MGMBesalie LIVING_WITH_MY_HOBBIES on SubStack

Help Bring Tally the Woodland Mouse to Life — A Dream of Publishing 20 Children's Stories A Personal Journey of Creativity, Determination, Living with Chronic Illness and Never Giving Up on a Dream Hello, my name is MG Gina and I'm asking for your help to turn something incredibly close to my heart into a reality. For several years, I've been working on a very personal creative project — writing and illustrating a collection of children's short stories about a lovable little character called Tally the Woodland Mouse, his family and his wonderful woodland friends. My dream is to write at least 20 individual children's stories, each filled with imagination, adventure, friendship, kindness and those little life lessons that help young children understand the world around them. Ultimately, I want to see these stories professionally published as beautifully illustrated hardback books for children aged 3–7. Books that parents can read to their little ones at bedtime, that grandparents can share with their grandchildren, and that families might treasure and pass down through generations. But behind this dream is a much more personal story. ❤️ Living with Chronic Illness While Holding On to My Dreams I live with several serious, long-term health conditions, including Heart Disease, being in Heart Failure, Diabetes and Digestive Disorders as well as being in Chronic Pain every second of the day with my C4 & C4 prolapse and crumbling cartilage in my L2 - L5 Lumber region. These conditions affect my everyday life in ways that aren't always visible to others. Some days are manageable, while others can be both mentally and physically exhausting, along with uncomfortable and emotionally challenging. Living with chronic illness means accepting that I cannot always do everything I would like to do, or accomplish things as quickly as I once could. There are days when my energy is limited, when I need to rest, or when my health simply has to take priority over everything else. However, one thing these illnesses haven't taken away from me is my imagination. Writing gives me something positive to focus on. It gives me a sense of purpose, independence and the opportunity to create something meaningful despite my physical limitations. I don't want my health conditions to define everything about my life. I want to be remembered for the things I've created, the stories I've told and the little bit of happiness I may have brought into someone else's world. And that's why Tally the Woodland Mouse means so much to me. Creating Tally — A Little Mouse with a Big Future Tally isn't simply a character I thought of overnight. He has been part of my imagination for years. Some of his adventures have been inspired by my own childhood memories, particularly experiences starting from 1967 onwards that have stayed with me throughout my life. Others have grown from the wonderful things I imagined doing as a child but never had the opportunity to experience. I've spent countless hours writing, rewriting, sketching and developing his character. I began with my own physical pen drawings before turning to Adobe's creative software to help develop the illustrations and establish how Tally and his woodland friends should look. I've created his family, his friendships and the imaginary places they visit. And although it might sound simple to write stories about a little mouse, I can assure you that creating an entire collection of original children's stories is far more challenging than it first appears. Why Writing 20 Children's Stories Is Such a Challenge My goal is to create 20 completely individual short stories, not simply 20 variations of the same adventure. Every story needs its own original idea, beginning, middle and ending. Each adventure needs to be interesting enough to capture the imagination of a young child, while remaining gentle, understandable and appropriate for children between the ages of 3 and 7. I have to think carefully about the language I use, the personalities of the characters, the adventures they experience and the messages I hope children will take away from reading them. Then there are the illustrations. Each story needs pictures that bring the characters and their surroundings to life. I want children to recognise Tally immediately, whether he's travelling on a sleeper train, enjoying a snowy winter morning or celebrating Halloween with his friends. Writing 20 stories means developing 20 separate ideas, creating believable adventures, carefully editing every manuscript and eventually producing illustrations to accompany them. It is an enormous undertaking for one person, particularly someone managing several chronic health conditions. There have been times when I've struggled to find the right words, questioned whether an idea was good enough, or rewritten entire sections because they didn't quite capture the feeling I wanted. But I keep returning to these stories because I believe they deserve the opportunity to be read. ✍️ Why I Started My Substack Newsletter One of the things I've come to understand is that creativity takes an enormous amount of time and effort, yet people often expect writers and artists to share their work