Bittersweet Ending

Yesterday, after two years and nine months, I completed my latest novel. The title has changed many times, from Twin Lives to The Life of Zoe to The Dancing Days of Light and Life, to finally The Dazzling Days of Light and Life. (The names of the two main characters, Phoebe and Zoe, mean light and life in Greek.) I thought I was done nine months ago, but after putting some time between myself and the story, I realized it needed radical surgery. I chopped out an eighth, including a half-dozen whole chapters, and polished the rest until I couldn't find anything more to change. I'm happy with the result, but frankly, drained. All the nights and weekends of writing have taken their toll. I plan to enjoy a few months off, and in the meantime, I'll see if this long and consuming labor of love takes wings.

The Dazzling Days of Light and Life

When Phoebe Connor announces her engagement to Jake Anderson, a part-time construction worker, her sister Zoe warns her that she’s throwing her life away. Angry and hurt, Phoebe tells Zoe that she's never liked her husband Jeremy and claims that if anybody is going to have a horrible life, it will be Zoe. She even bets her sister that she and Jake will have a better marriage and a happier life.

The Dazzling Days of Light and Life follows two middle-class sisters from the 1980s to 2003 as they raise their children, pursue their careers, and strive to make their marriages last. As the years unfold, one sister flourishes, finding prosperity and happiness, while the other struggles, and her life slowly descends into poverty and chaos.

The Islander