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April 2007 Spotlight on...
NTRWA Remembers Charter Member WANDA RAINE
During our 25th Anniversary celebration, NT would like to honor Wanda Raine, one of the founding members of our chapter.
Did you know NT is one of the first RWA® chapters founded in the United States? Wanda Raine was there at the beginning. She, along with her critique partners, June Harvey and Faye Courageous, became charter members at the first meeting held in 1983.
In a previous Spotlight you shared your most romantic moment with Juliet Burns. Would you share that with us again? For the first twenty years of my marriage, I didn’t have an engagement ring. I would occasionally mention to my husband that I’d like a pearl engagement ring, but nothing ever came of it. One year when my birthday rolled around, I asked my husband for a stainless steel kitchen sink. Instead he took me to a romantic hilltop restaurant, Calamity Jane’s, and I tasted my first Mai-Tai. After dinner I refused to order dessert, so he simply handed me a beautiful engagement ring with two pearls, flanked by two diamonds. Of course, I cried.
Wanda, tell us a little bit about you. I was born in Denver, Colorado in 1934. I met my husband at my job in Cincinnati, and in May we’ll celebrate our 49th wedding anniversary. I had five children, but lost two of my sons. I have six grandchildren and six great grandchildren. Two of my grandchildren I raised as my own.
Who are your favorite authors?
My favorite authors are Mona Sizemore (writing as Deana James), Sandy Steen
(an original NT member who writes Harlequin Temptations), and Sandra Brown.
Two Romantic Suspense stories, Desert Bride and Deer Mountain. I believe I’ll work on Deer Mountain as my Book in a Year project. I’m also writing my memoirs. I’m afraid if I don’t my family won’t remember things the way the really were.
What do you struggle with as a writer? Finding the time to write every week.
How did you start writing? During my childhood, I spent my summers with my grandparents on the farm in Indiana. They had no electricity or indoor plumbing. They did have a portable radio, but they only used it to listen to the news, in order to save the battery. I read a lot. I kept ledgers or journals, and we wrote lots of letters. In those days, we had to walk a mile to the mailbox and receiving a letter was a big deal. One summer on the farm I read The Secret of the Casa Grande several times. I was a teenager by then, and I said to myself, ‘I can do that.’
My family moved to Arlington in 1962, and eventually I began taking writing courses at Tarrant County College. That’s where I met June, Faye, and several other writers who formed a critique group. We traveled to writing conferences together and, though June has passed away, Faye and I remain friends.
Why was it important for you to form a local chapter of RWA®? We wanted to write fiction for profit, but there were so many things I didn’t know. I couldn’t spell! In my classes at Tarrant County College, they had told me my writing was too fanciful. I have had a desire to write since forever, and I wanted to learn how to do it correctly.
How did being a part of this organization help you as a writer? Did it provide what you were looking for? It was tremendous. I began to learn how to write, and it gave me a greater desire to learn even more. I continued attending classes and seminars, and began attending RWA® conferences as well.
What do you consider your greatest accomplishment? Managing to raise my children and growing closer to my Lord. Learning to not completely give myself away to other people, but to also do what God has put in my heart to do.
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Gina Lee Nelson recently completed her first tender romance, PLAY IT LOUD. She’s currently working on a Young Adult Fantasy.
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