Wishing Upon a Star with author Jody Gehrman

Today I'm delighted to welcome author Jody Gehrman to my blog, a dreamer and writer who's finding some fantasies really can come true, though you just might have to wait till you're nearly forty. Read on to find out what she means...

Jody's New YA Novel is Available as a Free Download at Amazon​
October 14-16  (Dark of the Moon!) and
October 31st and November 1st  (Happy Halloween!)

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​Falling in love, baking a magical cake, fighting an evil necromancer—it’s all in a day’s work for Audrey Oliver, seventeen-year-old witch-in-training. When her mother goes missing and her mysterious "cousin" shows up out of the blue, Audrey knows something’s gone horribly, dangerously wrong. Now it’s up to her to get her own magical powers up to speed before everyone she loves is destroyed by the sorcerer intricately connected to her mother’s secret past. 
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When You Wish Upon a Star

Disney Optioned My Young Adult And I'm All Giggly About It 

by Jody Gehrman

For many years now, I've harbored a secret dream: I wanted a book-to-film deal. It seemed utterly elusive, fantastic, but still I clung to my hope. It was the sort of fantasy I dwelled on before drifting off to sleep, hoping to ward off nightmares with a little pixie dust. Though I didn't want to be greedy, I issued a tentative deadline to the universe: If I could get a movie deal by the time I turned forty, I'd never be wicked again.

My agent contacted me on behalf of Disney three days before my fortieth birthday.

Strange magic happens. It really does. Now, of course, I have the impossible task of living up to my end of the bargain: giving up wickedness.

Though it took months of negotiations, the Disney Channel officially optioned my Young Adult novel Babe in Boyland this spring. At the risk of angering the spirits who so generously pitched in to help, let me clarify: an option doesn't mean it will be made into a movie, only that Disney has serious intent to do so. I'll take it though. The idea that my little book is on Disney's radar at all thrills me right down to my bones.

In celebration of this new turn of events, I spent weeks renting every Disney Channel movie I could get my hands on. I haven't watched TV since I was sixteen, so I had a little catching up to do. I wanted to study Disney's style, their sensibilities, get a better sense of what to expect should more miracles occur and the movie actually gets made.

Though my husband claimed this Disney-fest drove him to drink, I noticed his eyes glistened with tears every time our plucky heroine learned a little something about love. Disney writers have an uncanny knack for tugging on the old heartstrings. Seriously, I challenge any cynic to get through High School Musical or Geek Charming without a misty-eyed sigh at the very least.

I hate it when folks who stumble upon great fortune have the poor taste to gloat, so let me just add a little something about wishes. I have no idea how all of this stuff works, only that awesome little miracles do occur. I don't have enough hubris to believe I forced it into being with my will; I only know that I wished and wished and wished, and it came true. I hope that reading this, you'll dust off your own wishes, whatever they are, and infuse them with your peculiar brand of pixie dust.

Thank you for visiting my blog Jody, and for reminding us to dream on.