This is part of a year-long series about those intrepid newcomers, The Class of 2k8. To help marketing efforts for debut novelists, these 28 novelists have banded together to create a group marketing effort.
Nancy Viau: Class of 2k8
Samantha Hansen Has Rocks In Her Head, Amulet Books
My Office
I can finally say I have a home office I adore. It’s colorful, inviting, calming, has plenty of room to spread out works-in-progress and writing paraphernalia, and most of all—it’s mine, ALL MINE! But this cozy, inspirational room didn’t happen overnight.
I started writing in the living room next to the TV with four kids growing up around me. When we moved into a larger home, I took over an eighth of the master bedroom, and it wasn’t until I shipped my oldest son off to Penn State that I toyed with the idea of my own space. It took me five minutes to examine his bedroom and dream about where I would put everything. It took me several days to move his furniture and boyhood treasures to the finished basement. But a week later, my mom died suddenly, and I woke up from that dream long enough to invite my dad to live with us. In the years that followed, that room became not only a bedroom, but also a hospice unit, and finally, a place of great sadness. For months, it remained cold and empty.
Two years ago, I spied my dad’s huge desk, night table, lamp, and filing cabinet in a storage unit. And next to it was my mother’s colonial hutch and hope chest. It was then that I decided to paint that bedroom, dust off their furniture, and make that space useful again.
Today when I write, I look around, and hear my parent’s words of wisdom: “You can do anything you set your mind to.” Of course, they were right. I didn’t need this pretty office in order to accomplish my goals, but on those nights when my kids are tearing through the house, or the stereo is pumping out hip hop, and the TV is on, I know it has helped. And I know that somewhere, my mom and dad are smiling.
2k8 Stories
Read these other 2k8 Stories:
March: Jody Feldman
April: Zu Vincent
April: M.P. Barker
May: Sarah Prineas
June: Daphne Grab
July: N.A. Nelson
August: Laurel Snyder
September: Nancy Viau
October: Ellen Booraem
October: P.J. Hoover
October: Courtney Sheinmel
Thanks for posting this, Darcy!
-Nancy