Social Media Manager Cat Galeano celebrated our Scholarship Program on Instagram Live with recipient author/illustrator Lindsay Cordero.

Watch the conversation or read the full transcript below. (You can see closed captions by hovering over the bottom of the video and choosing the “CC” icon.)

More about Lindsay:
Lindsay Cordero’s website
Instagram: @artebybones
Facebook: Lindsay “Bones” Cordero

Some sound bites from Lindsay about applying for a scholarship, believing in yourself, perservering and finding your voice:

Applying for the scholarship was a massive leap of faith because I knew that if I was going to build a career in kidlit, I needed to start working, you know, in concert with the organizations that were really like pioneering the effort. So I was like, okay, if they offer scholarships, like the least I can do is apply for one and just see. I ended up getting it, which was amazing and so encouraging at that time because it kind of gave me a structure and then it gave me community and like that was really essential for me. So yeah, I, I applied when I was like desperate and like living on espresso and a prayer. I actually submitted it with ten minutes to spare!

We’re working with long-time horizons here, but it doesn’t mean you don’t continually show up on a daily basis and seek these opportunities for professional development. So like it was essential for me to have presented my work and like gotten that feedback [from that first workshop] so that I could like really mature it and get it ready to present professionally to a publisher. As creatives, we really can’t limit ourselves to: well it didn’t pan out in a few weeks or a few months or a single year. Keep going and don’t give up. That’s really the name of the game.

[At the workshops] you are not viewed as playing around in some hobby that’s never going to go anywhere. You go to the Highlights Foundation and you’re immediately validated. People view you as a professional and even if you don’t feel confident as a professional yet, that’s how you build the confidence. You build confidence through experience and you gain the experience by throwing your name in the hat for the scholarship or going to a retreat.

You just have to choose to have that faith in yourself; you need to root for yourself. You really do need to go in and be like: I believe in this story and even if the story doesn’t pan out, I trust that this will be the first step that leads me to the story that does.

If you’re feeling very vulnerable about your story and you’re like: I don’t know, should I share this? Like: I’m worried I’m just going to get criticized or I’m not enough, I’m not good enough. Just make the leap. And in doing that, you will realize that those are just lies that you’re telling yourself.

Refining that voice comes from getting really quiet with yourself. Like first of all, if you’re gonna hear your own voice, you gotta get rid of all those other voices. Like all that self-doubt, that self-critic, all that: somehow like shut it off. Once you eliminate those voices, then you’re able to really get clear: this thing that I am making is sparking joy inside of me. It’s sparking curiosity. It’s the thing that I love doing even if it never amounts to anything by external standards because it amounts to something within me.

The fear of rejection is real. It’s stressful because you’re putting your, your heart out there, your work out there but I think, you know, let your work do its work. If the story came to you, it came to you for a reason. You channeled it, you made it. Now let it go forward and connect with other people. That’s why it was given to you.

I keep telling people this: you put yourself out there, that is a greater than 0% chance you’ll get picked up. If you don’t put yourself out there you’re guaranteeing your 0% chance you get picked up. So put yourself out there.

Confidence is built through experience, so how can you gain experience to build that confidence? You do it by attending the online classes. You do it by going to conferences. You do it by applying for scholarships. You do it by going to retreats. You can build confidence even just by following all of the different leading organizations within the kidlit community, because then you start to know what the layout of the relational landscape is. Step by step in the experience. Invest in yourself.

Full Transcript:

Lindsay Cordero:
Sounds good. I hope everyone in the audience has questions so we can really help them get after the scholarships.

Cat Galeano:
Yes. Yes, yes. We truly hope so and we hope you find this informative and fun and we just want to highlight people’s, you know, pun intended, highlight people’s stories.

