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Fellow Loose Id author Mechele Armstrong has long been one of my favorite people in the business.  A fine writer of hot, very romantic books, she’s both prolific and talented—and one of the nicest ladies you’ll ever want to meet.

So, without further ado…

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Mechele  Armstrong

The story behind my latest release is that you can’t always get what you want. 
 
From characters that is.

Mine tend to take me on wild rides.  You’d think I’d be used to it by now, but they still throw me curve balls.

Earlier in the week, Settler’s Mine 3: The Woman, released from Loose Id. I’m excited about this story. It was challenging to write about two guys who really had no desire to find their third, much less find out their other mate is a woman.  The story took me places I didn’t expect to go, especially because it wasn’t the story I originally sat down to write.

When I decided to start another Settler’s Mine novel and planted my butt in the chair to start working, I thought I was going to write about a character introduced in Settler’s Mine 2.  A woman who I already know her story and where she’s heading.  Only my fingers wouldn’t start typing about her.  My brain wouldn’t focus on her tale.  Instead, a character named Tam kept popping into my vision.  He had long, dark hair. The color red was a constant whenever I thought about him.  Along with a woman on the run, Kiann. She had a big secret that I wasn’t sure at first what it was.  And then there was Jax, who was Tam’s mate, and a stick in the mud. He wasn’t happy about a lot of things.

Try as I might, I couldn’t get the story I’d sat down to write going.  Not with these three talking in my head.

Usually, unless I have to write something else for a deadline, I’ve learned to run with the story that wants to be written.  I didn’t have an official deadline on a particular story, so I started toying with these characters, instead of writing the story I’d expected to come next in the Settler’s Mine series. And Tam, Jax, and Kiann wouldn’t get out of my head to let me tell anything else but their book.  They took over and their story, for the most part, flowed.  Even though some parts of it were hard to nail, and I had to go back and revise a few times when I lost their voices and track, we hashed it out until I got their story to the end.  It was well worth it. They challenged me to tell a tale I hadn’t expected to write.  They aren’t easy characters and their ending wasn’t quick to reach, but we made the journey together.

Obviously my editor decided I’d made the right decision, because she accepted The Woman and now it’s out!

I’m sure the next story in the Settler’s Mine series will be the one about the character I thought this one would be about.  But I’m so glad that Tam, Jax, and Kiann started appearing in my mind.  I love stories that stretch me, and these reluctant mates definitely did that.

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Mechele Armstrong aka Lany of Melany Logen
Where Sensuality and Wonder collide
http://www.mechelearmstrong.com/
http://www.collector-series.com/
The future’s never been so sexy
http://www.melanylogen.com/