I’m coming back to Teen Writers’ Nook (+publishing announcement and life update)
What’s up, TWNers! I can’t believe it’s been nearly a year and a half since I last posted over here. That was not intentional but I guess life just happened. But after months of thinking about returning, praying about it, and talking it over with the other founders of this blog, I am excited to finally say that I am making a returning to blogging and Teen Writers’ Nook is coming back with me! However, with this return there is going to be a LOT of new changes so that’s what I want to cover here.
Where have I been?
So the last year and a half has been marked with a lot of new opportunities and crazy changes for my life. All in all, it’s been kind of insane everything that’s happened. First of all, I finally graduated from Liberty University with a bachelors in history and a minor in military history! The closing of a chapter has brought the opening of so many incredible opportunities.
class of 2026!
Secondly, I’ve taken on two part-time jobs and I’ve decided to return to school and work towards a master’s degree in historic preservation. In addition to all of this, I’ve been on a bit of a transformative journey in the last year that’s really changed how I see myself, my faith, and the world around me and that has played one of the biggest roles in my return to this site. See, even though it was an unintentional break from blogging as the months turned into a year, I really didn’t think I would be returning to Teen Writers’ Nook. My sisters and I even discussed closing the website down for good. I had burned out from years of making writing and book-related content and because my degree was a writing-intensive one it made me not only not want to blog, I didn’t want to write either. In fact, I really started thinking that writing wasn’t even a dream of mine anymore, that it was just something I had done as a teenager because I had nothing else to do.
Long story short, I realized I had been lying to myself the whole time.
It was with the publication of Into the Lamp (more on that later) that reawakened a dream I had thought dead. A dream that was really just buried deep inside me. It’s pretty fitting that the novel I started working on the day after this website went live six years ago is the very same book to bring me back here. I guess you could say I’ve come full circle.
In the last month I’ve come to realize that not only did I miss writing, I miss this website as well. And I knew that I couldn’t just make a return to telling stories without returning to this community that has played one of the biggest roles in shaping the writing I am today.
Teen Writers’ Nook is back
So first announcement I need to make is that yes, Teen Writers’ Nook is going to make an official comeback. However, you might have already noticed the website is undergoing a rebrand as I’m looking toward a different avenue for the platform. So what’s going to be changing?
(1) My sisters are going to continue taking a step back from the platform.
In discussing it over with Katherine and Madeleine, they want to take more of a backseat role in the website for the time being. This is not to say they will never return to posting just that for the time being, I will be running the site mostly on my own.
(2) Posts will be more limited
To prevent burnout and make sure that I still have time to fulfill my other responsibilities, I am only going to post about twice a month and I have moved the posting date to Thursday rather than Friday to suit my new schedule better.
(3) I will now be posting under my pen name
This is probably the biggest change but I have decided to completely move all of my online presence over to my pen name, D.B. Rayne. The reason for this I plan to explain more below. So I’m still the same person, just using a different name.
Other than that, you can expect the same writing tips and tricks, and y’all, I already have a ridiculously long list of new tips, ideas, and hacks that has really strengthened my writing. I can’t wait to share them with everyone!
Writing Updates
My writing has also undergone a big transformation. As I said, I now plan to exclusively write and publish under my pen name, D.B. Rayne. With this has come a huge rebranding I’ve been working on over the last couple of months. The reason is because I realized I wasn’t just lying to myself about not wanting to write, I also wasn’t being honest about what I actually wanted to write.
Several years ago, I thought that I wanted to write more books for adults and that I wanted to write historical fiction (largely because I was getting a history degree). But in the last year, I’ve realized those choices were not really what I wanted to do but more because I was around more authors that wrote adult books and in the historical or romance genres. It was easy to just allow myself to be more like the people who were most influential to me at the time. (I wanted to very clear this is not a criticism of them, but one of myself, that sometimes I just allow myself to be more like the people around me rather than being authentic to who I actually am.)
All that to say, while I do not dislike reading adult fiction or historical books, I definitely do not enjoy writing them. (Crazy that it took four years to figure that out, but here I am.) I’ve realized that I most enjoy writing speculative fiction books for the young adult market. My debut novel is a contemporary fantasy inspired by “Aladdin” and my current WIP is a YA dystopian.
With this decision, I am in need of a rebranding. As I said, I will not be writing under D.B. Rayne and will be closing the old Vintagely Izzy blog I was running for a bit there. In addition, I plan to be doing more content creation on my instagram page, @db_rayne. I am also launching a new newsletter, so if you were subscribed to Vintagely Izzy and still want to receive emails from me in your inbox, you will need to resubscribe to my new newsletter, which you can access here!
Now for the biggest announcement of all, I FINALLY PUBLISHED INTO THE LAMP!!!!!!!!!!!
y’all were probably thinking this wasn’t actually going to happen, weren’t ya?
yeah, I was thinking it too
And this is the best news of all! If you are curious about trying Into the Lamp, but don’t really want to buy something from a random author you’ve never read from before (which I totally understand because books are expensive!), then I am giving a FREE ten-chapter sneak peek to those who subscribe to my newsletter as a thank you!
AND as celebration of returning to Teen Writers’ Nook and as a thank you to you guys (because let’s be honest this book would not published right now if it wasn’t for y’all’s encouragement and support and love for this story through the years), I am giving away one copy of Into the Lamp! To enter, all you have to do is comment below and tell what the last book you gave five stars was? (because I am actually in desperate need of some book recommendations *sobs*) This giveaway is opened to both international and U.S. readers (international readers will just get an e-copy instead)!