Yes. All right. So let’s get started. A big hello to our Highlights Foundation family. We’re so happy to be back online with everyone. It’s been a little bit since we’ve had an IG live. Um, thank you so much for being with us today. For those that may not know me, I’m Cat Galeano. My pronouns are she/her. I’m the social media manager here at Highlights. Oh, someone said volume. I think you might have to turn up your own volume, um, on your phones. Um, because I am as close to my phone as possible.

And for those that may not know me, I’m Cat Galeano. My pronouns are she/her. I am the social media manager here at the Highlights Foundation joining you from Westchester, New York on the Seewanoy, the, the traditional lands of the Sewanoy people. Um, I’m also the person that’s always liking your posts with blue and green hearts. So I am the human behind the account, and I am just happy to be with you.

But most of all, one of the most enduring things that I love um, to do and to see as a person who runs this account is to see all the comments and all the stories and all the things that I’m tagged in um, across the board from all our accounts. To see everyone’s stories um, from the different scholarship recipients and, and pretty much anyone who has taken a course with us or has been on our campus just to see everyone’s stories and that is just so endearing and it’s just a way to just keep me, because I’m also a writer, to keep me going. But also just like reinforces our mission and it’s just, just it’s a really, really humbling experience to see that happening and um, it’s just nice to see how what we’re doing impacts so many people’s lives. So that is why we’re here today.

We are so excited to kick off this brand new series where we will celebrate our community members and their scholarship stories and today we’re going to welcome author illustrator Lindsay Cordero who has been a Highlights Foundation scholarship recipient a couple of times and to hear directly from her, and to see what receiving a Highlights Foundation scholarship has meant for her. But before we dive in, we just want to remind our viewers that joining in on any Highlights Foundation spaces and sessions, to do so with no hate, no harm and no harassment of any kind.

Now, let’s get started. Hi Lindsay!

Lindsay:
Hi Cat.

Cat:
Thank you so much for joining us and full disclosure, Lindsay, I’m so, so excited to be able to to um, try this brand new series um, with someone that I feel so comfortable with and that I’m so excited to hear from and whose journey inspires me so much. So I’m just, you know, honored and excited and just like all the good, good, good, vibes and, and feelings and all the like unicorns and rainbows and all the good things that we need in the world right now. So I hope this this safe space can provide that for everyone today.

So my first question for you is: where were you in your career before you,you applied for your first Highlights Foundation scholarship?

Lindsay:
Yes. Oh my goodness. Okay, so before I get started, um, I just want to thank the Highlights Foundation. Thank you, Cat. I want to thank everyone in the audience for investing in your creative dreams and joining us today. Um, my pronouns are she/her. Uh, and yes, where was I in at in my career? So I’ll set some context first. So my first application to the Highlights Foundation was like last-minute. I mean like I applied the very last day everything was open. So like there I was sitting in my living room; it’s completely dark. I’m like scrolling through Instagram and I’m like just scared that like I’m not going to be able to find creative community or like more opportunities to maintain momentum from my first book being released.

So like my debut picture book, The Crew of Barkers and Meow had just been released for the 2023 Mardi Gras season. Um, and it was amazing. It like took off. I was doing like Barnes and Noble signings, like author visits, author events, like left and right. But I was doing this while I was still on active duty in the Air Force. And so I was literally taking days off, like taking days of leave to be able to go to my events and like, it was hectic. It was very hectic.

And I knew by that time in my career that I was actually going to be separating from the Air Force. So when I first applied for my Highlights scholarship, I was at like a very pivotal intersection for me, like both personally and professionally. Like I’ve been in the Air Force since I was 18, went to the Air Force Academy, like 10 years on active duty. So applying for the scholarship was a massive leap of faith because I knew that if I was going to build a career in kidlit, I needed to start working, you know, in concert with the organizations that were really like pioneering the effort.

So I was like, okay, if they offer scholarships, like the least I can do is apply for one and just see. I threw my name in the hat for the Diversify Science scholarship and um, ended up getting it, which was amazing and so encouraging at that time because it gave me something to like work towards as I was leaving active duty to join the Air Force Reserve. So it kind of gave me a structure and then it gave me community and like that was really essential for me. So yeah, I, I applied when I was like desperate and like living on espresso and a prayer.

