Is there psychology involved in buying books?

Morguefile.com photo

I bought some peaches the other day. Not headline-making news, but consider this, I knew that I had peaches at home in my fridge. 

The reason for my impulse purchase was because the clerk at the store stopped me to tell me how delicious the peaches were. She said that she really looks forward to eating one when they’re this fresh and ripe. She made those peaches sound like the most delicious fruit on earth. I bought them because she hand sold them to me.

Having someone talk up a product adds perceived value to that product. Seeing the clerk’s eyes light up while she talked about the sweet, juicy fruit made me want to experience the same pleasure.

If you’re wondering, yes—this is writing related. Anyone who is concerned that the book market is down can do something about it. You can talk up some great titles that you loved to your friends and family. We can all influence the purchase of books by influencing those in our circle to purchase good books (or even borrow them from the library).

Often when a new book comes out the author and publisher will find influencers to talk up the book. Word-of-mouth advertising is a powerful tool. I’ve been an influencer and have had influencers. It’s fun to put a book into someone’s hands and say, “This is a great book. I loved it, and I bet you will too.” I’m not bashful, and when I’m browsing in a bookstore and see someone looking for a book, I’ll strike up a conversation and recommend some books. It’s as easy as selling ripe, juicy peaches.

Oh, and those peaches? D-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s!

Refreshing Your Creativity

Beautiful Castlewood Canyon where I love to hike.

As a creative person, do you ever feel the need to refresh your creativity? I sure do.

Writers can get overwhelmed trying to find a new way to communicate the ordinary and everyday moments that make up life. As Solomon said in the book of Ecclesiastes, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (verse 1:9)

Aargh! What’s a writer to do?

First, don’t panic. True there is nothing new under the sun, but you can make a concept feel new with your particular way of communicating an idea.

Sometimes it just takes a (brief) break from writing to get your creativity sparking. Here are a few ways to get the creative urge back:
• Read. Often after reading a good book I get the urge to sit down and write. Enjoying the way another author turns a phrase or characterizes the people who populate a fictional world can get you thinking about how you would write a scene or breathe life into a character.
• Listen. Music can evoke a mood or take you to a different world. Sometimes when you listen to music you can hear it from the point of view of one of your characters or you can create a character who would be moved by the composition you’re listening to. 
• See. Taking a field trip to a museum can open your mind to many art forms. I enjoy renting the audio commentary available with some art exhibits. You get information on a new culture or a different period of time. You learn what the artist was experiencing when that piece was created or what the artist was trying to express. 
• Inhale. Take a walk and concentrate on the fragrances you encounter. Whether it’s a city street or a prairie trail the scent of your environment can trigger a memory or a wish that set your imagination and creativity in motion. 
• Taste. Go out to eat. Imagine how your character would feel about the restaurant, the food, and the company. Listen to the sounds around you. Design a scene for the reasons some of the other diners are eating there. Let your imagination fly. 
• Be. Sometimes giving yourself permission to sit and relax in a hammock or a chair in a busy shopping mall and just think and observe can unlock creative ideas.

What about you? Do you have any suggestions for unlocking creativity?

Debut novelist Ane Mulligan & Chapel Springs Revival

I'm happy to host my friend Ane Mulligan today. I met Ane several years ago at the ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) conference, and we hit it right off. Chapel Springs Revival is Ane's debut novel. I'll let her tell you about it. 

Ane Mulligan:

I want to introduce you to Claire and Patsy. They're not quite Lucy and Ethel, but they tend to stumble into trouble and catastrophe. Bighearted and loyal friends, these two will lead readers on a romp through miscommunication in marriage.

Years ago, I overheard a gal say she married before learning God had a husband chosen for her, so she was going to divorce hers and find the perfect one. I pulled her aside for a "Titus 2:4" moment, then logged that incident in my mind for further exploration.