That’s a wrap!
D.B. Rayne
D. B. Rayne is a twenty-something-year-old Christian novelist and author of her fantasy, Aladdin-inspired debut, Into the Lamp. She lives in the South, where she is allegedly “writing” (but is most likely envisioning owning her own sword or hunting for Narnia in wardrobes). You can follow her on Instagram, @db_rayne.
14 Comments
Kayti Phillips
Ack! So excited to see you back over here! I’m excited about this! I definitely understand writing something (or reading it) because everyone around you or that you know is doing the same thing…but I’m so glad to have you back in the YA spec space! Join our dwindling numbers…lol…at least, that’s how it feels some days. XD Maybe I just haven’t bumped into the right people….lol…
Last five star read I had was…Brian’s Return, the fourth book in The Hatchet series…it was very calm and just, resetting in a way. <3
D.B. Rayne
Eeek so, so excited to be back, sister!! Thank you so much!! Yes, the struggle is real, but it’s so good to be back writing YA speculative fiction. I feel like all my old passions for writing have returned, and it’s just been the best feeling! Lol, I knowww right, we’re so small in number. *cries* I kid you not that at a book signing I’m doing in a month with a library, there’s only two authors writing teen books that’s gonna be there and I’m the other one! We’re just so outnumbered 😅
Oooo that’s an awesome choice! I’ve read the first Hatchet book, but I really need to continue the series!!!
Hannah Ruth Johnson
Woohoo! Yay for the return of Teen Writers Nook!! I was actually just thinking about how some of my favorite blogs had died off… so this is amazing news!
My last five-star read was Seeds of Hope by Teresa Wells, but my second-to-last, The Light of Stars by Jenelle Hovde, was definitely a HUGE new favorite.
So excited to have you back in the blogosphere! <3
D.B. Rayne
Yessss I’m so excited to finally be bringing the ole blog back!!! I totally get that, it seems that a lot of the bloggers I met when I first started have dropped off. Thank you!
Oooo those both sound REALLY good! I’m definitely going to look into them!
Thank you so muuch! I’m so excited to be back!
Anna
It’s so good to hear from you again! Looking forward to what you have for us after you’ve had a chance to grow and know yourself more!!!
My last 5-star read was But He’s My Fake Fiancé, a clean adult romcom by Annah Conwell (I love all her stuff so so much)
D.B. Rayne
Aw, Anna, it’s SO good to hear from you too, girlie!!! It’s been so long!! Aw thank you so much!! I’m definitely so excited about this new wave of content I’ve been working on. I think TWN might just be about to enter it’s best era yet!
OoooOoooOoo that sounds like SUCH a cute book!! I am definitely adding this to my TBR!
Dami
I think the last book I gave five stars to was “When Quietness Came”, a fascinating memoir of a neuroscientist Erin Hawkes and her battle with schizophrenia. Warning, it is very heavy at points, but if you’re curious, try reading just the first chapter, which gives a reasonable insight into the general vibe of the book. I have an as yet unspecified disorder and some of what the author writes about is chillingly real to my perspective too. If you don’t want to read that one but are curious around schizophrenia in general, I also recently read the first chapter of “Surviving Schizophrenia”, which is an apparently very famous book and currently in its seventh edition. I haven’t read beyond that yet.
Nice to see you back!
D.B. Rayne
This definitely sounds like an interesting read for sure! Will definitely look more into it!
Thanks! It’s great to be back!
Lily Keith
*runs and hugs you* Ahh, it’s so good to have you back, Issabelle! A super big congrats on releasing your debut novel! 🎉 I look forward to checking out the sample chapters and the future articles on the blog.
P.s And according to my Goodreads shelf, my last book that I gave 5 stars to was Evidence Not Seen (by Darlene Diebler). It was so good.
D.B. Rayne
*hugs back* Aw it’s so, so good to be back, Lily!!! Thank you soooo much!!!! Oo awesome, I definitely hope you enjoy the sample!!!
OooOooo that DOES sound like a reallly good book! Am definitely checking this one out!! Thanks!
Addilyn
It’s so good to see you back, Issabelle!! I’m so excited for this next chapter of Teen Writers’ Nook 😄
The last book I gave five stars was The Q by Beth Brower. It was intriguing, sweet, and had a lovely message! I highly recommend it <333
D.B. Rayne
Aaah heya, Addily! It’s SO good to hear from you again! I’m so happy to be back, I’ve missed Teen Writers’ Nook and all of you guys so much! Eee thank you so much! I’m really excited as well! I think this might be one of the best chapters yet in TWN’s book!
Ooo that sounds really interesting; the title definitely has me intrigued! I’m excited to look into it more! Thanks!
Liz Churchill
Hey Ms. D.B. Rayne! (Love the pen name BTW!)
Congrats on all the exciting events and news in your life!! I am looking forward to the Teen Writers Nook revamp and reading your new book. That is so awesome.
I would love to enter for a free copy! The last book I gave five stars was… “Red Hugh: Prince of Donegal” by Robert T. Reilly. It was a great piece of Irish historical fiction.
Have a great week!
D.B. Rayne
Heya, girlie!! (Aw thank you so much!)
Aww thank youuuu!!! I’m so excited for TWN’s new chapter as well!! Thank you so so much!!!
I’ve got you entered in the giveaway! Best of luck! Ooo now that book sounds super cool! And I LOVE reading Irish historical fiction so I definitely must check this one out! Thanks!
You have an awesome week too!