WATCHING the joy of his two-year-old daughter Stevie chasing seagulls on a beach in Warrnambool proved the spark Dave O'Neill needed to channel his poetry into something special.
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O'Neill will launch his first book, The Seagull who Soared, at the Clunes Booktown Festival this weekend and lead a series of children's writing workshops.
The words came within days for O'Neill's story about Stevie the Seagull finding courage to leave her beach at Torquay behind.
For O'Neill, the book itself comes after years of becoming brave enough to chase his own writing dreams.
Rupert McCall's sports poetry about the Sydney Olympics and Rugby World Cup fascinated O'Neill growing up.
He enjoyed writing a little as a student at Ballarat High School and said people seemed to respond well to his prose. Writing fell a little by the wayside for O'Neill when he set out on an accounting career before being drawn to a career in journalism and media communications.
He started dabbling in poetry and rhymes more in membership and marketing campaigns at the St Kilda Football Club.
O'Neill said if you wanted to achieve a dream, you had to chase really hard, and this message prevailed in the children's book he first picked up from the printers on Wednesday night.
"I've always loved storytelling and made a career in storytelling and I've loved seeing the ways Stevie connects with books - she immediately loved stories," he said.
"I think you can do great things with stories. There are poems I've written that make people smile or cry and I had an opportunity to do this with kids' books.
"I look at authors like Julia Donaldson, Rachel Bright and Alison Lester and see what a gift they've left the world to not only make kids smile and learn, but to connect with mum and dad."
O'Neill and Stevie loved reading Bright's books like The Koala who Could together where there is an animal and a life lesson. He said Bright had a great way in bringing characters to life.
Inspired, he started his own tale, then seeing Stevie on the beach where his family loved to holiday completely changed his course.
O'Neill worked with Ballarat publishing company Shawline, which helped him to fine-tune and link up with emerging illustrator Isabella Gagliano, who imagined characters in new places like Stevie playing cards underwater with a crab.
Revolution Print in Ballarat printed the book and Collins Booksellers, along with a string of primary schools, have already agreed to put O'Neill on their shelves. He said the Ballarat community had been fantastic in support.
As O'Neill prepares to take his book to readers, he has importantly got the big tick of approval from Stevie, who was excited to help him open the first box and read her story - although she was still partial to Donaldson's The Gruffalo.
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