An Invitation

Hi friend,

I’m starting a new project called THIRTY CABINS and I’m writing to invite you to join.

While writing my second novel, I became fascinated with Sunset’s Cabin Plan Book, a classic guide to designing and building vacation cabins, first published in 1938. The book lists plans for thirty wildly different types of cabins (“a ski lodge in snow country”; “a beach house modern”), sometimes with whimsical names (“here is a cabin that grows”). I’ve come to think of the book–now freely available to all on Project Gutenberg–as a collection of abandoned cabins, and I want to reinhabit them. That’s where you come in.

I’m inviting thirty writers each to select one cabin to write a very short story about. There’s no rules about how or what you write about, as long as the cabin factors in somehow. I’m thinking the stories will be <500 words, but that’s not a hard limit. Each writer will be paid $100 for their story, and the deadline to submit is April 1, 2026.

I plan to publish the stories online and in print. Print will reproduce the cabin illustration on one page and your text on the opposite page, probably in a zine printed on Risograph but possibly in another format. I promise no matter what it will be beautiful and I will find a way to get lots of copies in readers’ hands. Also, I have no intention at all to profit personally from this endeavor; if our little zine finds its way onto BookTok and becomes a NYT bestseller, we’ll split the money, or collectively decide to donate all the proceeds. Digitally, I plan to release the stories serially, in a time-boxed, pop-up newsletter. I’ll probably do this around the time the zine is set to be released, sometime next year. I will keep all contributors updated on the plan as things progress.

I started this project out of my love for the Cabin Plan Book and for the writers in my community I’ve come to know and admire, which includes you. I think it’ll be fun to revive these cabins and invite one another in. So far, 10 of 30 cabins have been claimed, and I’m really excited about how the group is shaping up. I hope you’ll join us! I’m happy to talk through ideas or help you evaluate the suitability of materials (i.e., choose a cabin). 

Let me know if you’d be interested in contributing? If so, take a look at the cabin plans and email me at joshriedel@gmail.com or message me on Instagram to let me know which one you want. (The full list of available—and claimed—cabins is below.)

All my best from rainy Portland,

Josh

a CABIN in the CLOUDS

a BEACH HOUSE MODERN

a SKI LODGE in SNOW COUNTRY

a CLUB HOUSE for TWENTY

for BATHING and BASKING

for SUMMER or WINTER FUN

CABIN for FOUR is EASY to BUILD

COUNTRY PLACE of CHARM

PLANNED for LAZY COMFORT

WEEK-END CABIN in the REDWOODS

THREE PLANS for GUEST COTTAGES

WHERE SKY and WATER MEET

VACATION HOME in SOUTHLAND

a CABIN for TWENTY GUESTS

MOUNTAIN HOME at ARROWHEAD

the BIGGEST LITTLE CABIN

BEACH HOUSE on a BLUFF

a CABAÑA—MEXICAN TYPE

CABIN for FOUR in HIGH SIERRA

for BEACH or LAKESHORE

a CABIN in the SANTA CRUZ

here is a CABIN THAT GROWS

RUSTIC CABIN for TWO FAMILIES

a CABIN on FOUR LEVELS

SIMPLICITY is the KEYNOTE

SHELTER for TWO in high COUNTRY

for VACATIONS by the SEA

FIVE ROOMS in a ONE ROOM CABIN