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How nurse Gail’s to a new business bedside manner led as an ebooks creator

When her doodles became a hit among young patients in hospitals, Cork woman Gail Condon stumbled upon a great business idea, reveals CHRIS DUNNE

OR many people, both young and old, a stay in hospital can be a daunting prospect.

Cork native, Gail Condon, who trained as a paediatric nurse, found this was certainly

true as a child. She suffered from asthmatic attacks and spent a lot of her childhood in hospital.

“So, when I qualified as a nurse, I suppose I could identify with the fears that the children might have had when they were admitted to hospital. I could connect with them,” says Gail.

“I remember feeling very frightened too.” One day, Gail met a little girl on her ward, who

reminded her of herself when she was a child. “The six-year old had asthma and was nervous

about using the nebuliser,” says Gail. “I could understand the little girl’s fears.

“And the easiest thing I could do was to draw a picture of herself using the nebuliser, I personalised it for her, and I think, I took a little of the apprehension

away.” The special gift broke the ice and it alleviated the

little patient’s fear and anxiety about the unfamiliar surroundings and the unfamiliar apparatus that she had been issued with.

“When I doodled little explanations on a pad and presented them to the young patients as a keepsake, it cheered them up,” says Gail.

“I was always a doodler. Now I was putting it to good use!”

Gail never thought for a minute that her kind and thoughtful gestures would introduce her to the world of entrepreneurs.

“All my family are artistic,” says Gail. “I learned a lot about drawing and sketching from my grandad when I was growing up. My sister is a talented artist and so is my aunt.”

Back in 2010, when Gail qualified as a nurse, she didn’t give much thought to her personalised drawings

that meant so much to her patients. They just came naturally to her.

But that first doodle that Gail presented to the sixyear-old in the hospital grew legs and took on a life

of its own. “I found myself doing more and more drawings,”

says Gail. “They just seemed to do the trick in reassuring the children and the doodles amused the

children as well. “The drawings made them smile and they stopped

worrying about the strange environment that they found themselves in.

“I think they felt special when I made little personalised cards especially for them. And they were

delighted to be featured on the inside.” As time went on, Gail found herself doodling more

and more, illustrating the explanations about the procedures that her patients would undertake.

“If somebody was coming into hospital for a tonsillectomy, for example, then I would do a drawing

of what they should expect and of what was going to happen to them.

“They were simple little drawings. But they meant a lot to the children, especially the ones who were nervous or fretful about the procedure they were facing.”

Gail says it was easier to draw the situation for the children, instead of trying to explain it in medical terms.

“It was at their level,” she says. “The drawings seemed to communicate better than a detailed discussion of the medical procedures and the

“You know, children today can tap and zoom

into everything and anything. But they still

love books.”

medical equipment.” Gail was inundated with requests. Everyone wanted a special personalised card as a memento of their stay in hospital.

Gail got a brainwave. “I started a blog, explaining how to communicate

with children on a general basis,” says Gail. It wasn’t long before her inspirational idea

morphed into the creation of hand-drawn eBooks for children under 10.

“ ‘Writing For Tiny’ was born,” says Gail, who is now a mother to daughter ten-month-old Rosie.

“The books are sold on an accompanying website.”

Gail worked part-time in Crumlin Children’s Hospital, and while in Dublin, she decided to go back to college.

“I studied Speech and Language Therapy,” says Gail. “Around that time, Trinity College had begun a course for start-up companies. I decided to submit my range of books. It was accepted into the college’s first Business Incubation Programme.”

Gail deferred her Speech and Language degree that summer and decided to expand her subject matter in Writing For Tiny.

“I couldn’t keep up the demand simply drawing by hand,” says Gail. “So I decided to see if I could design

a type of software to personalise the books instead.”

And as Gail’s business expanded, so too did her subject matter.

“I started drawing situations like moving house or a new arrival into the family. And I decided to try and explain away having bad dreams.

Then a software developer came on board. Writing for Tiny was a fast-track way to communicate

with children. “Word of mouth, the old-fashioned way, was how

it began to grow,” says Gail. “Parents were talking to each other about Writing

for Tiny. The interest was massive.” Writing for Tiny was about to take off. “The summer of 2013 was spent getting the software

ready and rebuilding the website,” says Gail. Rosie arrived in November. “Her Dad, Michael, is a children’s doctor,” says

Gail. So they were both on the same page? Gail laughs.

“You could say that. Children’s books are a big part of our relationship with Rosie. When I am working, she puts her little fingers into the finger paint and she doodles happily beside me. She is fascinated

with all the colours” A chip off the old block then. “She seems to be creative,” agrees Gail. This summer, Gail, 28, was accepted for New

Frontiers, an entrepreneur development programme run by Enterprise Ireland based at the Dublin Institute of Technology.

“The aim is to develop my business skills,” says Gail.

No doubt they will develop to be as good as her bedside skills.

“I hope so,” says Gail. “I am now moving into publishing a range of

printed hardback, 64-page books, which will be made in Ireland,” says Gail, proudly.

The range which will be available from this month, will feature the child and his or her family members.

“The family pet can be included too,” says Gail. The child loves the story because they are in it. “Writing for Tiny helps the parent to communicate

with the child about difficult, or different situations,” explains Gail.

“Subjects like moving house, or a visit to the dentist, can be made easier and less daunting when it is presented in a drawing. The parent has a tool to explain the situation and the child can easily understand

it,” says Gail. Gail finds the whole experience of becoming an

entrepreneur very exciting. “Lots of stuff is happening,” says Gail. The late Maeve Binchy always gave budding

authors the advice; always write what you know about.

And Gail is a prime example that this sage advice is a good policy.

Her random act of kindness when she was a fledging nurse on the children’s ward CUH has paid huge

dividends. “You know, children today can tap and zoom into

everything and anything,” says Gail. “But they still love books.” And the mums do too. See www.writingfortiny.com

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