Do You Believe in Magic?

About a month ago, a writer I know received an odd sort of email.

No, it wasn’t an enlargement ad or a prescription drug offer –

It was a job offer.

And the sender was apparently a BIG cheese from the BIG D…

That’s D as in Disney.

Her first thought was something like, “Boy howdy, what will those spammers think of next?”

I mean, really – the offer was just too amazing to be true.

It went something like this –

We want to fly you to L.A.!

We want to show you a movie!

We want you to turn that movie into a picture book!

And can you, like, have the draft to us in two weeks?

In exchange, we’ll give you fame and fortune… maybe even some mouse ears, too!

Boy howdy was right –

Because it wasn’t a spammer.

It really was a BIG cheese.

It really was the BIG D.

And just yesterday Barbara Jean Hicks sent off that picture book draft.

WaHOOOoooo!

You might be wondering how such a thing could happen.

Well, back in 2007 Barbara wrote a book called The Secret Life of Walter Kitty (illustrator Dan Santat). Apparently, the BIG cheese LOVED it. It was a BIG L sort of love. So when this opportunity came up, she tracked Barb down like Muenster on a mission…

And they worked happily ever after!

Yep, Elbow Benders, it’s called the Magic Kingdom for a reason.

PROMPT: You could be next! So you’d better go all Eagle Scout and get prepared. Treat yourself to a movie and try the Barbara Jean Hicks test. Sure, James Bond might be a picture book challenge, but what the heck – I say go for it!