entirely for free. I genuinely enjoy sharing my interests and experiences, but I also need to find a way to make my creative work financially sustainable. That's why I've started my Substack newsletter, Living_with_my_Hobbies. Through Substack, I share free articles and honest reviews about fountain pens and inks, including products I've had the pleasure of receiving as a YafaBrands Ambassador. However, I've also introduced a paid subscription specifically to support my children's storytelling project. My paid subscribers receive access to Tally's original adventures, allowing them to follow his journey and read the stories as I work towards completing the collection. This is my first step towards building a small, independent source of income from something I genuinely love doing. I'm not expecting to become wealthy from writing children's stories. What I would love is the opportunity to earn something from my creativity, help cover the costs involved in developing these books and gradually build a more financially sustainable future for my work. Unfortunately, growing a paid readership takes time, and subscription income alone may not be enough to meet the costs of bringing these stories into print. Which brings me to why I've started this GoFundMe campaign. Why I'm Asking for Your Support I'm hoping to raise funds to help me take Tally the Woodland Mouse from a collection of handwritten drafts, digital manuscripts and illustrations to a professionally produced series of children's books. Your donations would help towards: - Professional editing and proofreading, ensuring the stories are polished and suitable for young readers. - Illustration development, helping me create consistent, engaging artwork throughout the collection. - Book design and formatting, preparing the manuscripts and illustrations for publication. - Publishing and printing expenses, particularly the costs associated with producing quality hardback editions. - Proof copies and production samples, allowing me to check the finished books before making them available to families. - Marketing and promotion, helping introduce Tally and his woodland friends to parents, grandparents, teachers and young readers. I want to be transparent that this is a developing project. My first goal is to complete the 20 stories and prepare them for publication. Whether I eventually work with a traditional publisher or explore independent publishing will depend on the opportunities and costs involved. Any funds raised will be directed towards the development and publication of the Tally the Woodland Mouse project. What Your Support Would Mean to Me For me, this isn't simply about getting a book published. It's about proving to myself that even while living with serious health challenges, I can still work towards something meaningful. It's about having the opportunity to build a little financial independence through my writing and illustration work. Most importantly, it's about leaving something behind that might continue bringing happiness to children long into the future. I often think about how wonderful it would be to imagine a parent sitting beside their child, opening a beautifully illustrated hardback book and reading one of Tally's adventures aloud. Perhaps that child will laugh at something Tally says, recognise themselves in one of his little adventures or ask to hear the story all over again the following evening. That is the dream I'm working towards. I know there is still a tremendous amount of work ahead of me. Twenty original stories won't write themselves, and bringing them into print will require patience, determination and financial investment. But I'm willing to put in that work for as long as my health allows me to. What I need now is a little help in taking the next step. Could You Help Give Tally His First Bookshelf? If you're able to make a donation, no matter how small, I would be sincerely grateful. And if you're unable to contribute financially, sharing this campaign with friends, family, parents, grandparents or anyone who loves children's literature would mean just as much. You can also support my work by becoming a paid subscriber to Living_with_my_Hobbies on Substack, where you'll be able to follow Tally's adventures and see how this little woodland world continues to grow. I cannot promise that the road to publication will be quick or easy. But I can promise that this project comes from years of imagination, genuine love for storytelling and a determination not to give up on something that means so much to me. My greatest wish is to see Tally the Woodland Mouse become more than a character on my computer screen. I want him to become a little friend that children can hold in their hands, discover through stories and remember with affection as they grow older. Thank you for taking the time to read my story, for understanding why this project matters so deeply to me, and for considering becoming part of Tally's journey. With your kindness and support, perhaps one day a little mouse with a very big imagination will find his way onto bookshelves around the world. With heartfelt thanks and appreciation, MGMBesalie ❤️ Creator and Author of Tally the Woodland Mouse Living_with_my_Hobbies | Substack