Rita Clay

Biography

Rita Clay was a founding member and served as the first president of the Romance Writers of America, and the prestigious RITA, originally known as the Golden Medallion, was renamed in honor of Clay. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000 from RWA. Clay was also the driving force behind the creation of the Golden Triangle Writers Guild[1].

The founding of the Romance Writers of America came about when Vivian Stephens met with Rita Clay Estrada and other writers in Houston[2]. As Shirley Hailstock, via Monica Jackson, notes:

Vivian told me she used to get calls from writers everyday asking for her help in getting a book published. It took up so much of her time that she told Rita Clay Estrada that she was going to be in Houston at a certain time. If they wanted to meet with her, get a place and she would come. I think they got a hotel meeting room.

Eighty women showed up. Vivian spoke for several hours, telling them they needed to start their own organization since they were getting no respect from any other one. That was the founding meeting of RWA.

Five women met in Rita’s dining room and hammered out the rules of the organization and I believe sixty-three came to the first meeting when Rita Clay Estrada was president. ([3] - "Who Is Vivian Stephens?" at Romancing The Blog)

Clay famously began her career after a stint as a stay at home mother. Her then-husband bought her an IBM Selectric typewriter and challenged her to write (the couple has since divorced). After writing what she describes as "horrendously long historical romance,"[4], she focused and sold the third manuscript she completed.

Her first novel, Wanderer's Dream, was published by Silhouette in 1981. In their July, 2006 article "Romancing the Store" (Publisher's Weekly), Paula Eykehof and Debbie Macomber called out Clay Estrada's novel The Ivory Key as one of the first paranormal romances read by the contemporary audience[5]. The novel, which featured a time traveling ghost both exemplified the creative boundaries pushed by the Harlequin Temptation imprint while presaging today's multitude of Paranormal romantic elements.

She also published as Rita Clay Estrada and Tira Lacy. The Lacy name, an anagram, was adopted when Clay moved to another publisher. Harlequin "owned" the name "Rita Clay", forcing the author to choose another name for her books. Her mother, Rita Gallagher, also wrote romance.

As an author for Silhouette Romance, Rita Clay published two novels.

See Also

• Rita Clay Estrada
• Tira Lacy

Books

• Wanderer's Dream - August 1981 (Silhouette Romance #97)
• Wise Folly (1982)
• Yesterday's Dreams (1982)
• Experiment In Love (1983)
• Summer Song (1983)
• Recapture The Love (1984)
• Sweet Eternity - October 1982 (Silhouette Romance #182)

Non-Fiction

• You Can Write A Romance - Rita Clay Estrada and Rita Gallagher

Awards/Honors

• 2000 - Lifetime Achievement Award

On the Web

• "Romancing the word/The ordinary and not-so-ordinary life of a romance writer (Houston Chronicle, 08/26/1995)