LORI SNYDER

I'm Lori Snyder, founder of Splendid Mola and the person who leads/teaches/facilitates everything offered here. Like you, I'm a writer: My first book, the middle grade fantasy The Circus at the End of the Sea, came out in 2021, and a second, with the working title Zephyr and the Winds of Time, is coming sometime in 2026. I'm currently writing a fantasy for adults, where someone my age gets to have a magical adventure (and is therefore not doing all the maybe-not-so-smart things you do at 17 that often drive a plot). As a note: It took 23 years and a lot of rejections for me to get a book deal, so to those of you in the thick of it: hang in there!

I've had a lot of careers, from booking music at a Hollywood coffee house to marine biologist to being a long-time yoga teacher and (now former) yoga studio owner. Everything I do, though, regardless of the what, has always been about building community while doing my best to assure that everyone has access to whatever helps them be more of who they truly are. I believe so deeply that when we are allowed space and time for our true selves to lead the way — for our creativity to flow and for our minds, hearts, and bodies to thrive — we shift the world toward creativity, equity, kindness, and love. When we are allowed to be who we truly are, in all its beauty and complexity, we come alive. And as Howard Thurman said, what the world needs is people who have come alive.

If you are a writer, writing is probably one of the things that helps you come alive. And that doesn’t just help you; it helps the world because it keeps the energy of creativity, of thinking, of caring alive and well. Splendid Mola is here to help you do your art — not by teaching you the craft or business side of things, but by holding space, in a myriad of ways, for you to write, stay connected to your own creativity, and find community.

Splendid Mola is the combination of two things: the in-person retreats for writers I've been hosting since 2015, and the Writers Happiness Movement, which I launched in 2020 to offer all kinds of free support for writers, funded by an economic system based in kindness and mutual aid rather than in straight capitalism. I know there are enough of us out there who share the vision that everyone, everywhere, has access to things that help us write, regardless of financial situation.

This is a revolutionary refuge for writers, and I'm so glad you're here.

xox

Lori