Cat:
I feel like I need that on a t-shirt or a bumper sticker. Thank you for sharing that. And how DID you find out about the scholarships. I feel like you kind of talked a little bit about it; online, but was that where it was?

Lindsay:
Yeah, I kind of have mixed feelings about social media, because it can be so hard to play the social media game, but from like a career professional standpoint, if you’re a creative wanting to gain traction in the industry, I really do recommend you follow all of the different organizations, like Highlights, that are working in this space, leading in this space. Because when they post about events, it’s on Instagram, like it’s on these social media platforms.

So that’s like, I was on Instagram, just mindlessly going and then Highlights popped up and it’s like “Scholarship Season closes tomorrow” and I was like tomorrow? I actually checked in my files: I actually submitted it with ten minutes to spare!

Yeah, so Instagram is how I found out.

Cat:
That as the person who runs Instagram, that makes me very, very happy.

Lindsay:
Was it you, that posted that to me, my future friend?

Cat:
Future friend, that’s how it happened. I subliminally sent it over to you and then it full circle happened.

Lindsay:
Yeah. It is, it really is like a lot of full circle moments in this community.

Cat:
So you, you said you kind of touched on it a little bit, that you ended up using that scholarship to the Diversify Science. So tell us about your scholarship experience. What, what did you end up applying your scholarships to? What courses or retreats did you end up applying that those scholarships to?

Lindsay:
So I was very, very strategic about this. So in 2023, I applied to the Diversify Science scholarship and then in 2024, I applied to the Latinx Storyteller scholarship. So when I received the Diversify Science, I signed up for the in-person nature and science writing and illustration retreat. Um, because at that time I was working on a story called The Great Truffle Snuffle um, as well as a story that um, I gently titled Nervous Nelly, but like I’ll explain in a moment. But that story like kind of the, the scholarship taught me to like, when I got feedback on that story, I realized it wasn’t a story. So I like had to pivot. But like so when I went to the nature and science illustration retreat, it was because it was related to some of the creative work I was doing.

And I know in my creative career, like I want to continue trying to pivot and niche myself into that like space where writing and illustration occurs at the intersection of like the trade and educational market. So I especially, as it pertains to marine biology, so I’m like trying to angle in that direction. Um, but that was so informative for me. So um, I got incredible feedback like from um, Baptiste Paul, Miranda Paul, Heather Montgomery. Um, the feedback I got on Truffle Snuffle enabled me to work on the manuscript and get it ready to pitch. And so I’m actually in negotiations on a contract right now for that story with a publisher again.

Um, so that is like a huge like success through-line, right? And I think it also goes to show people: like I went to this in 2023. It’s now 2025. Like we’re working with long-time horizons here, but it doesn’t mean you don’t continually show up on a daily basis and seek these opportunities for professional development. So like it was essential for me to have presented my work and like gotten that feedback so that I could like really mature it and get it ready to present professionally to a publisher.

And then funny thing about my poor Nervous Nelly. It was a story about an eel. It was really cute. Um, but um, Miranda was like there’s some, there’s some gaps here in story structure and like what’s the point and message? And I was like, yeah. I think I had art ideas but not an actual like story idea. So like that also goes to show like you can learn at these conf, like these uh retreats, like maybe some projects are not the, the projects you should keep working on. Maybe you should pivot it because between her feedback and Heather’s feedback, um, I got the idea for maybe starting to write about my scuba diving. Because as you know Cat, I’m an avid scuba diver. Um, I so on the fine art side of my business, I sketch underwater. I bring those drawings to the surface and I create fine art um, which I saw through my website. You can see some of it right there and right there. Um, but um, so I got this idea for like, okay, maybe I should be writing about my scuba diving, right? Which is like kind of narrative non-fiction.

