room of ones own

“She Shed” Book Giveaway! Plus a Special Gift for You!

Posted by Barbara Techel

"She Shed" Book Giveaway! Plus a Special Gift for You!

I’m excited to be able to give away a signed (by me!) copy of this new book She Shed – A Treasure Trove of Women’s Creative Spaces.  There is good news and bad news about this book though that I must share.

The good news is that my story about my Zen Writing Cottage is featured on pages 42-46. This is such a lovely, inspiring book and I am very honored to have my special space showcased inside the pages among other wonderful women following their hearts — five of which are from the US. And might I add, some very darling little She Sheds?

The bad news is that I’m not able to get copies here to the US to offer to those of you that expressed interest. I’m so sorry. The publisher is out of Australia and what I didn’t realize at the time when I agreed to do this (though I’m still glad I did!) is:

A.)  It would cost a lot of money to have copies shipped here (Australia is FAR AWAY!) which made it cost prohibitive. After many calculations and avenues checked for shipping I’d end up losing $7 a book to offer them for sale on my website.

B.) The publisher won’t be offering the book for sale on Amazon. This is a whole other subject regarding small publishers and authors and Amazon, which continues to be a catch-22 situation. This has left some publishers not taking part in the Amazon channel. You might at some point be able to get a copy via Amazon as some do slip through – though in speaking with the publisher they said it will likely be very limited quantities.

And I let out a heavy sigh and was so disappointed. And I thought “what is a girl to do when she was so excited to share her passion about these darling little creative hubs and how hers came to be?”

And that brings me back to some more good news! I’m working on writing a longer version of my story to publish myself. I don’t yet know how long it will be or what format (e-book, PDF, or softcover), but I can tell you that I’ve begun work on it! I’m going to just let the writing take me where it needs to go and see what transpires with it.  So please do stay tuned!

And some more good news!  I want to inspire and encourage others to create a space of their own (if that is what you wish for!) so I’ve created this bookmark for all of you since there can only be one winner of the book giveaway. I hope you will enjoy!  Just click on the bookmark image below which will take you to the page on my website to print it out.

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To enter for a chance to win a copy of the book all you have to do is leave a comment below and tell me what you would use a “She Shed” for, or if you already have one, do let me know what you use yours for as I’d LOVE to know!  Open to US residents only because again, due to shipping costs (thanks for understanding).

Also, please be sure when leaving a comment that I can link back to you or your email address so I can contact you if you are the winner!  Enter by midnight cst, Friday, June 10th. Sunday, June 12th at midnight cst. I’ll notify winner on Saturday., Monday! Good luck!

P.S.  You just might want to share this giveaway with your girlfriends – that way if one of them wins – you can read their copy when they are done!  😉

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Sleeping on the Job and She Sheds

Posted by Barbara Techel

sleeping on job and she sheds

John has been working from home on and off the last two weeks. Might seem unusual being he is a carpenter with his own General Contracting business.  Usually he has to go to someone’s home to do the work.

But now and then he gets a job where he can do the “prep” work at home. Our driveway right now is full of lumber which is starting to take shape into walls and a roof.

It brings back fond memories of when he was building my “she shed” which is better known as my zen writing cottage, back in 2007.  Hmm, looking at this picture, I see I still have the same SUV, but he has gotten two vans and sold the truck since then.  I say that in jest as I don’t mind. But I digress.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Seems this “she shed” craze has taken off as you may know from following my blog and all the press I’ve gotten about mine. Word is spreading around our area and John is currently building this garden shed for a customer. Isn’t it so quaint and lovely? And check out the July/August 2003 date on the magazine — this lady has been waiting a long time for her dream space!

After this is complete John will be building a 12 x 17 She Shed nearby for someone else. I think he’d be quite happy building these sweet spaces, rather like doll houses for grown up women, on a regular basis.  But then I may never get my driveway or the half of my garage back to park in!

At any rate, I love having him around the house. And Kylie is his helping buddy. Well, err, I see not. She seems to be sleeping on the job. But one can’t help but feel comforted when working hard and a dog snoozing nearby by wouldn’t you say?

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