What started as a simple bedtime story for a restless child has blossomed into a published children’s book for TygerBurger journalist Lauren O’Connor-May, proving that inspiration can strike in the most unexpected moments.
O’Connor-May’s debut novel, “Dreamhouse Adventures/Droomhuis Avonture,” published by Lapa Publishers, began during late-night storytelling sessions with her daughter Verity, who needed a new bedtime routine after the arrival of a baby sister.
“Everything about this book is inspired by my family,” explains O’Connor-May, who grew up in Eastridge, Mitchell’s Plain, and currently lives in Strandfontein with her seven daughters. “Verity would choose the theme and characters – usually animal or fairy versions of her baby sister and her – and mostly controlled the story until she fell asleep.”
But one particular evening proved different. When Verity requested a story about a house, she listened quietly without her usual interruptions, allowing her mother’s imagination to run free.
“By the time I finished the story, she had long since fallen into a deep sleep and I had been talking to myself for several minutes,” O’Connor-May recalls. “I was curious why this story had intrigued her so much.”
The next morning’s retelling to her other children sparked an animated discussion that nearly escalated into an argument – a reaction that convinced O’Connor-May she had stumbled onto something special.
“That’s when I realised there was something about the story which children liked,” she says.
The journalist typed up the tale and pitched it to publishers. Penguin expressed interest but requested changes, asking her to expand beyond the original two-sister dynamic to include more background characters based on her other children.
“The children’s book editor liked my background and wanted me to make the adventures more recognisable, so I used our own family adventures as a model,” O’Connor-May explains.
The resulting book explores themes of imagination, growth, and family adventures – a genre the author admits is more challenging than her day job.