I didn’t even have the words narrative non-fiction in my like understanding of the industry until I went to the retreat. So fast forward, 2024, last November, I went to the Maldives and I was doing coral restoration and like on a scuba dive it like hit me in the face. I was like, I’m going to write a picture book about like coral restoration and scuba diving. And so I like worked, worked, worked on that, made a book dummy and that’s actually what I presented at um, my portfolio consultation with Marikka Tamura just this past weekend at the SCBWI New York City winter conference. So like another full thread like all coming from the Highlights Foundation like it connects over time.

Um, and then like of course my Latinx retreat which was so soul-filling. Like even if you, even if you are just working on just the slightest inspiration of an idea, if you’re in the audience and you’re like, I have this idea but like I don’t know, it’s like kind of really new or vulnerable. Like go to an in-person like workshop and in-community retreat, you’re going to meet other people that are going to meet you in common belief of what you’re capable of and like it’s: this is the magical thing about Highlights. You go and it’s like you exit the world of like doubt that surrounds the arts and you enter the world of like automatic acceptance. Like you are not questioned in your deservedness to have a seat at the table.

You are not viewed as like, I don’t know, playing around in some hobby that’s never going to go anywhere. You go to Highlights Foundation and you’re immediately validated. People like view you as a professional and even if you don’t feel confident as a professional yet, like that’s how you build the confidence. You build confidence through experience and you gain the experience by throwing your name in the hat for the scholarship or going to a retreat. So it’s yeah, it the Latinx retreat was, was like so healing for me and I brought like tender bilingual stories to share and like I learned so much about how to shift those and continue evolving them and like I think those will probably be hopefully surfacing in like 2027. And I’m just going to manifest that out there.

But like yeah, it was just both retreats were so soul-giving. Like I feel like I’m going to be going to Highlights every year from now on. And they’re going to be like: Lindsay, you can move back home now.

Cat:
Um, full disclosure which I don’t know if a lot of people know this, but I am also a scholarship recipient. That’s kind of how I came across Highlights. I was um, a fresh-out-of-my-MFA program, completely lost. I lost, sort of my community of the structure of being in my MFA program and was like what do I do? Found Highlights, got a scholarship and I always like to joke that I got the scholarship and never left. So I literally got the scholarship and have pretty much been there since. But that’s why I always love to, that’s why I feel like I can understand and just like feel so much more about these, these scholarship stories because like I am that person.

I was the person that was just looking for community and like direction and understanding what’s next because like I have these stories and then I, I want community but I I feel alone and I’m just like: I don’t really know what I’m doing. And so like hearing all of this from you, I’m like I like to my bone, I understand that. And, and I’m not just like hyping like Highlights because like I work there but I’m like me I’m like as a writer myself I understand absolutely.

So I’m like this is why I wanted to start this series because I’m like we have we have scholarship stories on our blogs but I’m like there’s something so tangible about seeing each other, talking about it, seeing social reactions and yeah. And then seeing the people in the room and seeing the comments. So I’m like I want to see this and like have it come to life. So I’m like thank you so much for just like being on board for being the first person to, to start this series with me.

Lindsay:
Sure.

Cat:
Um, so yeah, so thank you for sharing that and like having and, and I also love that you talked about, you know, Truffle Snuffle and um, the Nelly story, the Nervous Nelly story because like you went in with these like two stories that you were like, you know, I feel so passionate about these two stories and then, you know, in one hand, one kind of was like, okay, this is more of just like an idea, not quite a fully fleshed story. But then the other one, you know, is like now out, you know, being shopped around in the world.

So it’s like it was crazy how you were just like, okay, well these two stories. It’s like one didn’t pan out, which okay, there’s still time to develop that. But one is being shopped out in the world and you’re like: you just never know what your stories can lead to and I think that’s, that’s a beautiful part about when you put yourself out there too because it’s like you just never know.

