"We're both suspense authors and we have the same last name," said Mary Jane Clark, not to be confused with Mary Higgins Clark. "In the beginning, it used to happen a lot, people confusing us, but I've written 10 books now, so I hope by now I have my own identity. I hope I have my own audience."
It also didn't help that Mary Jane Clark used to be married to Mary Higgins Clark's son.
"So sometimes, I do have to say that I'm not Mary Higgins Clark, nor am I her daughter," Mary Jane Clark said. "I'm just her former daughter-in-law."
Mary Jane Clark is an accomplished fiction writer in her own right. She has recently released her latest in her series of mystery/suspense novels, entitled When Day Breaks, which focuses on the fictional "Sunrise Suspense Society" and the murder of a popular television news figure.
Mary Jane Clark based her characters upon her own personal experiences as a producer for CBS News, a position that she began nearly three decades ago and still works at today, when she's not promoting her latest work.
Clark will make an appearance in Weehawken Thursday night, when she will discuss When Day Breaks, and sign copies of the novel, which was released just last week. The lecture and book signing, sponsored by the Weehawken Free Public Library, will take place at the Senior Nutritional Center on Highwood Avenue, beginning at 7 p.m. All are encouraged to attend.
Honing her skills
Clark, who resides in Hillsdale in Bergen County, said that she was a fiction writer for years while working as a producer for CBS News.
"I think writing for TV helped me as a writer of non-fiction," Clark said. "As a producer and a writer, I had to tell the whole story in one minute and 30 seconds. I had to get to the essence of a story right away, telling the story in the shortest amount of time. The fiction side of me just sort of evolved and came out. The TV news side gave me an angle to write about. The flavor and the background of my writing were based on my years in the business."
Clark said that she always wanted to work in broadcast journalism since she was a youngster.
"That was the goal, working in TV news," Clark said. "I still love doing it. But when I wrote my first book, it took about two years to get it out there. It started out slow. But after the first book [entitled Do You Want to Know a Secret?] sold, I got a contract to write two more and it just kept going. Now, I write one book a year. I feel very thrilled and very lucky to have this opportunity. When I started, I never would have imagined this could have happened."
Fictional characters
Clark said that she never bases her fictional characters on her real life colleagues at CBS. So if you're looking to find Harry Smith or Julie Chen among her characters in her novels, guess again.
"I make it a point not to write about real people," Clark said. "There are so many factors that come into creating a character, but most of it is my imagination. It's never anyone real."
A year ago, Clark told someone involved with the Bergen County Library system that she would be interested in giving lectures at libraries throughout the area. That's how Weehawken contacted Clark's publicist and she agreed to make the appearance.
"I'm thrilled to be going to Weehawken," said Clark, who was making an appearance in Chicago at the time of this interview. "I like giving the lectures and meeting the people."
Clark said that she also writes with a personal motivation. Her 17-year-old son, David, is mentally handicapped, suffering from a form of retardation called Fragile X Syndrome. Clark tries to educate her readers and the general public about others with the same syndrome as David.
"He has been a tremendous motivation to me," Clark said. "When you have a child with a handicap like that, I always wonder what will happen when I'm not there to take care of him. I have to have things set up for him just in case. Writing and being successful has given me a piece of mind that he will be okay if I'm not here."
As long as the book contracts keep coming in and the work at CBS News remains constant, then Mary Jane Clark will keep on being a success - and continue to carve a niche with her own name, not that of her former mother-in-law.
Jim Hague can be reached via e-mail at either OGSMAR@aol.com or jhague@hudsonreporter.com
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