Mary Higgins Clark Tribute

SE Hinton was the author who first made me want to write, but once I became an adult, Mary Higgins Clark was the author who made me want to become published. I devoured her books, one right after another, to the point where I began to see the structure, her technique. I studied the way she surprised the reader, how she could end a chapter in a way that compelled me to turn the page. Her stories taught me how to use tension, suspense, and pacing. I admired how she stayed true to the stories she loved, and also true to herself.

I began writing adult women’s suspense because of Mary Higgins Clark. Now mind you – what I wrote wasn’t any good, but at least I was writing something. Everyone has to start somewhere, and I started because of her.

Not long after, I learned that a local writer’s conference had invited Mary Higgins Clark to be their keynote speaker. Honestly, I couldn’t believe it, that I had the opportunity of being in the same room as her.

I had to be there. HAD. TO.

I went with a plan. Ambitious, maybe. Stupid, definitely. But I was so new, so naïve, that I thought it was worth a try. In the signing line, I passed her a note in an envelope explaining how important she was to me, how inspirational she was to my writing, and then I told her about my current manuscript. I asked if she might consider reading and endorsing it.

Young as I was, it never occurred to me then that she probably received hundreds or even thousands of fan letters, and requests like mine by the gross. She owed me nothing.

Yet a few weeks later, I received a letter from her, thanking me for the kind words I’d offered, and for the opportunity of reading my manuscript. She had to turn me down, but she assured me of her wishes for my success one day.

She could have made me feel small, or embarrassed, or she could have ignored my request altogether. Instead, she took the time to read my letter and to reply. I decided from that moment on that whether or not I ever became an author of her caliber, I definitely wanted to become a person of her caliber. I still want that.

Mary Higgins Clark died at age 92, on January 31, 2020. She published 56 books in her life, and over 100 million copies are in print in the United States alone. The world has lost a kind and generous woman. But a part of her will live forever within the pages of her many great books.