Kenoshan Mary Jo Scheibl has a sweatshirt, a gift from her husband, that says “Be careful or you’ll end up in my novel.”

It serves as a tongue-in-cheek warning to family and friends that Scheibl could be taking mental notes of your apparel, speech patterns and mannerisms, tucking them away for future use.

It’s what fiction writers do — take from real life to build their fictional world.

After a career of teaching others to write at Gateway Technical College and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Scheibl’s new novel, “Black Ribbon Affair,” has been released by Wild Rose Press, Adams Basin, N.Y.

“I’ve always written, but when I retired from teaching, I just really retired into my second career, or maybe my fourth career,” Scheibl said.

Written under the pen name Casey Clifford, “Black Ribbon Affair” is a romantic suspense novel featuring a strong heroine, a man from the past, danger and suspense — with a dash of humor.

Scheibl uses the pen name in the suspense genre and has a sequel written to her first novel.

Another six novels — written as Mary Jo Scheibl — are being shopped to publishing houses by her agent.

So why the pen name?

“I made a conscious decision (to write under another name) because ... often people pick up a certain kind of book because they expect it to be a certain way. And then they are a bit disappointed when the author branches out,” Scheibl said.

While Casey handles the suspense novels, Mary Jo deals primarily with women’s issues of friendships and family in her other fiction.

She uses a blend of Racine and Kenosha locations in her novels.

Scheibl, 66, grew up in the Lincoln neighborhood and attended St. Joseph High School.

She began writing as a pre-schooler.

“I used to write plays for the neighborhood kids, and we’d put them on,” she said.

The name Casey Clifford reflects her respect for two women who were instrumental in her life: one named Casey and the other whose surname was Clifford.

“When I put the two together, it sounded the way I wanted it to sound, “ Scheibl said. “And hopefully it would be higher on the bookshelf because they tend to place books alphabetically.”