Employment History:
Owner, SJ Clark Literary Agency (1982-Present); Business Instructor, Graduate School, U.S. Department of Agriculture, San Francisco, CA, NV, and WA (1994-2005); Owner, Travel Consultants Agency, San Francisco, CA (1985-1992); Special Supervisor, Field Sales and Training, Pennsylvania Life Insurance Company, Lafayette, CA (1984-1985); Corporate President, Innkeeper, Hotel Leger, Mokelumne Hill, CA (1978-1982); Real Estate Agent, Marin County, CA (1977-1979); Director of University Relations, University of California, San Francisco (1973-1977); Administrative Assistant, Technical Publications, Bechtel Corporation, San Francisco, CA (1972-1973); Director, Volunteer Services, Sunnyhills, San Anselmo, CA (1968-1972); Poetry Instructor, Sierra College; Co-Founder, Fiction Writing Instructor, Poetry Writing Instructor, Academy of the Arts, San Andreas, CA; Continuity Director, KTIM, San Rafael, CA; Director, Continuity Director, KING 5 TV, Seattle, WA

Published Works:

Public Speaking Experience:

Why She is an Expert:
Ms. Clark is an expert because of her years of experience and affinity for teaching the art of perfecting the written word to others.

Best Advice:
Keep writing and never stop.

Passionate about:
I’m passionate about books. I eat, live and breathe them. I have a huge library and buy books constantly. I also belong to a book club.

Biography Excerpt:
Ms. Clark worked as a continuity director in radio, and as a writer and director in television. She co-owned and published two tourist newspapers in Calaveras County, Calif., and has had numerous articles published in newspapers, magazines and journals. Her poetry has been published in anthologies and newspapers. For 10 years, she taught weekly poetry and fiction writing courses to adults in Martinez, Hercules, Danville and San Ramon, Calif., before moving to Lincoln, Calif., in 2003. At the same time, she taught editing, proofreading, effective writing, fundamentals of writing, writing for results, plain language writing, successful letter writing and report writing classes in the Graduate School, Department of Agriculture in San Francisco and throughout California and Nevada. Ms. Clark is the president of the Lincoln Poetry Club. From 1991 to 1993, she served as the president of Lions Clubs International in San Francisco. From 1975 to 1977, she served on the National Society of Fundraising Executives Board of Directors. She is a member of Alpha Delta Pi. She has just finished ghostwriting a nonfiction book, “Broken in II, A Soldier’s Story of Surviving World War II and PTSD,” which will be published in 2011. Also, the second edition of “Is Anybody Listening?” is now in bookstores.

     

Cambridge Who's Who: What would you like to promote most about yourself or your business?  
SUE J CLARK :  We provide personal attention based on years of experience with writers – from beginning to advanced level. I’m patient with all my literary agency clients and my students. Anybody who works with me knows that I am vehement about not using adverbs. Adverbs are the least important words in the English language. One author calls them parasites

What is the most rewarding aspect of your career?
Teaching poetry and fiction writing; also, ghost writing for clients. I love it when I see my students growing, expanding, becoming well-known and being invited to read in different places; finding their poetry or stories published in different magazines. I also love having my things published.

With regards to ghost writing, how do you know what the person would have said? How do you write in the style the writer does?
You get to know the person well enough to recognize how he or she speaks – what kinds of words and phrases they use; how they think about things. You immerse yourself into the subject matter. As I tell my students when they are writing, no matter what content it is, they leave themselves in the other room, they close the door and bring the writer to the computer. That is very important for ghostwriting