2013 Spring Scrapbook!

The book launched in April, with a foot-pampering party on April 27.

Click for video of (donor) Carolyn holding the spa spellbound.

Click to hear Kristen read an excerpt from The Souls of Her Feet novella.

A bouquet to celebrate our successful fundraising campaign

Michael arrived on May 19th for a 3-week writing gig. First thing: rubbing elbows with literati.

Then another reading of The Souls of Her Feet.

 And the writing began! "Teen Pregnancy" on paper.

 Much coffee was consumed. Meetings nearly daily. This is where the new finale, "Step Up" was born!

But mostly, music was written! The wonderful spread of "Truth or Dare Waltz." 

After 3 weeks, we hardly recognize ourselves.  

But we're getting closer to having a show!

Cobbler: The Glass Slipper... Yes? YES!

 

Volume Nine • May 9, 2013 "This was such a fun read! I just loved it. It's a perfectly unique and modern twist on the Cinderella story..." One Week to Go.... There are only seven more days before our campaign ends... can you help us reach our goal? Twenty-six people stand behind Michael and I in achieving our dream of completing our musical. Are you among them? Would you like to be? (YES!) A favorite perk seems to be the paperback version of The Souls of Her Feet—which is getting effusively great reviews so far! "...One of my favorite escapes as a child was piling into my mother's closet where we stored the sleeping bags and reading my seemingly never-ending book of fairy tales, and Kristen Caven took me right back there. She has the skilled hand that it takes to retell a fairy tale without coming off clichéd or overly sentimental..."  Of course, you can also just buy the book for your e-reader; that helps us too!   "...Strong voice, great characters, and upbeat pacing drive this story through to the very end. I identified so much with the cleaning-as-therapy that Ashley begins..." And if you've read it, please write a review! Reviews make or break books by indie authors like me. ..."I dearly, dearly love Harry! But my absolute favorite part is the "glass slipper". Here, let me read you some! This is the "glass slipper" part J.M. Randolph liked so much in her Goodreads review. I read it at the launch ("lawnch") party.  Want to donate now? (YES!) THANK YOU!!! 7 days to $2500 My first review! Virtual Reading NEW Music! The Last Queen of Hawaii Listen to this beautiful soundtrack Michael whipped up. The song is "A Girl Like Me," the emotional low-point of the play, in which Ashley is wracked with self-doubt. But it ends hopefully note right before intermission, so we want to come back and see what happens! Listen to A Girl Like Me Now wouldn't you like to hear someone sing the lyrics? (YES!) As soon as the campaign ends, Michael will get on a train and come out to California, where we will put our heads together and get more songs written! Upcoming Reading!  May 19, 2013, 2pm Main Oakland Library A week from this Sunday I'll be reading (a different part) at the California Writers Club. If you've been wanting to check ME out, check the CLUB out, or see bestselling author JULIA FLYNN SILER speak about The Lost Kingdom, her book about the last queen of Hawaii, please join us! “…a sweeping tale of tragedy, greed, betrayal, and imperialism. The depth of her research shines through the narrative, and the lush prose and quick pace make for engaging reading.” —Library Journal More than ever,  Thanks for reading!!!! Kristen subscribe to the occasional Cobbler here

brought to you by the busy busy elves at www.kristencaven.com.

 

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Kristen Caven 3056 Champion St. Oakland, California 94602 US Read the VerticalResponse marketing policy.

Put your feet together for: The Souls of Her Feet! (Spring Cobbler #3)

What if Cinderella didn't have dainty little feet? What if Cinderella's fairy godmother was... kind of a drag? What if Cinderella actually found her voice?

The Souls of Her Feet launched today!

Friends of the musical (FOTMs), I'm so very excited to invite you to read The Souls of Her Feet on your kindle, kobo reader, or iPad! Heck, you can even read it on your computer, no matter what brand!

(Secret hint - ONE of the links above has the price wrong... and if you've got that reader, you can download the book for FREE this week until it is fixed!)

Did you notice there are THREE covers? That's because there are THREE versions. (I can't do anything simply, can I?)

The Souls of Her Feet (a musical cinderella)

If you enjoyed reading the blook online, you will be delighted to find Ashley's story entwined with the musical-making subplot in a complementary and enticing design. 

You'll love pushing the buttons to play the songs (all music by Michael O'Dell), watch the videos (including some great new ones), and finding the pop-up surprises.

The Souls of Her Feet (a novel cinderella)

My super-cool editor convinced me to publish a version with just Ashley's story, which she (yay) thought was very strong and wonderful. Lucky thing, because I could only publish the bells-and-whistles version for the iPad. The 'novel' version, very shortly, be available everywhere!

Anyone who donates $20 or more to the musical gets a physical copy of the book—not available anywhere else! Can you pitch in and help us reach our goal of $2,500 in the next 30 days? We're working hard at this! Michael even went out and shoveled snow for donations, god bless him. We need more love!