Lindsay:
It’s so true. You really don’t. You just have to choose to like have that faith in yourself. Like I always kind of joke like I have a delusional level of self-belief. And I’m like, like okay, so like for example, when I post on Instagram, I like my stuff immediately and then I go to my personal account and I like my stuff immediately because it’s like you need to root for yourself. Like you really do need to go in and be like I believe in this story and even if the story doesn’t pan out, I trust that this will be the first step that leads me to the story that does. And like who knows? Like some I mean Marla Frazee worked on a book for like what was it 20 years?

Like that level of faith, like we’re working on different time horizons as creatives and so we really can’t limit ourselves to like well it didn’t pan out in a few weeks or a few months or a single year. Like keep be, like keep going and don’t give up. That I feel like that’s really the name of the game. It’s like don’t give up.

Cat:
Yeah. Um, I think we kind of touched upon this but I want to dig a little deeper. Did you work on anything specific on campus when you were on campus?

Lindsay:
Um, yeah. So when I was at Diversify Science, um, I worked on the Great Truffle Snuffle um, manuscript like a lot. Like that was probably my heaviest focus. Um, and then I worked on the Nervous Nelly manuscript, but I had actually brought a lot of art with Nervous Nelly. And um, that’s kind of what led me to realize like perhaps the art was leading the story more than the actual writing.

And so like as an author illustrator, it really kind of taught me sometimes I need to get out of my own way depending on which like talent is in lead. Um, and like it was um, I remember Heather sitting down with me and saying like what is it that you love about like the art and the story? And I was like I love, I love the underwater world. Like I love the experience of descending beneath the waves and like reaching stillness and it’s just bubbles and like quiet and then all the sounds of the reef like hit you. And she’s like: so it sounds like you want to write about like scuba diving, not about an eel. And I was like okay, yeah, that’s pretty valid. And she’s like, well, consider the fact that like you could write non-fiction about this. You could write fiction about this. You don’t have to stay in a picture book format. You could, you know, there’s middle grade, there’s YA. And like I didn’t know about these like categories that you could really expand into. Like I think I kind of had a sing–like I went into that retreat with more of a like single-minded approach of like: picture books is my category.

And then I came out of it realizing like maybe there are stories that come to me that apply more like in different levels of reading than I knew of. Because like my background’s in national security, right? Like I’m not in a classroom. I don’t know what I’m doing. You should also give faith. Anyone who’s in the audience and wants to apply for a scholarship look, like if you were to look at me on paper, I’m utterly unqualified to do this. But like just do it anyway. Like the angle you come from will be right for you.

Um, but it just yeah, it really just opened my eyes to all the different ways and categories and genres I could be working in, the reading levels I could be targeting, the grade levels um, and the fact that you could write non-fiction in kid lit. And so now my coral gardener story is going to have a lot of like science-focused back matter and science interwoven into the story.

Um, I didn’t know you could have like–I mean yes, I had seen books that did that but like as a creator, when you’re on the other side of the table like for some reason you’re like you forget how many tools are at your disposal. So yeah, that was like one of the major projects that I worked on that’s now like reaching like, you know, coming together in a big way. But I also like my stories at the Latinx retreat. So I was very nervous to share these stories. Like I, I’m a military brat and then I went into the military. So I’ve lived all over the world. I haven’t really lived in the same like community of people with similar, you know, Puerto Rican background.

So it was so important for me to be able to go to the Latinx retreat and the Latinx Kid Lit Book Festival conference, which was amazing. It was so important to go to that and to learn from like everyone and, and just see my little bilingual stories be welcomed and encouraged and see like that people understood the humor even though I was like writing in Spanglish. Like it was just so heartening to see that. Like so if you’re like: to anyone in the audience again, if you’re like feeling very vulnerable about your story and you’re like I don’t know, should I share this? Like I’m worried I’m just going to get criticized or I’m not enough, I’m not good enough, just make the leap. And like in doing that, you will realize that those are just lies that you’re telling yourself.

