It is often said that writers hold a lonely lot in life-they sit behind a computer, typewriter or pen to spend hours interacting with their own thoughts, like an ever-flowing inner monologue passed from mind, to hand, mind to hand.

In that loneliness, ideas spring, memories surface, and demons glare back from the dark. With the running gamete of manic-depressant, alcoholic novelists, not to mention a rich history of opiate use and sexually transmitted disease, writers often welcome reminders of the overwhelming peace that comes after the process.

That act of releasing past into present will be the topic of the Pensters Writing Group on Feb. 11 when Author Jesmyn Ward will offer tips to attendees.

"The speakers committee invited Jesmyn Ward to speak to the group before she won the National Book Award for her second novel, "Salvage the Bones," based on her accomplishments as a graduate student, and on the quality of her writing," according to Pensters President P.T. Paul. "Her program My Writing Process: What it Means to Face Your Fears and Write What You Must, should serve to answer many of the questions posed by novice as well as seasoned writers."

"Her novels are set on the Mississippi coast where she grew up, and her presentation of the harsh reality of life in the poor, rural South embodies the writers' credo of 'write what you know' in such a way that the reader accepts the world she presents without question or hesitation. This is storytelling at its down-and-dirty, nitty-gritty, hand-to-God, can-I-get-a-witness best."

Ward said she'll lend a inside glance at her work to help others with theirs.

"I'm talking to the workshop about writing, specifically, about why I write and how I came to writing," she explained. "It's important for a writing group, such as the Pensters, to hear this because I think there are many different avenues to approach writing, and it's good to hear how different writers come to the craft."

"It's also useful because it can be inspiring."

She said that past experiences and words from other authors well up, and beg for release.

"I began writing in middle school, but I didn't seriously commit to writing until after I graduated college, and my brother died," she began. "I decided then that writing would give my life meaning. William Faulkner, Alice Walker and Louise Erdrich were some of my early influences, and of course all of them continue to influence my understanding of writing today."

Ward's second novel deals with some of those elements of overflow, she divulged.

"I wanted to write about a girl who grows up in a world of men, because I wanted to know how a girl like that finds her place in the world," she said. "I also wanted to write about Skeetah, this strange boy with this great love for his dog."

"Those were my inspirations for Salvage the Bones. I am overwhelmed and humbled by the acclaim and love the book has received. It's incredible."

According to Paul, such reception is entirely warranted.

"Jesmyn Ward is one of those writers that grasp the urgency and immediacy of life, and convey it with no unnecessary distractions or embellishments," she mused. "Her characters live in the mud and sweat of the moment, as naturally as the creatures that share that moment with them, yet they dream and wish as comfortably as they run and hide."

"Salvage the Bones is a lesson in the essentials of loss, heartache and sorrow, but it never feels sorry for itself, and it wakes up each sweltering morning ready to do what it must to survive." ■