The Call with Matt Tesoriero

My call story is filled Drama! Drama! Drama! I was honored to have been selected as a mentee with #PBChat. I polished, edited and re-worded three manuscripts with my mentors At the end of the mentorship program, we were given another amazing opportunity to post the first 50 words in an exclusive pre-vetted agent's/editor's micro site along with the other finalists. Weeks past without a single bite. Then miracles of all miracles I got a request for the full manuscript from an agent! Within 30 days she asked for an R&R...and R....More drama! The agent had not yet been announced so the 3rd R was to reveal her identity. Soon, the pandemic took over the world and was consumed by making sure my family was safe while dealing with a family emergency. THAT's when I got the email, offering me representation. I had been dreaming about this day for a long time and when it finally came to fruition, I was too distracted to even respond. Amazing how in life when you're not looking, wonderful things come to YOU! Today, I've signed with the amazing Joyce Sweeney. Identify revealed! And am on submission. OH, how I love DRAMA!

About Matt Tesoriero:

I make a delicious, spicy meatball!

I was born into a large Italian-American family where we talk and listen at the same time. Big hugs and loud conversations are in my DNA. I grew up in rural Upstate New York, but we didn’t milk any cows.  We preferred frolicking in open cornfields and swimming in the cold waters of the Finger Lakes. I’ve lived in Boston, London, San Francisco, Fort Lauderdale and just relocated to Orlando with my partner. I love Dunkin Donuts coffee.  It provides the magical juice I use to write. I’m a certified Spinning Instructor and enjoy seeing my riders flourish and grow.

With twelve nieces and nephews as my audience, I made up silly stories to entertain them. I wanted to be their favorite uncle. One of them told me, “Uncle Matty, you should write these stories down.” So I have. I always remember a day when I was volunteering as a teacher’s aide in a first grade class. I read “The Giving Tree” to the children. I remember how moved they were and how the story made me cry. That’s my goal as a writer: to create children’s stories with heart. To inspire, enlighten and entertain. I always root for the underdog and characters who feel different. PAVE. THAT. ROAD!

Twitter: @Matt_Tesoriero

Instagram: @MattTesoriero_Author

Curiouser and Curiouser with Kyan Howland

Kyan Howland - Repped by Joyce Sweeney

Curiouser and Curiouser

Since being a child, I’ve felt how stories permeate the atmosphere.

Being a sensory synesthetic I wake every day to taste, listen, breathe, feel, and see everyday stories come and go. I worked decades as a hospice nurse witnessing those final moments, holding hundreds of stories with my heart, hearing both adventure and regret.

I’m especially curious about what others call mistakes. Like Miles Davis, I believe they can be music as you choose the next note and moment. As a writer and relentless editor, I’ve struggled with perfection but never let it keep me from making up homemade songs as a child died. I enjoy taking a few favorites and putting them to a new song on my guitar, like the one I did for a three year old called Oopsa' Daisy Dinosaur.  

And so when another mistake happened where the convertible top ordered was the wrong color, I went with it and made the most of it. Having a sandy top rather than black, demanded a blue car rather than silver. So with the help of friends I dipped my car deep sea blue. Then we added images of mermaids and ideas from stories and songs I wrote and put them all over my new art car. This has sparked much dialogue in parking lots as families ask about the rainbow hive or the phrase ‘slow is the new fast” uttered by the purple turtle on the bumper.

I believe taking time to be curious doesn’t kill the cat, whoever came up with that metaphor missed alot. As my blue cat Vega nestles beside me, she would agree, be curious and find the magic in the moment, which has never been more important at this time on the planet.

About Kylan Howland:

Kyan is an award-winning Singer/Songwriter and Author.  Her love of instruments from handspan to acoustic guitar, and her four octave voice make for an incredible reading and keynote.  Studying with Bobby McFerrin and earning her Masters in Creative Writing, she innovates with word and sound.  Westside Voice wrote “she enchanted both young and old”.  

She created the Lullaby Club online, where her stories, songs, and ASMR relax the whole family.  Her social media LIVES reach thousands and she’s been featured on Public Radio, as well as being a popular artist-in-residence at schools, hospitals, and conferences.  She painted her blue convertible with magical images from her stories and songs with the help of friends, and is beloved as the singing nurse.  

