gail Collins (23 of57)
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    Little, Brown and Company | $18.47 | Amazon.com -Meredith Melnick, Editor, The Huffington Post Nutrition and Fitness (credit:Amazon )
    'Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit' By Jeanette Winterson(24 of57)
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    Grove Press | $10.17 | Amazon.com "An insanely ambitious novel which is really a memoir and doesn't apologize for that." Margaret Wheeler Johnson, Editor, Huffington Post Women (credit:Amazon )
    'The Girls Of Slender Means' By Muriel Spark (25 of57)
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    New Directions | $9.44 | Amazon.com "A women's boarding house novel is almost as great as a girls boarding school novel, especially if a bomb and a Schiaparelli dress are involved." -Margaret Wheeler Johnson, Editor, Huffington Post Women (credit:Amazon )
    'The Liars Club' By Mary Karr (26 of57)
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    Penguin | $8.47 | Amazon.com "My mother drove me across the Sabine bridge ten or twenty times in my childhood, and I never knew our safe passage could be a testament to her sanity until I read Karr's account of being charioted across it by her own mother who was in the middle of a psychotic break. Also a really fine portrait of flawed fatherhood. Karr is the master of revealing her (real) characters' dignity and crazy in equal turns." -Margaret Wheeler Johnson, Editor, Huffington Post Women (credit:Amazon )
    'Get To Work: . . . And Get A Life, Before It's Too Late' By Linda R. Hirshman (27 of57)
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    Penguin | $12.00 | Amazon.com"Her strategic plan for women: "don't study art," "never quit a job until you have another one" -Emily Peck, Managing Editor, Huffington Post Business (credit:Amazon )
    'Nickel And Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America' By Barbara Ehrenreich(28 of57)
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    Holt Paperbacks | $1.99 | Amazon.com -Meredith Melnick, Editor, The Huffington Post Nutrition and Fitness (credit:Amazon )
    'The Beauty Myth: How Images Of Beauty Are Used Against Women' By Naomi Wolf (29 of57)
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    Harper Perennial | $10.19 | Amazon.com-Laura Schocker, Associate Editor, Huffinton Post Healthy Living (credit:Amazon )
    'Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom' By Christiane Northrup(30 of57)
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    Bantam | $12.20 | Amazon.com"It's the body bible for every woman" -Alana B. Elias Kornfeld, Senior Editor, International Huffington Post Media Group, (credit:Amazon )
    'Half The Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity For Women Worldwide' By Nicholas D. Kristof (31 of57)
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    Knopf | $19.11 | Amazon.com-Jessica Prois, Editor, Huffington Post Impact (credit:Amazon )
    'The Woman At The Washington Zoo: Writings On Politics, Family, And Fate' By Marjorie Williams (32 of57)
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    PublicAffairs | $ | Amazon.com "Marjorie Williams has an incredible gift for profiles--the stories she writes about her subjects, from barbara bush to D.C. socialite, are so nuanced, so detailed and so intimate. The book also has a must-read collection of her columns about being a working woman and mother."-Bianca Bosker, Senior Editor, Huffington Post Tech (credit:Amazon )
    'Last Night I Dreamed Of Peace: The Diary Of Dang Thuy Tram' By Dang Thuy Tram(33 of57)
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    Broadway | $11.07 | Amazon.com"Not only is this book unique because it offers a Vietnamese perspective on the Vietnam War, but it also one of the few to offer a female point of view. Thuy Tram's diary offers an intimate look both into the war and into the life of a 20-something faced with becoming a woman in very challenging circumstances." -Michelle Persad, Intern, Huffington Post Women (credit:Amazon )
    'The Feminine Mystique' By Betty Friedan(34 of57)
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    Norton | 11.75 | Barnesandnoble.com (credit:Barnesandnoble.com)
    'Backlash' By Susan Faludi(35 of57)
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    Crown | $14.95 | Barnesandnoble.com (credit:Barnesandnoble.com)
    'Collected Poems' By Edna St. Vincent Millay(36 of57)
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    HarperCollins | $17.57 | Barnesandnoble.com (credit:Barnesandnoble.com)
    'Big Girls Don't Cry' By Rebecca Traister(37 of57)
