A trip back to Texas for a funeral. Seriously! My uncle, who was like a second father to me, had been ill for a long time and when he passed, we headed from Colorado back to Texas--much as Jolene would find herself doing very soon.

My uncle and I had always joked about being forced to go to family gatherings in the town near where I grew up, so making disparaging comments about anything and everything became a bonding activity for us. My mother never totally caught on, but she suspected and gave us the evil eye accordingly.

So, the night before we left for the funeral, I had a dream. I know it sounds hokey, but it’s also true. The idea for the book laid itself out in full living color and I had the opening line as well when I woke up. I loaded myself in the car, and thanks to my trusty laptop and an ongoing supply of motion sickness pills, I wrote the first fifty pages of the first book in the series, Hot Enough to Kill, on the trip down. No small trick with three kids and two dogs. Yes, I figure I had a little other worldly help getting that book started!

Outlines work very well for some people and will suck the creative life out of others—me included. I’ve tried writing with an outline and even laid out an entire book using Jack Bickham’s Scene and Sequel Technique. It was the most hideously stiff and boring stuff I have ever written. And I didn’t write much—I couldn’t.

I also tried it with the index card method, where you write out scenes and shuffle them around to build your story, but that only added paper cuts to the monotony.

Now, I am not saying that either of these are bad ways to go about creating a novel—they aren’t—they are wonderful if they work for you. They simply do not work for me. My brain isn’t wired that way and will just shut down and refuse to play. Ah, but let it run free and loose and fun things happen! Left to their own devices, the characters will tell me their story. I just have to watch it unfold and write it down.

Okay, it might be a bit more involved than that, but it is a very fluid process. I have as much fun learning what happens next in the story as any reader. It works for me! And I figure if I’m laughing and having fun, the reader with too.

I grew up in a small town in Texas, however, as is clearly stated in the disclaimer in each book in the series, all the stories are totally fictional and nothing at all from my past influenced me when I was writing them.

Okay, maybe there might be one or two things...

I might possibly have based Kickapoo on the town where I grew up, but then again that description pretty much fits any small town, particularly those in Texas with Dairy Queens.Ditto for the controlling wacko mother. One thing that can't be denied is the ugly yellow yearbook fiasco described in Dead Man Falls. That's just too stupid not be true.

And, for the record, Jolene is not me, she just sort of looks, talks and thinks like I have from time to time—totally different character entirely.. Lucille isn’t a mirror of my mother either, she’s more a compilation of several women, but the looks, oh, yeah, that’s her. I still have some of her very large and wildly eccentric clip-on earrings. I did not keep the trademark gold-glitter slippers, but I did buy a pair of blue sequined ones for myself in her honor.

Obviously, the murderous events were made up—the local mayor didn’t actually die, but he sure did deserve to. Now, the “You slut, he’s a married man” hate mail thing is disturbingly true. Even more disturbing is that my mother was proud of it. “Isn’t that something!” she said, giggling. “At my age, somebody thinking I’m a slut! I must be doing something right!” …I could go on, but I’m pretty sure I’ve already said too much…

I had a brief stint in journalism in college before I became insane and got married and gave it up. About ten years later, my dad dropped dead of a heart attack and I was in shock. It pulled the rug out from under me in more ways than I understood at the time. It also broke me open.

A few months later, songs—lyrics and melodies—started popping into my head. I wrote them down and more kept coming. I was having fun again! I found a little writing group up in the mountains where I lived and took my songs to share. A few in the group were writing poetry and short stories, but most were writing novels. Well, I wanted to do that too! I’d been a voracious reader, so I figured I knew how things should generally go. I simply decided to write a book and did.

In 1993, my first novel won a fairly large writing contest with only three chapters written, so I was off and running. I wrote three complete novels in various genres before the first book in the Jolene Jackson Mystery Series, Hot Enough to Kill, was published in 1999.

I've since gone on to write self-improvement books--reading the Jolene Jackson books can certainly make you understand why. I've actually won eight national book awards on that side of things too. Again, read the fiction and you'll totally understand the nonfiction!

Well, it certainly was when I started out! I mean really, how cool is it that you can go back and rewrite your story so that it turns out the way you really wanted it to? And, as a special bonus, anybody who ever pissed you off can die a slow and appropriately painful death! That’s pretty therapeutic!

It didn't ever really work out that way for me, however. Several of the characters I’ve intended to deliberately and deliciously murder, not to mention metaphorically mutilate, wound up coming out of the deal pretty unscathed--clearly guilty for their crimes, but not the vile and despicable characters they started out being in my head. Once I’d worked through what I need to, it just didn’t matter anymore and the story went however it needed to.

So, since I also write self-help books, people assume those are my therapy books. Nope. It's the fiction.

I’m working on Killer Moves--the 4th book in the series--and while I have way fewer axes to grind these days, I am surprised to find that I certainly have an adequate supply to entertain myself.

