A Mini-Interview with

Linda Terry Hickam,
Author's Assistant

Interview by Barry D. Gilfry © 2003

Wild Child Publishing.com © 2003

Over the past two months, in setting up Wild Child's interview with #1 Best-Selling Author Homer Hickam, I have exchanged a fair number of emails with his wife Linda Terry Hickam. Working with her has been a very rewarding experience, one of those unexpected pleasures that comes along every now and again for a freelance writer/researcher/editor.

I have been greatly impressed by Linda's openness and warmth, her prompt responses to my inquiries, her professional manner--I have just plain enjoyed working with her!

The following interview, originally published in the Huntsville Times two years ago, gives some insight into what it means to be an author's assistant. But before we cut to that interview, there was one question I wanted to ask Linda first, since I know that she had her own career(s) for years before becoming Homer's "Author's Assistant."

Wild Child:

All too often in our society, a wife is asked to play what one might call a role of secondary significance to her husband. Although you have a job that is probably the envy of half the women in America, how does it feel to give up your own career to work for someone else?

Linda Hickam:

My work experience has always been more about doing something I love than a "career" at one thing. I like trying new things. I had worked 20 years as an illustrator/graphic artist in the space business, but also had been a scuba instructor on three Caribbean islands, a sawmill operator in British Columbia, a Personal Trainer with my own business, a jewelry artist and photographer, photo assistant, underwater model and more. The timing was good when Homer started to need an assistant, and I was ready for something new and exciting ...and Homer pays better than I ever paid myself as an artist! I am happy I have the skills to help him. We make a good team and enjoy the bond. Homer always is very appreciative, super about sharing credit and gives me great book acknowledgements.

Huntsville Times (HT):

Based on your e-mail describing the work you do supporting Homer, the business of writing seems to be just that--a small business. Do you think it's important for today's writers to understand what it takes to run a business, if they're going to succeed as a writer?

Linda Hickam:

Actually, I did visit our local small business bureau here when Homer retired from NASA and became a full time writer. They were very helpful, had lots of free literature and were intrigued with the nature of my husband's business! A writer is considered self-employed by the government and things are pretty simple in the beginning, but eventually he has to have all the same discipline and professionalism as in any other successful small business. Your product is an article or book which is purchased, but one must be a businessman as well as a good writer to get to that point and to continue to have people want more of your products.

Once you have written things you wish to have published, then you must be as relentless a businessman as the rest of the writers out there are. As hard as it is to get a book published, that is only the beginning for an author. There are over 900 hardcover books published a week, 50,000 a year, and for your book to be successful involves a lot of effort after publication. As in any business, there must be a marketing plan and support for the product after it is sold. Your publishing house and agent do some of it, but ultimately it is the author being sold to the public as well as the book, so he is required to do national book tours, and all types of media for weeks after a book is published. There is no pay for this and it is a hard time, but necessary for your career as a writer and for a book to have any chance to be successful. Or just have Oprah pick it!

HT:

If you were not there to run the Homer Hickam business (so to speak), how do you think that would impact the author's ability to produce new material?

Linda Hickam:

The business of being of a successful author lands mostly on the writer. There are many things an assistant can do to allow the writer to actually write though. For Homer, I do his editing, research, respond to the extensive fan mail, run his website, answer phone calls, do the bookkeeping, taxes, and procure office supplies. There are also planning and scheduling for lectures, interviews, and signings, and the flights booked for them--just whatever is needed to enable him to be free to write. A good assistant is vital to take the weight of these business details off a serious writer.

HT:

As the assistant to a best selling author, what is the most challenging aspect of your job?

Linda Hickam:

We are both lucky enough to love what we do and with a home office, the challenge is to NOT work. I try to NOT turn the computer on at least one day a week, but usually don't succeed, as things stay busy, especially now that the new book is out. Homer doesn't even pretend to try - he loves to write too much!

HT:

Why did you decide to operate this business from your home? And what have been the pros and cons for continuing to operate from home, even as Homer's popularity and 'business' have grown?

Linda Hickam:

We have no big head about all this, and that Homer has been as successful as he has with his seven books is a wonderful adventure. We love working at home. The house is small, and office space is inadequate for the amount of filing and storage we have (we are NOT a paperless office here!) but the pros far outweigh the cons... no commute, no office rent, no dress code, flexible hours and a cat to help at every computer!

Con is cat fur in every computer!

HT:

Just for clarification....what is your preferred title?

Linda Hickam:

I say that I am an Author's Assistant...and I try for gifts from my "boss" during Secretary's Week and don't ever get any, sigh.

© 2001 Huntsville Times
by Shannon Belew
Used by permission

Photo by Homer Hickam:
Linda Hickam Hickam inside Carratuck Lighthouse
October © 2003