No one said being an identical twin would be easy. The competiveness, the uncanny resemblance and the struggle to find an individual identity can consume a person’s life.

Sara DeLuca decided to cope by writing about her childhood.

DeLuca will be at Big Table Books tonight to give a reading of her first novel, Dancing the Cows Home: A Wisconsin Girlhood.

Now a published author with a family of her own, DeLuca can enjoy the success of her book without having to struggle for a sense of individuality.

DeLuca said she wanted to be a writer since elementary school.

“My twin sister Susie could play the piano, so I knew I had to find something creative to keep up.” DeLuca said. “I took to writing out of self-defense.”

Her “self-defense” mechanism has finally paid off.

Although DeLuca started sketching the outline of this book over 20 years ago, it didn’t come together for her until she had left home and raised her own children.

“The desire and appreciation for my childhood home was so great that I wanted to share it with others,” she said. “We were all storytellers in my family; and I cherished all of those family stories.”

The success of family stories was so great that DeLuca decided to stay in the writing field for her next project. Currently, she is working on writing stories about her elder relatives.

Family support has been at an all-time high for DeLuca these days.

“My husband has given his full endorsement of this writing venture. He thinks it will contribute to his retirement fund,” she said.

In addition to her husband’s support, her twin sister, Susie, has been working with DeLuca on a project to combine their talents in a program of piano music and literature readings.

Although she said it was difficult growing up with a mirror image, DeLuca is quick to note how special it is to have a twin sister.

“This book is a memoir of my childhood experiences,” DeLuca said.

“They’re not all happy memories, there were some very tough struggles, but the book is emotionally true.”

DeLuca will be at Big Table Books in downtown Ames tonight at 7:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.