Like I know from the LKBF conference and the that next retreat, like I stopped viewing myself as like half Puerto Rican and half Cajun and like I came out of that knowing like I’m full, like a full person with two entire cultures. Yeah, like I have twice the amount of like cultural experience than I ever gave myself credit for. Plus I’ve lived all over the world like there’s a wealth of stories now that I see I can draw from that I just never allowed myself to before because of feelings of like, you know, deservedness and not enough and like I don’t speak Spanish fluently and like all these things.

It was just like so that’s where the retreats really touch you on a personal level and grow you in terms of mindset because it’s not just like, yeah, you can go and you can get better at your writing, get better at your art, which is vital. You gotta be good at the craft to have a career around the craft. But there’s an element of like mindset, professional mindset, like emotional mindset that you only find when you gather with others like in community in this way. Yeah.

Cat:
Oh, you gave me goosebumps, my goodness. Oh my goodness. And of course, like Lindsay has had the, the fortune of being on campus for, for retreats, but also of course we have online courses where the, the impact is just as incredible because you’re in community online and we’ve had tons and tons and I mean tons.

I’m also a program monitor for um online courses. So I’ve seen this firsthand how many um critique groups have formed from our online courses.

Um I see your question. I will get to you. Um and so I have seen the impact of what the online courses have done for people too. So I just want to stress that because I know we were talking a this was very heavily focused on on-campus because it’s Lindsey’s experience, but I did want to also express um the online uh component of people’s experiences and how they’ve gone off and created critique partners and really have taken that and rolled with it and I’ve seen it flourish and um hopefully we’ll be talking to a couple more people before scholarship season closes um soon.

And um before scholarship announcements come out in March, but um I do have a couple of other people we’ll be talking to that we’ll speak more onto the online component, but I did want to also say that.

Lindsay:
And it’s essential too because like some people some people like don’t have the time to take even if they got a scholarship, they don’t have the time to give to go.

Cat:
Exactly.

Lindsay:
Um and like the online options, like if you get a scholarship, you can apply it to the online options instead of an in-person thing. And then like what I love is like I’m always taking these classes. Highlights like releases that I mean, it’s like but the thing about the online courses is like, okay, so say someone really wanted to go to the New York City winter conference, but they didn’t, you know, couldn’t afford the time, couldn’t like afford it. Totally understandable. But like some of the instructors from the conference also teach for Highlights. And so like I attended the class with Mike and Sandra this past weekend and I’m attending the online course and like there’s so much to learn from it. So like if some opportunities aren’t available, don’t get discouraged.

Like there are there’s a mindset of abundance. Like what’s for me will find me and I will find it too. Like yes.

Cat:
I love that. I love that. Um last but not least, we’ll wrap up our questions and then we’ll, we’ll I know somebody did write a question. So I, I do I do see you Blooming Sunday, blooming Sun photography. I will, I will get to your question, I promise.

But let me just finish Lindsay’s question and then we will jump to yours. Um last but not least, I know you kind of touched upon this already, but we have to end it talking about it again. Um what else do you have going on this year and please talk about your projects that you have announced. Where can people follow you? Where can people follow your work? Tell us tell us where to find you.. And all the good things happening in your world.

Lindsay:
So many things happening. Um let’s see. So the biggest project right now, I’m gearing up once I sign this contract um to move into full production for Truffle Snuffle. So like moving to final art, finishing the edits on the manuscript, all of that. Um I’m hoping, hoping: let’s all manifest together that this book is like released by the end of the year.

We’ll see. If it doesn’t happen, I’ll give myself forgiveness, but like I’m aiming for this. Like I’m aiming for another book by the end of the year um published. And then second, I am continuing to build out my Coral Gardeners portfolio and book dummy because I’m really still hoping to find an agent. I’ve got this is kidlit careers can sound backwards. I’ve gotten published, but I haven’t gotten an agent. So I’m using my published works to help me try and find an agent. So if there’s an agent watching this, like slide into my DMs please.

