Where Writing Isn’t So Lonely

Lowstate Writing Salon Offers a Space in Santa Barbara Where Writers Can Gather, Write, and Be Heard

Writers gather together at the Lowstate Writing Salon | Photo: Patricia Fancher

It was on one of their regular Monday-night walks when cofounders of Lowstate Writing Salon, Patricia Fancher and Dan Troon-Sazani, began talking about the quiet isolation that often shadows the writing life. “Writing can be so lonely, and it can be so isolating,” Fancher told me over the phone.

It’s true — as a writer, I spend most of my designated writing time alone, finding it hard to focus with other people and distractions around me. It’s a feeling I know many writers can relate to. On top of this, when you finally do publish, it’s like releasing your work into the void — people might read it, maybe even love it, but you’re not there to witness any of it. “And so, I just wanted to feel maybe a little less alone in the experience,” Fancher confided.

Both writers themselves, Fancher and Troon-Sazani understood the ache for connection, a space to not just put words on a page, but also to share the experience of writing with others. They imagined a judgment-free zone where creativity and community could coexist. And in October 2023, that vision became real with the launch of Lowstate Writing Salon.

They meet promptly on the second Monday of every month at Casa Agria, a brewery on Lower State Street, in the back of Kim’s Service Department. Everybody is welcome; you don’t have to be a writer to join. In other words, Fancher said, nobody is talking about their publications or their accolades. “Nothing we do has to do with the performance of being an artist; it has to do with the art.”

You just have to be willing to give it a try.

There’s space for all to write at the Lowstate Writing Salon | Photo: Patricia Fancher

Writing prompts help feed creativity at the Lowstate Writing Salon | Photo: Patricia Fancher

Every month brings a fresh prompt, dreamed up by someone new. When I attended on April 14, Felicity Landa shared her prompt, where she focused on “hidden truths.” She told us to write a poem, scene, or story where we kept the core of the story true and changed the facts to be fiction. Or, we could keep the facts of the story but change what we believe was the heart of the story.

You can follow the prompt or write about whatever you want. The more I wrote, the more I strayed away from the prompt. Instead of starting over, I just let my creativity fly. We got 20 minutes to write, then time to read our drafts and share them with the people around us if desired.

There are rules. No constructive criticism is allowed — “only praise,” said Fancher. “Because somebody you know wrote something in a bar with no time to prepare and is now sharing it. And so, it’s not like they had time to revise and make it good.” Knowing that everyone was in the same boat was comforting, but also made me nervous. I’m used to having ample time to edit my work, and frankly, I would be mortified if my first draft were my published draft.

In her book Bird by Bird, author Anne Lamott refers to the first draft as “the child’s draft.” She provides comfort to the writer in knowing that your first draft is not your published one, but at Lowstate, it kind of is. Sure, you have a choice to read or not, but this kind of rough, unedited writing is encouraged — it might even be the start of a future published work.

Sitting at a table with just two other writers, I looked down at my “child’s draft,” took a deep breath, and read.

For more information about Lowstate’s meetups, see meetup.com/lowstate-writing-salon.

Fancher is also leading a writing retreat in Greece this summer. For more information, see writingco-lab.com/retreats.