For the last year or so, when I have had excess energy, I have been working on a new project that is finally ready to be shown to the world. So here is the grand unveiling.
Chronically Ill Fairy Tales, directly delivered to your door!
How does it actually work?
I have, after much thought, decided it is time to set up a tiered Ko-Fi, with rewards for different donation levels.
What is Ko-Fi? Well, if you have heard of Patreon it is that. But if you haven’t, then basically, it is a platform where you can support your favourite online creators with differing sized monthly donations, thus allowing them to carry on creating. The idea is that different levels of monthly donation give you access to different perks.
And that’s where the Fairy Tales come in.
What perks would you get from supporting my Ko-Fi?
I am not a big fan of keeping informative content behind paywalls, especially not when it is related to chronic illness and disability – because these are the people who often don’t have that much money. So I have spent the last year writing several, fun, fairy tales, peopled with chronically ill characters, and have had them beautifully illustrated. These will be available, to give to people, in return for their financial support: in physical or in virtual form – depending on how much you pay.
Something I had been thinking about (and I don’t know about you), was how disappointing my post generally is: bills, taxes, immigration letters – mostly (which is the worst thing), in bureaucratic Dutch, which is not my forte! So I figured it would be nice to receive some exciting post once in a while. That is why, for those who are able, these fairy tales will be printed, bound and posted directly to your door, in installments over the course of the next year, so that you actually have some nice post in your mailbox once in a while. Or, if you would rather have them virtually, a PDF of the fairy tale will nuzzle its way in your inbox, between the weekly pizza takeaway offers and emails for holidays that you feel sure you unsubscribed from!
There a few different tiers to choose from, all of them coming with different perks, from the chronically ill fairytales, to pictures of my cat, and even crochet requests if you are feeling very fancy!
What this would mean to me
I work really hard on this blog, because I want to build an awareness of the issues faced by many of us in the chronic illness community, and also by those who are LGBTQ. And honestly, it provides me, despite my sickness, with a sense of purpose. However, as I have written before, having a chronic illness is not cheap and I do struggle to make ends meet. And whilst I am lucky to get support from my family, it makes things like giving them presents, or treating myself to a coffee, a little weird sometimes.
So, it would be a real joy to monetise the work I do; and if I could supplement my income, even slightly, it would make such a positive day-to-day difference. Like most people, I really dislike asking for money, but this feels different, because I am earning it through my writing – at the same time as trying, in some small way, to increase the representation of chronic illness within literature.
I am proud of these Chronically Ill Fairy Tales, and their beautiful illustrations – and I am excited for other people to be able to read, enjoy and share them too.
For more information and to support me please go to