Tenaya Metzler has always loved to write, and she's always been close to her twin sister, Nickea. When the pair graduated from Manheim Central High School in 2020, Tenaya presented her twin with a book she'd written, "Your Name is Light," featuring a main character loosely based on Nickea.

Tenaya said she never gave much thought to the book becoming more than a family gift until one day she saw an ad on TV. "I was at my grandparents' house, and an ad came on for a publishing company," Tenaya stated. She decided to submit her draft, enlisting her family to help with edits and suggestions for changes.

"My older sister advised me to make some changes, like having the characters travel to actual places, not the ones I had made up for the story," Tenaya said. The original draft was also specifically tailored to Nickea, with inside family jokes and other personalization that Tenaya changed for the final version, striving to give the book a wider audience appeal.

"Your Name is Light" was published through Covenant Books in August. "It's a work of fiction, and it has elements of nursing, romance, action, espionage, intrigue and international travel," Tenaya said, noting that the book has a Christian focus. It tells the story of registered nurse Alina Dixon, whose ordinary life is shattered when she's the victim of a brutal attack. Working closely with M15 agent Blane Burns, Alina travels the world to find out who's behind the attack and stop a potential worldwide threat.

"One of the themes of the book is the idea of being saved," Tenaya noted. "The main character is coming from a place of light, a place of faith from being a Christian, and the other character is in a dark place and has lost his faith."

When she's not writing, Tenaya works as a nurse, as do her twin sister and their older sister, Kierra. "My older sister has worked in the ER for years, and the main character in the book works in the ER," Tenaya said. "I started writing the book before I became a nurse, so my sister Kierra's insight really helped me with that part of the story."

Tenaya also wrote some of her twin's favorite things into the plot. "The places the characters go in the book are places my sister has always wanted to visit," she explained, noting that the storyline takes the characters to Alaska, where they encounter sea otters, Nickea's favorite animal. "They go to Norway to see the Northern Lights, and they go to Austria to attend a New Year's Eve imperial ball. I think it's everyone's dream to go to a ball in Europe."

"Your Name is Light" will be distributed through both secular and Christian outlets, in both print and e-book format. It is available on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble, among other outlets.

With one novel under her belt, Tenaya said she'd love to write more if she can find the time. "With my job, it will probably be a few years," she said, "but I'm working on ideas now."

She encourages anyone who loves to write to take the leap. "If you have an idea, just try and write it," she stated. "You never know what will come of it, but you should take that first step: Sit down and write."