Having worked hospice and behavioral health, she knows the edge where a child jumps from a window and a grandmother reveals her secret cinnamon bun recipe with her last breath.   Her own NDE gave her a love life to cloud nine and a bravery to advocate for the planet and LGBTQ community.   

She lives on the shores of a great lake with her cat Vega, and they both turn mermaid on Saturdays, because life is too brief and beautiful, not to! 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/secretmermaidstuff

Email: secretmermaidstuff432@gmail.com

Instagram: @kyanmermaid

Twitter: @MermaidKyan

The Call with Gabrielle Prendergast

My call came as a few emails at first. Having had agents before, both good and bad, I think I went into it with my eyes wide open. But even from the email I had a good feeling because Lynnette had written "We would love to talk to you about this MS, future projects, and your CAREER GOALS"(my emphasis). This was so important to me. When we spoke on the phone, my good feeling was reinforced. Lynnette and Nicole were so enthusiastic and wanted to hear about everything else I had on the go (which was A LOT) so I knew they were interested in working with me for the long haul. That's what I wanted. I took my time making a decision because I wanted to be careful and make the right choice, but even though I've only been with the agency for a while, it's already going GREAT and I'm so happy!

About Gabrielle Prendergast:

Gabrielle Prendergast is an award-winning writer, teacher and designer living in Vancouver, Canada. She writes picture books, middle grade fiction, and YA contemporary and historical as Gabrielle Prendergast. Her science fiction and fantasy stories are published as G.S. Prendergast.

She has won the Monte Miller Award, the Westchester Fiction Award and The BC Book Prize as well as being nominated or short listed for numerous other honors. Gabrielle has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and has taught writing at Sydney University, San Francisco State University, UBC, Royal Canadian College and at numerous conferences.

Website: www.gsprendergast.com

Twitter: @gabriellesarap

Instagram: @gsprendergast

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorgsprendergast

     

 

 

The Call with Melody Dean Dimick

After Joyce Sweeney and I met at a Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) conference in Miami, she became my content editor. Through her wise guidance, I found my voice and a traditional PAL publisher,Taylor and Seale Publishing. At a subsequent SCBWI conference in Orlando, Joyce bestowed one of her coveted Magic Bean Ceremonies on me. We continued working together. She knew I was seeking an agent, and she loved my novel in verse. Joyce suggested I submit What Lies Beneath to her.

                

About Melody Dean Dimick:

Melody Dean Dimick is an award-winning author, the president of the Florida Writers Foundation—a not-for-profit organization promoting literacy—and a member of the Florida Writers Association (FWA), the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), the Daytona Writers Guild, the Florida State Poets Association, and the Florida Authors and Publishers Association. She draws on her experiences teaching at Northern Adirondack Central School and the State University of New York at Plattsburgh to write YA fiction and poetry. Dimick leads the Lake Helen Villa Writers.

Nine of Melody’s short works appear in (FWA) collections. Both her Backpack Blues and What Lies Beneath won First Place in the unpublished general category of the Florida Writers Association’s Royal Palm Literary Awards. Blame and Backpack Blues: Ignite the Fire Within won Daytona Writers Guild Excellence in Arts awards. Taylor and Seale recently published Ain’t It a Shame, a three-act play based on Backpack Blues: Ignite the Fire Within. Her poem, “Ysobel Gomez,” captured Second Place in an FWA Royal Palm contest. Her No Parents Allowed is a semi-finalist for this year’s RPLA Young Adult Novel of the Year.

Other books by Melody Dean Dimick include Silent Screams, Sinister Silence, Cat Girl, No Parents Allowed, and the three-act play Ain’t It a Shame. She is represented by Joyce Sweeney, literary agent with The Seymour Agency.

Melody conducts poetry workshops, served as a speaker on the First Books Panel at a Miami SCBWI conference, participated in a panel discussion at the Museum of Arts & Sciences as part of the Volusia County National Endowment for the Arts NEA Big Read, visits and speaks for writers’ groups and at schools and libraries. She has conducted workshops at conferences in Altamonte Springs/Orlando, and Port Charlotte. Local radio host, Mary Flynn interviewed Melody and her husband, Barry, on Orlando’s 1520 WBZW. To learn more about Melody and her books, readers can follow her blog under: My News at https://www.melodydeandimick.com/.

In her spare time, Melody loves to read, play pickleball with her husband, Barry, attend and judge poetry slams, and play pinochle with her son and his wife.