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    Free Press | $26 | Barnesandnoble.com (credit:Barnesandnoble.com)
    'Forever' By Judy Blume (38 of57)
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    Simon Pulse | $8.99 | Amazon.com "I read this book shortly before I became sexually active. This book, featuring Planned Parenthood, spared me from teenage pregnancy." Julia Jensen (credit:Amazon )
    'The Help' By Kathryn Stockett (39 of57)
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    Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam | $14.82 | Amazon.comSubmitted by HuffPost Women reader Sara Hadley (credit:Amazon )
    'The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society' By Mary Ann Shaffer (40 of57)
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    The Dial Press | $15.93 | Amazon.comSubmitted by HuffPost Women reader Sara Hadley (credit:Amazon )
    'The Night Circus' By Erin Morgenstern(41 of57)
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    Doubleday | $17.79 | Amazon.com Submitted by HuffPost Women reader Sara Hadley (credit:Amazon )
    'The Lantern' By Deborah Lawrenson(42 of57)
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    Harper | $13.55 | Amazon.comSubmitted by HuffPost Women reader Sara Hadley (credit:Amazon )
    'South Of Superior' By Ellen Airgood (43 of57)
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    Riverhead Hardcover | $13.98 | Amazon.com Submitted by HuffPost Women reader Sara Hadley (credit:Amazon )
    'The Language Of Trees' By Ilie Ruby(44 of57)
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    William Morrow Paperbacks | $11.69 | Amazon.com Submitted by HuffPost Women reader Sara Hadley (credit:Amazon )
    'The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale Of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, And A Very Interesting Boy' By Jeanne Birdsall(45 of57)
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    Knopf Books | $10.85 | Amazon.com Submitted by HuffPost Women reader Sara Hadley (credit:Amazon )
    'Still Here: Embracing Aging, Changing, And Dying' By Ram Dass (46 of57)
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    Riverhead Books | $10.09 | Amazon.com Submitted by HuffPost Women reader Rae Carson (credit:Amazon )
    'Female Chauvinist Pigs' By Ariel Levy(47 of57)
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    Free Press | $9.74 | Amazon.comSubmitted by HuffPost Women reader Lauren Hedinger (credit:Amazon )
    'The Paper Garden' By Molly Peacock(48 of57)
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    Bloomsbury USA | $13.60 | Amazon.com Submitted by HuffPost Women reader Shaunee Power (credit:Amazon )
    'In The Land Of The Grasshopper Song' By Mary Ellicott Arnold(49 of57)
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    Bison Books | $15.56 | Amazon.com Submitted by HuffPost Women reader Shaunee Power (credit:Amazon )
    'Their Eyes Were Watching God' By Zora Neale Hurston(50 of57)
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    Harper Perennial Modern Classics | $10.87 | Amazon.com Submitted by Journalist/Author Rebecca Traister (credit:Amazon )
    'A Tree Grows In Brooklyn' By Betty Smith (51 of57)
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    Harper Perennial Modern Classics| $11.55 | Amazon.com Submitted by Journalist/Author Rebecca Traister (credit:Amazon )
    'Song Of Solomon' By Toni Morrison(52 of57)
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    Vintage | $10.20 | Amazon.com Submitted by Journalist/Author Rebecca Traister (credit:Amazon)
    'The Woman Warrior' By Maxine Hong Kingston(53 of57)
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    Vintage | $11.20 | Amazon.com Submitted by Journalist/Author Rebecca Traister (credit:Amazon )
    'To Kill A Mockingbird' By Harper Lee (54 of57)
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    Grand Central Publishing | $7.99 | Amazon.com Submitted by Journalist/Author Rebecca Traister (credit:Amazon )
    'My Antonia' By Willa Cather (55 of57)
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    Mariner Books | $7.95 | Amazon.com Submitted by Journalist/Author Rebecca Traister (credit:Amazon )
    'Pride And Prejudice' By Jane Austen(56 of57)
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    Bantam Classics | $4.95 | Amazon.comSubmitted by HuffPost Women reader Syretta Jefferson (credit:Amazon )
    'We Need to Talk About Kevin' By Lionel Shriver (57 of57)
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    Harper Perennial | $10.19 | Amazon.com Submitted by HuffPost Women reader Belinda Cech (credit:Amazon )
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