Award-winning novelist Martha Whitmore Hickman has published 20 books throughout her prolific writing career. Her 2011 memoir, “Burden and Gift,” tells the story of the near-fatal illness that defined her childhood and shaped her life as a writer. Hickman and her husband, Hoyt, have made their home at The Terraces at Los Altos in Los Altos, Calif., since 2006.
Q: There is a beautiful passage in the memoir about how your passion for writing was born during the year you spent in bed recuperating. Tell us about that.
A: Well, I was five years old. I missed the first grade entirely. And that is when children learn to read and write, of course. A teacher for the homebound came to my house and worked with me, every day, for a week or so. A “magical week” I call it in the book. I fell in love with words, and books. They were my companions. They helped me ease back into the world of the living.
Q: You started your writing career in the 1960s when your children were small. Was it difficult to get published in those days?
A: Not nearly as difficult as I imagined it would be. I started with personal essays, writing for a few faith-based publications. My first children’s story was published in the newspaper. Then, I won a writing award in 1976 that led to my first book being published by Abingdon Press.
Q: What is the secret to your writing success?
A: I don’t know if I have a secret. I think writers are always surprised when things go well for them. A lot of people say, ‘I wish I could write a book,’ but they can. If they have the discipline to do it. Joining a writer’s group really helps, like the one we have at The Terraces at Los Altos, of which I am a member. Of course, not everyone gets published, but it is a wonderful outlet.
Click here to read Hickman's eight-chapter memoir, "Burden and Gift," available online at Senior Correspondent, www.seniorcorrespondent.com