Here are some of the other perks for the campaign:
- get a free ebook!
- we'll donate 5 pairs of shoes donated in your name
- a shoe on a shirt
- a jingle written JUST FOR YOU
- a magic tchotchky
and
- the undying love of the creators (you know it's true!)

I priced the ebook low ($2.99 and $5.99) to make it easy for everyone to buy it. I would love to hear your thoughts — please read and write a review! The more ratings the book gets, the better our chances for world domination and all that. I'll be doing lots of book giveaways this month, so let me know if you want to get one for free and I'll try to send word your way.

Thanks for your encouragement toward this very big step! 

Kristen

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Spring Cobbler - FOTM news

Hooray for our three Prince Charmings, Magic Talisman and Glass Slipper! Are there any Fairy GodWhatevers out there? With your help, we've raised enough with our crowdfunding campaign (donations are now tax-deductible, yay) to fly Michael out here for some serious songwriting. We're still trying to raise $2000 more to record new songs. 

You can still be part of the fantasy! The more supporters we get, the more eligible we'll be for grants when production time comes. Whatever your budget (seriously, NO donation is too small), there is a giving level with fun rewards. One of them is...

The ebook!

It's coming out on April 21st. Yes, you can finally read the story of Ashley, Harry, and Jeff without interruption, on your e-reader. Wherever you are, I hope you can join me for the launch party on April 27! 

The Blook is over and I've got an editor who's an expert on superheros, radicals, girlhood, supervillains, woman in pop culture, and heroes. Plus, I've had so much fun creating the new cover art...this one is a teaser...

Please x3 support the arts!

In spite of all of our wishing and dreaming, the musical has refused to write itself. So the first thing I want to tell you about is our campaign to raise some dough to help us take the next step. This new video tells the whole new wrap-around magic realism story behind the musical - and the forthcoming books and CDs. We are currently trying to raise $2500 to fund a wild writing session in late May and the completion of the score.

Please please please support us in this—you can donate as little as a PENNY (well, a penny plus a story), and get lots of cool thank-you rewards. Won't you be our Prince Charming... or our Fairy GodWhatever? (You could also just go, eeeeeeee!) 



It would be so great if you could share this with your friends (especially poor ones who love fairy tales and rich ones who like to support the arts)!

Curiouser and Curiouser

The Souls of Her Feet BLOOK adds a new twist to our musical project by fictionalizing the creators and making the characters real people. The blook begins with a pretend 2010 magazine clipping of Michael and Kristen as musical theater "who's who's..." seeking real-life stories of people with fairy tale lives.

Help us create this magically-realistic world by writing your story on the comments of one of the posts at www.fairytalereality.com. It can be a real story or a creative one. Just a few sentences or paragraphs will do.

Fairy Tale Reality is intended to be an estuary between fact and fiction (an estuary being the place where fresh water and sea water swirl together at land's end). No one will know the difference, and  that art can take on a life of its own.

Kristen's story about living a Beauty and the Beast life, incidentally, is TRUE!

Big Bitch with Action Figures

On Feb 15, 2012, at 7:06 AM, Paul Goldenberg wrote:

There’s a real kind of ‘gentile william finn’ thing going on there. (that’s a compliment!)
Quite impressed actually. Very funny! J
 
______________________________
Paul Goldenberg, Chief Operation Officer
Red Wolf Online
89 Tycos Drive, Suite 201
Toronto, Ontario M6B 1W3
Email: -----
Web: www.redwolfonline.com

From: Kristen Caven [-----] On Behalf Of Kristen Caven
Sent: February-15-12 3:22 PM
To: Paul Goldenberg
Subject: Re: score

Thanks for telling me it was a compliment... I have no idea what that remark meant! Now you'll have to 'splain it to me so I get smarter. 

On Feb 15, 2012, at 12:34 PM, Paul Goldenberg wrote:

Do you know William Finn? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Finn   March of the Falsettos? 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee? He’s both brilliant and perhaps slightly disturbed. You’re not disturbed but your Barbie doll show was for sure. J  Your voice, subject matter, and Barbie video just somehow brought to mind William Finn without the Jewish element.

Is that a good explanation?

______________________________
Paul Goldenberg, Chief Operation Officer
Red Wolf Online
89 Tycos Drive, Suite 201
Toronto, Ontario M6B 1W3
Email: -----
Web: www.redwolfonline.com

On Feb 15, 2012, at 1:44 PM, Kristen Caven wrote:

Oh, THAT William Finn! (Not the Irish Parliament member.) Why thank you, that is a compliment. So is "brilliant and slightly disturbed." I looked over Wikipedia and thought, "well, I'm also straight and female..." but then I realize my character Harry isn't...!  (I'm actually wondering if he might be Jewish.... though his name is Carrington, pretty WASP-y.) I'll share the compliment with MO the music guy... he added a nice EDGE to the piece with the gritted-teeth sound of the strings, don't you think?

As always, thanks for the enlightening. :)

K

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