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August 2026
Please check out Crossing the Finish Line, my blog on the Mystery Writers of America Southwest Chapter website!
A Microsoft Co-Pilot search explains why heroines in cozy mysteries sometimes have side gigs: specialized hobbies.
“Heroines in cozy mysteries often have hobbies that are both charming and relevant to their small‑town or close‑knit community, such as baking, knitting, gardening, bookbinding, tea‑drinking, and animal care. These activities not only make the characters relatable but also often tie into the plot or setting.”
When I wrote GALVESTON GODDESS, I naturally gave Sandra, the heroine, a personality similar to my own (go with what you know, right?). As the story progressed, I found she was my least interesting character, so I gave her a makeover: younger, fitter, and out to create a new life for herself. However, I kept one aspect of her personality like my own: she loves reading advice columns. In fact, so much so that she takes a job at a local weekly newspaper as their advice columnist.
She earns the job because she is a trained, licensed professional counselor in her previous career. However, counseling and advice giving are two very different kettles of fish. One of my favorite quotes about advice giving is from Agatha Christie: “Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that’s no reason not to give it.”
In the Houston Chronicle on July 27, Jeanne Phillips, aka Dear Abby, informed her readers that after 39 years of giving advice, she was retiring and leaving the column to her capable editorial staff. I’ve enjoyed reading her columns over the thirty-nine years she was in charge, having inherited it from her mother, Pauline Phillips, who penned it from 1956 to 1987.
I hope Sandra keeps writing her column, “Dear Sandy Beaches,” in the fictional Galveston Gazette for years. But I think she’s eventually going to get a day job to keep up with her island lifestyle in book two: GALVESTON GAMBIT.
In the September newsletter, I’ll discuss the differences between advice-giving and professional counseling. Feel free to share this newsletter with friends. They can sign up to receive my monthly newsletters at carolbennetts.com
One last word: please support your authors published by independent presses by leaving reviews for them; that’s how they get noticed.
July 2026
By 2018, I was in a local writing group, attending writing classes in Houston, taking part in writing boot camps, and sharing my work with writing buddies. I discovered an old “homework” assignment from my original writing group dated June 2018. In it, I wrote I was writing a cozy-like murder mystery set in Galveston and that I planned it as part of a series to be published in 2019. Well, it is now 2026 and a lot of water has gone under that bridge.
I’ll explain more in future monthly newsletters, but my book, GALVESTON GODDESS, was self-published on Amazon on July 4. I chose this date because eight years was a long time to have the pressure of writing/not writing and for me, it was Independence Day. I finally crossed the finish line, and it took a lot of effort, a huge learning curve, and dedicated family, friends, and mentors to get me there.
My monthly newsletters won’t be about selling books (well, maybe just a little) because my track record of a book every eight years isn’t very impressive or profitable. However, I have a lot to say about writing, the writer’s mind, and why I chose Galveston as my book series’ setting. And about the next book in the Galveston Island Mystery Series: GALVESTON GAMBIT.
I hope you check me out on Amazon.com, where you can also follow me as an author. For Kindle Unlimited members (of whom I am one), the book is free. It’s also available for purchase as an eBook or paperback. I’d love you to follow my future author page on Facebook, where I’ll make short, weekly posts about my writing life. You can visit my website at carolbennetts.com, sign up for monthly newsletters, and find a link to Amazon to order the book. Please leave a brief review on Amazon because it’s the only way independent authors can get their books noticed by readers.
I appreciate your support!