My Kindle Scout Diary days 4 thru 5: Magic Kitten

Before I launch into how my Kindle Scout campaign is going, let me digress a little.

A few weeks ago I took my daughter, Pauline, to Barnes & Noble, with the promise of buying her first chapter book. When we got there, Pauline ran excitedly to the section for five to seven-year-olds, and her enthusiasm only grew as she looked around. There were books about fairies, and ballerinas, and horses. But when we found the Magic Kitten series by Sue Bentley, all bets were off.
I mean, it pained her to leave the other books behind, but Pauline HAD TO HAVE that Magic Kitten book.
On our way out the store, Pauline cried, "Oh Mommy, isn't it EXCITING that there are so many good books to read!"
It was a proud-mother moment for me. Because yes, I think the fact that there are SO MANY good books to read is as about as exciting as the world gets; I really, really do. It's why I'm an English teacher, it's why I have dozens of books of my Kindle yet I still buy more, it's why I love going to the library, and it's why I'm a writer.
But the volume of good books is also intimidating, because as an author, I know the competition is fierce.
But this Sue Bentley is a genius. We've read several Magic Kitten books by now (we also found her shelf at the library) and they're well-written and full of little-girl ingredients, like dance competitions, friendship conflicts, and of course, a magic kitten. I wish I'd written them.
Which leads me back to the fierce competition thing. I've looked at Kindle Scout quite a bit in the last few days, having been weaker than I'd hoped when it comes to checking on my Hot and Trending status. I've also joined a Kindle Scout group on both Facebook and Goodreads. So I'm very aware of all the excellent, competent authors who are pursuing the same dream as me. I also know that we won't all get what we want, not this time, anyway.
All you can do is keep plugging along, hoping that the next book you write will be your Magic Kitten, and the world will finally sit up and take notice.

So, if you haven't nominated The Standout yet on Kindle Scout, please click here, right now! Help me get my magic kitten!