WHY AM I CHANGING LANES AGAIN?

If you're here on this page, and you've followed me for awhile, you're probably wondering just what my problem is? Why can't I just pick a lane and stay there? After all, I've gone from writing erotic romance in 2013, switched to legal thrillers (Rachel Sinclair) in 2016, pivoted to women's fiction in 2020 or so (Ainsley Keaton), tried romance once more in 2025 (Bella Christina). And now...something completely different again!

Well, here's a clue that this particular genre is the one that I plan on pursuing for the rest of my life - I'm FINALLY using my own name! Well, I'm sorta using my own name. My name is Debra Lynn Moore and my new pen name is D.L. Moore, so it's a variation at any rate. There's something about seeing my own name on these books that makes connect to them more.

And I'm finally having fun again! Don't get me wrong, I loved all the genres I wrote in before. I wrote about 20 legal thrillers, about 15 women's fiction books, and they were enjoyable. But fun for me? Not really. They were just a bit of a grind and I always wondered just how I could produce another book in any of those genres. So, at some point, I just didn't. Even though they got great ratings and reviews (Bella Christina and Ainsley Keaton are all 4.3 and above); and I sold a lot of books overall (over 500,000), I wasn't having that much fun.

But this genre? I'm having a blast! I'm so happy to be writing about different creatures and beings and bringing the sense of magick and belonging and found family. The overwhelming theme of these books is finding a place after you've been rejected and bullied.

And perhaps I'm drawn to these books because I can relate. Growing up, I never thought I had a place to belong. My parents moved around Kansas City when I was very young - I went to four different schools by the time I was in the third grade. They'd pull me out in the middle of the term, so, one day, I'm a student at Warford Elementary and the next day, I'm a student at Johnson Elementary and the teacher has to announce "kids, we have a new student today!" I'd sink in my chair, wanting to disappear completely.

And I'll never, ever forget one time I was invited to a slumber party by the most popular girl in my grade school - she happened to live across the street from me, so we got the bus together. Anyhow, I arrived at her party and when each new girl also arrived she announced, right in front of me, that "I didn't want to invite her, but my father made me."

So, these were my formative years. Walking around the recess yard, talking to nobody, and clinging to the teachers because I had nobody to play with. Never having any kind of party because I had nobody to invite. And, to make matters worse, I had a speech impediment (I still stutter, but not as much as I used to) and bright red hair - I love having red hair now, but when you're an insecure kid desperate to fit in, it doesn't help that you have an unusual hair color that makes the other kids tease you.

Now? I have beautiful, lovely, friends that I've known since high school. A couple of close friends in San Diego. People who love me. And I've long since stopped caring what anybody thinks about me and that's so liberating I can't even say.

So, yeah - the theme of finding a family, a sense of belonging, after feeling that you're an outcast, speaks to me. This means that I'll pour my heart and soul into these beings and treat them with care in my books. Because each of these beings are me. And probably a lot of you!

I hope you love these new books and find something in them that speaks to your heart. Maybe it's the promise of fun in these books - and they will be fun, believe me! These stories won’t dwell in darkness. There will be mysteries and difficult moments, but they will always lead back to humor, hope, love, and home.

Or maybe it's the books' sense of security and found family that speak to you. Maybe you love the romance. Maybe you love the adventure of following fae, shifters, vampires, witches and wizards (oh my!) as they each realize that they need love, too. Maybe you love the small town atmosphere, where everyone knows (and loves) everyone else, even if they squabble and gossip all the time.

Or maybe you just love all of these things.

Thornwick Vale isn’t another lane. It’s the place all those lanes were leading me.

I plan to write these stories for many years to come—and to pour my heart into every witch, angel, vampire, shifter, faerie, demon, and dragon who finds a home there.

This series is my love letter to the misfits, the outcasts, the late bloomers, and everyone who has ever wondered why belonging seemed to come so easily to everyone else.

If that’s you, welcome to Thornwick Vale.

I’ve got your back.