Writers suffer an inner struggle unlike many in other professions. Questions of self-worth circle in the mind while we struggle to reach readers on a personal level. We strive to be understood, articulate, original, but one of the hardest aspects is the ever-present push to publish. With professional and personal life tasks taking most moments of the day, writers try to carve out writing and editing time, then finding a publisher time.

If publishing attempts fail, the writer is left with a barely-read manuscript like one of Rudolph’s misfit-toy friends. The urge to connect with a readership stifles against reality, and lonely hours seem lost and pointless.

But Joy Jordan-Lake will offer some light to the writing tunnel during the March 10 Pensters Writing Group meeting.

She will enlighten attendees with “the often grim, full-of-failure background stories of now-respected writers, as well as her own humorous stories of abject humiliation, ugly struggle, thorough defeat—and some actual triumph,” according to Penster’s President P.T. Paul.

Paul explained that, “It is difficult to remember, when listening to an accomplished and successful writing professional, that everyone starts from the same place, that every writer struggles at some point in their career, and that success is guaranteed to no one - but that is exactly the subject matter that Joy Jordan-Lake will address. In her program description, she reminds us that success requires self-discipline, dogged perseverance, encouragement and feedback, and she presents the struggles of established writers, as well as her own, to remind writers that the challenging and occasionally maddening task they undertake is worth it. In short, a successful inspirational writer will attempt to inspire others to persist until they accomplish their goals.”

During a recent interview on novelmatters.com, Jordan-Lake revealed some of the driving forces behind her workshop topic.

“We have to be able to laugh at ourselves and hear criticism from well-meaning, well-read and trusted sorts (ignore the petty, the small-minded and the jealous) as a way of making us stronger and better at what we do,” she explained. “The many writer friends I’ve had along the way who were abundantly gifted but very thin-skinned simply haven’t continued to write.”

“The rejection tore them to shreds, and they gave up. Limped away. Never came back…among the writer friends you do have—and you need these—be able to exchange war stories. Knowing that other writers doing excellent work are often struggling, too, helps keep you sane.”

While this message is needed to encourage budding writers, the reason behind Jordan-Lake’s invitation hits even closer to home.

According to Penster’s member and friend of the author, Ren Hinote, “In 2008, Joy published her first novel, “Blue Hole Back Home.” I was struck, not only by her innate ability to tell a story—and to tell it well—but by her honest portrayal of a topic as sensitive as discrimination. It is a pure story of the South, of what happens in a Carolina-mountain town when the local youngsters befriend a Sri Lankan girl whose family has recently come to live there. The thought-provoking tale forces the reader to confront his or her own reaction to another race; it evolves against the background of the local, summertime kid-magnet: a pine-shaded, ice-cold, swimming hole.”

Hinote said that Jordan-Lake will be a welcome addition since many in the group have asked for an inspirational writer to join the Pensters’ lineup.

“I hope our members will discover a writer they may not have read before and will look forward to her second, soon-to-be-published novel,” she began. “Joy is a delight—a college English professor, polished speaker, conference and workshop leader, busy wife and mom to three, and writer worth adding to your bookshelf!”

The Pensters meeting will be 10 a.m.-12 p.m. March 10 at Dahlgren Hall at Fairhope's Faulkner State Community College. For more, email ptphantazein@gmail.com.