Writing Romance Books while Rebuilding My Life
The Stories Were Never Just About Romance
I’ve been asked a few times why I write romance. While of course I love love–there’s something magical about yearning and tension and two people choosing each other–the truth is that I’ve never just been writing about romance. Underneath the current of my main couples’ journey back to each other, I’ve been writing about their healing. Romance is just the ship I use to guide them along the ebbs and flows of the waves crashing around them.
When thinking about my current series, “The Double Back Diaries,” I can trace my own evolution through every single page. Each main character. Each relationship. The conflicts. The lessons. Those stories were reflections of where I had been, where I am now, and where I so desperately hope to go. From the first release, I’d been building a map that would lead me back to myself.
Before the Stories, There Was a Question
When I arrived at the grand idea of becoming an author, I wanted to answer the following questions:
“What would happen if Black women stopped believing they had to earn love?”
“What would happen if Black women got the heal?”
“What would happen if Black women didn’t need to shrink?”
“What would happen if Black women chose themselves?”
These questions became the foundation for everything that followed. I hadn’t had the vision for a magazine, a store, a lifestyle brand. Just the stories. Stories about women becoming, the men who gave them the space, people learning to trust themselves without abandoning who they were. Yes, romance was important–we don’t smut-shame over here–but it was never the entire point.
Transforming was.
The funny thing about stories is that they tend to understand you before you understand yourself. When I mapped out this series, I thought I was creating relatable characters with undeniable chemistry. The whole time, I was documenting my journey. Only now can I see the threads weaving between each one.
Stage #1: Love Yourself Enough to Change
Loved By You – Vanessa and Xavier
Every transformation begins with the realization that the life you were living cannot continue as it is. Something must shift. Enter my sweet babies, Vanessa and Xavier, the two spearheading the journey I never knew would come. They were my first lesson. In Loved By You, the journey is ultimately about self-worth. We know Nessa and Zay love each other fiercely. Yes, they have chemistry. But neither of them is able to see it until they love themselves enough to believe it. You have these two individuals who meet again after some time, thinking they can pick up where they left off, without necessarily doing the work or having those tough conversations. Their healing required both releasing versions of themself, grieving what could have been, to see if happily-ever-after was waiting on the other side. When writing their story, I didn’t fully understand how much of myself existed within both characters. Now, I know how integral courage is to self-love. You have to believe you are worth saving before you can start rebuilding.
Stage #2: Heal Yourself Enough to Stop Self-Sabotaging
Lily In The Valley – Kelly and Khalil
You can decide to change, create new goals, or start over. But if your wounds remain untouched, they’ll follow you into this new life you wish to create. Kelly and Khalil’s story was deeply personal to me because it explored the idea that sometimes, we are the obstacle. If Vanessa and Xavier represented a readiness to change, Kelly and Khalil would heal by any means necessary. Lily In The Valley explored what happens when a wound–sometimes those handed down to us from our parents–is left to fester. It shows how these fears and defense mechanisms can build until it’s too late. And both she and Khalil push back on all the things they claim to want. When you’ve lived a life full of disappointment, it’s easier to sabotage joy because the valley feels familiar. Their story was the one that haunted me in my sleep, because it required me to answer the question: Why am I refusing the healing required to get me the life I want? For anyone who’s read about Lily-Girl and Big Head, you know the way in which they heal is beautiful…and hard. Sometimes, hard is better than being stuck.
Stage #3: Trust Yourself Enough to Step Into Purpose
Lady In My Life – Wesley and Lynn
I’m going to tread lightly when discussing Wesley and Lynn, because their story is currently on my writing desk, but Lady In My Life represents the lesson I’m learning now. Somewhat like a conversation unfolding right before me. Trust. It sounds easy until you have to prove it. For me, this moment is all about trusting myself. My intuition. My gifts. The dreams that refuse to leave me alone. The path that others may not understand. There is a version of myself I can so clearly see staring out of my hotel balcony overlooking the Amalfi Coast. A woman who writes books, creates stories, and builds beautiful things. But most of all, a woman with intention and trust in herself. That’s the lesson hidden inside Wesley and Lynn’s story. You have these characters that are living in a moment between where they are and where they’re being called to be, either through manifestation or divine purpose. The decisions they make require courage without seeing the bridge. Shedding past identities to make room for new ones. Faith, trust, and divine timing. Yep, that’s all the insight you’ll get there.
Stage #4: Free Yourself Enough to Heal
Title TBA - Nyah
The final lesson, the one I’ve been building to all along without even knowing it, belongs to Nyah. Freedom. The freedom to fully be yourself–explore, evolve, change your mind, try something new, pursue curiosity–and build the life that goes with it. Freedom is possible only after the previous lessons have been learned. You cannot be truly free if you’re afraid to let go and change. You cannot be truly free if your wounds control your decisions. You cannot be truly free if you don’t trust yourself. I can so clearly hear Denice Williams singing, “But I want to be free…And I just got to be me…” Let go of the chains of others’ opinions of who you should be. I haven’t started writing her story yet, but I can see it just as vividly as the sunset on the Mediterranean. Readers have only gotten glimpses into who she is and portions of her story through the lens of her best friends. But I already know what she’s going to teach me. Sometimes the greatest act of self-love is giving yourself permission to be free.
The Books Are But a Mirror
Looking back, each of these stories was really a conversation with myself. Shadow work tucked into the characters of my books. My fears. My hopes. My growth. The stories came before the lessons slapped me in the face, forcing my life to catch up. Each story had a villain. Self-abandonment. Every time we seek approval, stop listening to ourselves, shrink, and settle. That is the enemy because it keeps us disconnected from who we’re meant to be. But every story has magic, and for me it takes form in healing. Again and again. And for that, it will always find its way into every piece of content I create.
What is “Sweet Freckled Olives”?
What would happen if we built lives we genuinely loved living?
Sweet Freckled Olives is my answer to this question. It is, in and of itself, a remembrance of the women who came before, the ones who couldn’t quite get there during their time on this side of life. Finding myself sitting at the same crossroads, I’m sure they found themselves at some point or another, having lived lives marked by their own imperfections and bitterness. I was even more determined not to let their sacrifices go in vain.
This brand–this extension of my life and theirs–is a love letter to the sweetness of falling in love with oneself. A resting spot where wellness and creativity and storytelling can coexist for the greater good. Another chapter toward my life’s bigger story.
One day, I hope I have the freedom to create and explore every strange and beautiful interest my Gemini heart desires. To wake up each day and spend my time making things that bring me joy and help others feel seen. This is the life I’m building.
There are moments when I sit back and laugh, because this truly all started with a dream and a romance novel. One delusional thought of “I could totally write a book.” Sitting here writing this post, I’m slapped in the face again with yet another lesson. The thing that changes your life arrives unexpectedly. For me, it was a story I couldn’t stop thinking about, which has opened so many doors.
Romance I was desperately seeking, yet found myself on the other side.
And that’s the story I’m most excited to tell.
With love,
Alexandrea LeChelle 💖🫒
Founder & Editor-In-Chief
Sweet Freckled Olives