A few years later, God reminded me of that conversation. I thought what if a woman in her late forties found her marriage is ho-hum? When she became a Christian, she thought life and her marriage would be included in the new creation part. But her thighs are just as big, her husband just as ornery, and he still won't go to church with her. Toss in a BFF whose husband had grown non-communicative and was never home, and I had the foundation for a story.

I ran with it.

From God's nudge and that first "what-if," Claire Bennett, Patsy Kowalski, and the small village of Chapel Springs were born.

Claire is tired of being nothing more than a sheet-changer, a towel-folder, a pancake-flipper. She resolves to emulate her Great Aunt Lola, who refused to be slighted by any man. Why, the first morning Aunt Lola's husband forgot to kiss her goodbye, she packed her bags, went off to Hollywood, and became a big star in silent films. Would Claire really do what Great Aunt Lola did?

When Patsy's nest became empty, she thought her husband would retire and they could finally do some travelling, but he hasn't mentioned slowing down. In fact, he's not talking much at all. When he starts coming home well after she's in bed, she becomes convinced he's having an affair. With Claire's help, Patsy's determined to catch him with the trollop who's trying to break up their once happy home.

As I worked on the plotting and backstory for Claire and Patsy, I saw the same things I'd heard the young women say at church: Patsy focusing on what her husband did wrong, and Claire is trying to find Mr. God-Ordained-Right.

Now, Claire has a tendency to be judgmental. She blurts out exactly what she thinks. She also moves before she thinks, which leads to a number of catastrophes. Patsy tries to hide her troubles; pretend they don't exist and they'll go away. Only it never works.

While Claire is eyeballing and discarding every man she sees, she and Patsy are determined to revive their marriages. At the same time, Chapel Springs could do with some reviving. The town has grown shabby and the tourist trade has declined. Complicating matters are a pair of curmudgeons, the mayor and his cohort, who would prefer to see the town stuck in the fifties and closed to outsiders.

I had so much fun with these characters. Claire is funny, a loyal friend, and someone I love spending time with. Besides, every time she turns around, she's in some kind of trouble. It's a blast just following her. And everyone needs a friend like Patsy, someone who has your back.

I’ve completed the sequel called Chapel Springs Survival. Can Claire and Patsy, and the town, survive their revival? That story grew out of something our son did. While it turned out to be wonderful in his life, the manner in which he revealed it called for Mama's retaliation. It went into a book (insert evil laughter).

It's my hope that through humor, readers will see God's hand in their choice of a husband. God is a faithful keeper of little girls' dreams for a knight in shining armor.

Chapel Springs Revival

With a friend like Claire, you need a gurney, a mop, and a guardian angel.

Everybody in the small town of Chapel Springs, Georgia, knows best friends Claire and Patsy. It's impossible not to, what with Claire's zany antics and Patsy's self-appointed mission to keep her friend out of trouble. And trouble abounds. Chapel Springs has grown dilapidated and the tourist trade has slackened. With their livelihoods threatened, they join forces to revitalize the town. No one could have guessed the real issue needing restoration is their marriages.

With their personal lives in as much disarray as the town, Claire and Patsy embark on a mission of mishaps and miscommunication, determined to restore warmth to Chapel Springs —and their lives. That is if they can convince their husbands and the town council, led by two curmudgeons who would prefer to see Chapel Springs left in the fifties and closed to traffic.

***

While a large, floppy straw hat is her favorite, Ane has worn many different ones: hairdresser, legislative affairs director (that's a fancy name for a lobbyist), drama director, playwright, humor columnist, and novelist. Her lifetime experience provides a plethora of fodder for her Southern-fried fiction (try saying that three times fast). She firmly believes coffee and chocolate are two of the four major food groups. President of the award-winning literary site, Novel Rocket, Ane resides in Suwanee, GA, with her artist husband, her chef son, and two dogs of Biblical proportion.

You can find Ane on her Southern-friedFiction website, Google+, Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, and Pinterest.