Um so yeah, so working towards an agent. And then like third, on the fine art side of my business, I’m releasing the Bonaire Dive collection of paintings through my website and I’m also going scuba diving with the MAR Maids this year, getting rescue diver certified, coral restoration certified.

So like I’m continuing to work on like that side of my creative business too. So and you can follow me on my website LindseyCordero.com, um Instagram, artebybones. Um I’m thinking of starting my Substack. I like made it. So if anyone wants to join me on Substack, I’m gonna start like writing more over there. Um Lindsay Bones Cordero. Um yeah. That’s it.

Cat:
Please do yourself a favor, once you finish this live, click over to Lindsey’s Instagram. The fact that this person literally like draws underwater while scuba diving will never stop being the most incredible thing in the whole world for me because like it’s just like so much mechanics already happens when you’re scuba diving. And the fact that you can just like have a slate and you can then illustrate. It’s just the epitome of just, wow.

Lindsay:
Yeah, it takes a lifetime to figure it out. I got certified as a scuba diver when I was 12. So like took a hot minute to figure out like to merge the interests and then like mechanics of it.

Cat:
Wow. So click over to her page after we hang up because it is just worth just scrolling through. Um Blooming Sun Photography has a question for us. The question is, do you have any advice for first-time applicants that are struggling to refine their voice?

Lindsay:
Ooh…struggling to refine their voice. Okay. I feel like when um when I was at the conference this weekend, voice was actually something that was frequently talked about. Like voice comes from your lived experience and voice is so completely unique to you. It’s your it’s not just the lived experience, it’s the attitude you have about that. It’s the, the way you choose to express that voice. Like a voice through pottery is going or sculpting is going to be completely different than a voice through painting or through music or through writing.

So like I think refining that voice comes from getting really quiet with yourself. Like first of all, if you’re gonna hear your own voice, you gotta get rid of all those other voices. Like all that self-doubt, that self-critic, like all that somehow like shut it off and I actually wrote a blog post about this where I talked about dealing with my inner critic like have you seen John Wick? I kinda feel like John Wick versus like the table when it comes to my inner critic. There’s a whole peep, a bunch of people sitting at the the table and I’m trying to like the high table. Okay, and I digress.

I think if you’re gonna refine your voice, you have to like be able to hear it. And to be able to hear it, you have to hone in on like what is and isn’t your voice. And so once you eliminate those voices, then you’re able to really get clear on like: this thing that I am making is sparking joy inside of me. It’s sparking curiosity. It’s the thing that I love doing even if it never amounts to anything by external standards because it amounts to something within me. And as long as you are following that voice to that internal like echo, I think that’s really like how you can like re you have to iterate through it, but like with project; project by project, you’ll get closer and closer and closer to that voice until it just like sings louder than any of the other ones. And I mean the retreats, the classes, they’re certainly ways to do that because it keeps you moving.

And same thing with critique groups. It keeps you showing up, keeps you trying and that’s like that’s how you do it. I hope that made sense. So a little long-winded. We had a John Wick-like rabbit hole.

Cat:
I’ll try then. I love everything that Lindsay said but I’m the kind of person that immediately freezes up when I have to press send. I’m the kind of person that has everything prepared but when it comes to pressing that button I immediately start being like no: I’m not gonna go for this; I’m a fraud. I can’t do it. Yeah. So I think if you have to have someone sit next to you or to like FaceTime you to say “press the button.”

Lindsay:
Yes, it’s so true.

Cat:
I’ve had people just be like: send it send it, Yeah, because I’m that person that I physically cannot press the button.

Lindsay:
Yeah, the fear is real. The fear for rejection is real. But like there was there was one thing I applied for that like my husband came and sat down next to me and held my hand and we just kind of sat in silence for a few minutes. He’s like: it’s time. It worked out but it’s stressful because you’re putting your, your heart out there, your work out there but I think, you know, let your work do its work. If the story came to you, it came to you for a reason. You channeled it, you made it. Now let it go forward and connect with other people. That’s why it was given to you. That’s my two cents.