Gathered a few more on my recent trip back to Texas to visit. I stopped in a little town along the way—yes, I went to the Dairy Queen just like Jolene—to get a mega-unhealthy, grease-coated and gravy-laden chicken basket (I never eat like that, but felt obligated to "live the dream"!)

I was sitting in a booth, minding my own business, and this man came up to me and spontaneously said some wildly inappropriate things. Now, Jolene would have punched him and Lucille would have shot him. Paula, however, responded quite calmly with only two little words—and they weren’t even bad ones—“That’s inappropriate.” His face turned deep red and he literally ran out the door. Oh, yeah, he’ll be in a book somewhere!

There are also some "other worldly" things that keep cropping up to be dealt with. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

I've had some really cool stuff happen with my books along the way--and still happening.

The first book in the Jolene Jackson Mystery Series, Hot Enough to Kill, was featured in Redbook, Colorado Homes and Living, Romantic Times and a lot of magazines and newspapers and I had personal features in Mountain Living, San Antonio Woman and others. A few years ago, an excerpt from the book was included in the University of Texas Press’ Lone Star Sleuths: An Anthology of Texas Crime Fiction. To be included along with big names such as Kinky Friedman, Mary Willis Walker, Walter Mosley, Joe Lansdale and many others was a pretty fantastic thrill. And, I admit to being a little star struck at the group book signing event.

The second book in the series, Dead Man Falls, won a literary award. Just getting Turkey Ranch Road Rage into print after a long stretch of “life happening,” including the loss of my mom, a divorce and the usual life upheavals that follow, was a big deal for me too.

In 2012, I extensively revised and republished the three books as ebooks and pulled the print versions to the extent that I could. That was a big step for me and I was surprised at how happy I was to have those books available as ebooks. It's totally the way to go with fiction.

Also along the way, I became an eight-time award-winning author of self-help nonfiction as well--Paula Renaye. My latest book on that side is available worldwide in English, Spanish and Chinese. Yeah, milestones!

Control!

In 1999, Hot Enough to Kill, had been under serious consideration by a major New York publishing house for about a year. During that time, we had communicated quite a bit, including two lengthy phone conversations and I truly believed they were ready to send me a written offer. Instead, I got a brief letter from the VP saying they changed their mind because it would compete with another series they already published.

I was not disappointed. I was not angry. I was freakin’ livid! I’d wasted a whole year waiting and had even turned down another offer from a small publisher. I’d gone from “almost published” back to square one, which was a big problem since I was on the executive boards of two large professional writers’ groups and speaking on their behalf as an author. I was the only board member who didn’t have a book in print and I felt like a fraud.

So, I announced to the world that I was not going to do another event without a book in hand. Lofty claim since the next event was only six weeks away and there were no print on demand or digital options back then, not to mention that I was clueless on where to even start. Nevertheless. I did it and Hot Enough to Kill went with me to that event.

Oh, but before I could do anything on the book, I had to start a publishing company and needed a name. I tried the usual stuff then it hit me, I had the perfect name for my new company! I called up my best friend and told her I had my name and she was so gonna love it! PONY Publishing Company! Well, she did not love it, she did not even like it. So, I explained to her why it was totally perfect. You see, PONY was an acronym for Piss on New York.

She said, "Clever, Paula, but no. How about something positive?" So, that's how Diomo Books was born. Diomo is an acronym as well: Did It On My Own!

One of the first fan letters I ever received sums up what makes me glad I do what I do.

A woman wrote to chastise me for not putting a warning sign on the book: "Use with care when eating or drinking." She said she'd been reading along, snacking on crackers and soda, then out of the blue came a funny line. Crackers and soda spewed across the room.

You may not find choking and spewing a huge compliment, but it is to me! It's also why I do what I do. It brings me a lot of joy to help people laugh and enjoy themselves--preferably without choking! My motto is, Keep Laughing!

Everything!

Now, I'm happy to be in my own little world with my characters and totally amuse myself with the process. But that's only half the fun. Sharing the ride and the laughs with people who enjoy my particular brand of quirky humor is the icing on the cake.

My fans are like best friends that I get to metaphorically call up and say, you aren't going to believe what just happened! And then we're off on a journey together!

Killer Moves, which is the 4th book in the Jolene Jackson Mystery Series, is in progress. I know, I know, I read the fan mail--faster progress!

Every time I start a book, I think things can't possibly get worse in Kickapoo, that I'll never find something as fun or funny as the last one. And then the characters hop out on stage and stuff happens. I don't know how it happens, it just does. It's like I turn on the movie in my head, watch and write.

Killer Moves is a continuation of Turkey Ranch Road Rage, which is book three--and you really need to read them in order. Without giving things away, let's just say that as a result of twists and turns in the last story, Hell has frozen over and Jolene has found herself living in it. The only bright spot is that there's no confusion about how things are going with the Sheriff--very VERY well, thank you very much! But, that road isn't totally sunshine and roses on all fronts. And did I mention the oil and gas wells and toxic waste that has somehow become Jolene's personal problem? And we haven't even talked about what Lucille is up to--a lot!

Yes, I love these characters!