Paula grew up in a small town in Texas that some would say is not unlike her fictional Kickapoo. Her love affair with writing and journalism blossomed when she realized the power of the printed word, particularly when she was called upon to discuss her journalistic decisions with the principal and superintendent of schools.

Nevertheless, she attended Midwestern State University where she was news editor for the university newspaper and co-editor of the yearbook until she was stricken with the tragic urge to get married.

After a decade of being away from writing to have three children, the creative side came bursting out again and she began writing her first novel in 1993. With only three chapters written, her historical western, Maddie, won a writing contest and she was back in the game. That book, as well as the two that followed, didn’t make it to print, but she hit her stride in the mystery genre in 1999.

Hot Enough to Kill, the first in the Jolene Jackson Mystery Series, was featured in Redbook and other national and regional publications, and an excerpt is included in the University of Texas Press’ Lone Star Sleuths: An Anthology of Texas Crime Fiction.

The second title in the series, Dead Man Falls, won the 2001 WILLA Literary Award for Best Original Paperback and the third in the series, Turkey Ranch Road Rage, was published in 2010.

Paula Boyd and the Jolene Jackson Mystery Books have also been featured in magazines such as Mountain Living, San Antonio Woman, Romantic Times and Colorado Homes and Living, and newspapers across the country.

Writing as Paula Renaye, she is the winner of many national book awards. Her latest book, Living the Life You Love: The No-Nonsense Guide to Total Transformation, was named to Kirkus Reviews' Best of 2012 and just won the Independent Publishers Book Awards IPPY Gold Medal for Self Help. www.PaulaRenaye.com