Paula LaRocque was assistant managing editor and writing coach at The Dallas Morning News for 20 years. She also taught writing at Western Michigan, Texas A&M, Southern Methodist, and Texas Christian universities. She worked as a consultant for the Associated Press; the Drehscheibe Institute in Bonn, Germany; the European Stars & Stripes, and for many other institutions, businesses, publications, and government agencies. In 2001, she received the Associated Press Managing Editors Association's Meritorious Service Award for Exemplary Contribution to Journalism. Her columns on writing have appeared regularly in Quill magazine for nearly 25 years. She has authored three nonfiction books-including her popular 2003 work, The Book on Writing: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Well. Reviewers praised her first fiction, Chalk Line, a Ben Gallagher mystery published in 2011. She earned a BA degree in 1971, Summa Cum Laude, and an MA in 1972 (Western Michigan University).