A SALON OF ONE’S OWN
Women’s Writing Group & Solidarity Session
Intentionally designed as a way for women to gather, write, and share their creative endeavors in order to build community around their efforts, flesh out what they want to say, experience dialogue with one another that will foster a conviction that what they write matters, and support one another in having the audacity to set aside time to put their words on paper.
Do you have a book or article sitting in your head, but are unable to find the time to get it onto the page? Does your inner critic tend to sabotage your writing efforts, telling you that your words and ideas don’t matter, would harm others, or aren’t worth your time? Does that critic tend to speak with a patriarchal accent? Do you sit down to write and then find that there’s a domestic chore across the room that grabs your attention and distracts you? Do you find that you can focus on writing better when you’re with others doing the same?
Our Group
This monthly meetup held in partnership with the DC Writers’ Salon is comprised of a 90-minute writing group for serious or just-for-fun writers and a 30-minute solidarity session for sharing what you’re writing about and other things you’re thinking about and experiencing. It is open to all woman-identifying people looking for a space to relax, connect, vent, listen, and relate to one another. Writers are encouraged to bring a notebook or laptop and their own lunch. The DC Writers’ Salon will provide the gorgeous space, seltzer, and light snacks.
OUR HISTORY
This writing group held in partnership with the DC Writers’ Salon was inspired by The Village, a monthly support group for women that was started in early 2023 by clinical social workers Lisa Kays and Paula D. Atkinson. The Village was later re-conceptualized as an online psychotherapy group and this in-person women’s writing group. The ethos of The Village to be carried into this writing group has developed organically as a space for women to connect and combat the messages of our patriarchal, individualistic and capitalist culture that would rather divide us, encourage us to compete with each other and deny one another support.
Our Intention
This writing group held in partnership with the DC Writers’ Salon is intended to encourage women to gather, hold space for each other, and exist in harmony and loving support of one another. This space is meant to be a salve for the injuries inflicted by our current culture, and a revolutionary return to women’s inherent abilities to love and be loved, and to value and be valued by one another and ourselves.
Our Facilitator
Lisa Kays, LICSW, LCSW, LCSW-C
Lisa Kays is a psychotherapist in private practice serving Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and Oregon. Lisa works with adults to strengthen relationships whether it be with oneself, a partner, kids, work, a substance, family-of-origin, or the world. She works with individuals and couples, and is a seasoned group therapist with over a decade of experience witnessing the reality that while our individualistic society believes one-on-one therapy is superior, really group therapy is where it’s at: cheaper, more efficient, more healing, and yes, even more fun. Lisa is also a writer with no time to write, and a busy entrepreneurial mom with not enough time to spend in community with other women. This writing group is therefore a win-win-win for her, and, maybe, for you, too!
Our Partner
DC Writers’ Salon
This writing group is held in partnership with the DC Writers’ Salon, a studio and community for writers, for the active or aspiring; author, poet, comedian, or playwright (and all the other forms); extroverted artists seeking humans or introverted linguists seeking accountability. The Salon is like a yoga studio for writers. Writers of all genres and stages come to write at Salons: two-hour sessions to primarily write together, but also to stay accountable, reflect on the writing process, and connect with others in an otherwise lonely art. There are three Salon memberships — patron, practice, and project — depending on your writing goals. Whether you’re looking to reconnect to your writing and a community, make regular space and time for your practice, or to grow in your craft and explore publication, the DC Writers’ Salon is here to support you in your writing aspirations.
Join Us
For many of us, devoting time to our writing and what it brings forth from us is that first, long overdue act of valuing ourselves. Get that writing done that you always say you’re going to do, but never quite get to, in community with supportive woman-identifying folks.