The Dopamine Trail

Romance author+ elder millennial + parent + ADHD and mental illness + bisexual = absolute chaos

[bidotorg]

[ariella-writes-spice]

I'm Kristina Forest,

It’s a pleasure meeting you! I hope all is going well with your writing journey.

Hi Kristina! Same to you!

[ariella-writes-spice]

Using placeholder text is a relatively new thing for me. For a long time I felt like I had to write in order and couldn’t skip around.

Inevitably I’d get stuck somewhere, usually a transition from one scene to the next. I knew where i needed to be, just not how to get there. I’d stare at the screen until my brain hurt and I’d give up.

At some point I started writing notes like “AWESOME OPENING” and “EPIC TRANSITION” and it completely changed the way I approach drafting.

I was able to keep my momentum, which kept me motivated. I didn’t get burned out as quickly. It gave me permission to take my time.

I usually attach a comment to the placeholder text that expands on what I’m trying to accomplish or questions I’m trying to answer. So when I do come back to it, I have some kind of starting point.

Usually, when I’m not thinking so hard about something, the answer will show itself pretty easily.

[mariacallous]

[ariella-writes-spice]

My favorite response to people who send me AI summaries is “thanks. Now I have to fact check that.”

[maxknightley]

rotisserie chickens are a cost-effective way to feed a small family, or for one strange adult woman to experience the joy of a predator tearing apart a carcass

[ariella-writes-spice]

WIP Wednesday

I tend to write the same kind of man in a different font. I have a type and that type is easy to write.

Liam (Roots in Ink)

Jamie (Radio Romance)

Lucas (Let it Rain)

Jack (Chasing Ember)

All my MMCs thus far have been cinnamon roll golden retrievers.

Jake Mackenzie is breaking one pattern (and clearly it’s not my naming conventions).

Jake is my first morally gray MMC. He’s my first asshole (not alphahole). He’s the kind of guy that gets under your skin.

And he’s so fun to write.

[redstonedust]

people will insist humans are naturally selfish when feeding the birds is a common hobby. when there are wildlife hospitals you can call when you find an injured fox outside. do we get anything from helping wild animals? i don't think so. it's not personal. it's just nice. it's something we have the resources to do, so we do it. i think thats worth remembering.

[ariella-writes-spice]

I mean, yeah, but trinkets from the crows would be nice.

[uwingdispatch]

Marvel fans! I often get comments like "will you ever make (insert character here)" and like 90% of the time it's something already in my shop. So I thought I'd make a post with all y'all's Marvel faves from over the years. Is your fave here? Let me know! And my birthday sale is on through 12/9 so come grab some goodies at up to 20% off! Shop is here.

more below the cut!

Shop is here. Love y’all!

[ariella-writes-spice]

Most of my books have childfree characters but both FMCs in my upcoming sapphic fantasy romance are mothers so obviously I’m using middle-aged MILFs in my marketing.

[ariella-writes-spice]

KDP removing Roots in Ink from the bisexual category for not being the right kind of bisexual feels very biphobic 😒

Literally everyone is queer.

Except the villains. They’re straight.

[caffeinexchapters]

a dear friend clued me in to the ‘write in comic sans’ writing hack. She wrote 3k words in a sitting. I’m preemptively upset because I’m going to try it and it’s going to work.

[ariella-writes-spice]

Yup definitely works.

I’m curious how editing would go if I changed the font to open dyslexic.

[ariella-writes-spice]

Being an author with ADHD is fun because divergent thinking is one of our strengths.

That means you could be reading a mermaid x witch romance (Shady Depths by BL Brown) and that leads you thinking about water spicy time, which leads to thinking about the book you’re drafting that takes place near a lake, and now you’re wondering what kind of minerals are in lake water so you look up the first lake in an area similar to your setting that comes to mind and now you’re doing a deep dive on Saratoga Springs.

You learn there’s iron in the water and wonder if your MMC’s metalsmithing magic can manipulate the iron in water. And if he can then maybe he warm the water so you can write an aquatic spicy scene after already establishing earlier in the book that the lake would still be really cold.

[ariella-writes-spice]

I truly never understood what authors meant when they said their characters had minds of their own.

Until I started writing Bound by Ink. Which is turning into a perfect metaphor for how it feels to write a prequel.

I’m constrained by the book I already published I can’t follow the natural flow this story wants to take. And it’s kind of aggravating.

[ariella-writes-spice]

“I’m unstoppable…” I sing, as I write another book with a pair of 40-year-olds banging.

[ariella-writes-spice]

I’m pretty sure my husband and I were making our way through Supernatural and lusting over Dean Winchester’s Impala when this scene popped in my head.

I outlined the entire plot of the 2nd book in the Scions of Belhaven series around it.

[ariella-writes-spice]

Girls will be like “I needed that” and it’s just your coworker making you a grilled cheese sandwich after he fingers you in the parking lot after work.

[ariella-writes-spice]

Today’s a good day to help Paperbacks and Frybread launch North Carolina’s first Indigenous bookmobile.

https://givebutter.com/Zqqo6K