Cat:
And I know it’s not the end of the world.

Lindsay:
It’s not! OK I keep telling people this I’m like: no, like if you put yourself out there that is a greater than 0% chance you’ll get picked up. If you don’t put yourself out there you’re guaranteeing your 0% chance you get picked up. So you can keep up a little bit like put yourself out there.

And then like I got rejected for 12 months with my first book. I just was like pitching, pitching, pitching, pitching, pitching to any editor any like age or any publisher that I could pitch to and it was like 12 straight months of rejections and at a certain point like I had to shift and think: is it not also a version of success that I’m even getting responses and is it not also building my experience that I am continually honing and angling my application?

But you get sharper the more you practice it and that is like success too. So yeah, no it’s hard.

Cat:
But we, we welcome you so apply, apply, apply, apply. Yes like you have, so apply.

I think that was the only question that I saw…ohh wait there was another question that I’ve been…ohh there are several questions, yay! So exciting. So An Illustrator says: do you ever have any self-published book reviews? I just jumped on; I finished my second book in the series. Do you ever have any self-published book reviews?

Lindsay:
I have not done any reviews for self-published authors…I mean I guess I haven’t done any reviews for published things either. Um but it can I guess from like a business standpoint if you’re building yourself in the self-published realm it can really help to get reviews from people so if you like if your books about like germs and there’s like a expert on germs somewhere and they give your book a review like: hey you know like, like give it a leg up.

Cat:
OK so our next question is: do you have any manifestation tips for young authors struggling with confidence?

Lindsay:
Oh my gosh OK. So like I have to kind of credit the Air Force for this right? Because like the Air Force was like: I don’t care if you have confidence or not you’re going to lead and do all these things like figure it out like anyone who’s been in the Air Force knows this, right? Figure it out and so you like are you feeling vastly unqualified to go be figuring it out but you make it happen. You do it live sometimes but you figure it out as you go. So like I would say confidence is gained and I actually had a sticky note of this on my work desk in the Air Force I remind myself this daily. Especially on the rough days but confident, confidence is built through experience so how can you gain experience to build that confidence?

You do it by attending the online classes. You do it by going to conferences. You do it by applying for scholarships. You do it by going to retreats. By..I mean you can build confidence even just by like following all of the different leading organizations within the kidlit community, because then you start to know what the layout of the relational landscape is. Like step by step in the experience. Invest in yourself.

Cat:
Invest in yourself. Yeah I love that. Well, that was our last question from our friends that tuned in. We’re going to wrap this up because we’ve been, we’ve been chatty.

Lindsay:
We’ve been chatting forever!

Cat:
People are probably gonna go to lunch so we’re gonna wrap it up. Thank you, Lindsay, for joining us.

Lindsay:
Of course.

Cat:
Thank you to all of you for tuning in, for hanging out with us, for listening. If you want to read Lindsay’s books or check out her art or illustrations make sure to check out her website lindseycordero.com and remember please check out her Instagram after you click out of this live.

Our scholarship period is now open. You have until February 10th until 11:59 PM application.

Lindsay:
And you can still do it at the very last minute.

Cat:
Just get it in, get it in and even in the last minute. So please do yourself a favor, bet on yourself, get that application in everyone. We want to hear your stories if you’re a first-time applier; if you’ve applied before; if you’ve gotten a scholarship before: apply, apply, if you’re published, not published, get yourself in there. We want to hear from you if you’d like to share your scholarship stories with us we want to hear from you! Click the link in our bio and you can fill out the information there so we always, always want to hear from all of you about your progress and your, and where you are in your careers. We always want to hear from you so please go ahead and click the link in our bio.

Thank you again, Lindsay. Everyone, good luck with your applications. Can’t wait to see you online, on campus. Lindsay, you’re the best! Thank you so much!

Bye everyone.