Young Brandon mum opens up a new chapter

A young mother who was made redundant earlier this year has turned her fortunes around to become a full-time author.

Natasha Preston, 24, has self-published her debut novel and is working on a sequel, to be published next year, after losing her administration job in October.

Miss Preston, who has a one-year-old son and lives with her fianc� in Yew Drive, Brandon, first began by uploading one-off chapters to an amateur writing site to be critiqued by fellow authors.

After receiving positive feedback she went one step further and published her first book, Silence, and said she would encourage anyone who lost their job to follow their dreams.

'I looked at it as opportunity and a kick up the bum,' she said.

'It's never nice to be made redundant, especially if you've got responsibilities but there's always something else you can do.

'You just have to find it. If you want to do something but are worried about taking the jump, redundancy gives you the perfect excuse.'

Silence centres on a young girl, Oakley Farrell, who stopped speaking at the age of five.

'Miss Preston now intends to publish the sequel, Broken Silence, in February, and has posted chapters for a third novel, a thriller called The Cellar, online.

'When I was at high school I wasn't very academic and wasn't expected to do anything and it did really affect me,' she said. 'I fell into admin jobs and didn't really look at anything else because I didn't know I could do it. Writing is now something I want to do – I like that you can write anything and that there aren't any limitations.

'You can just sit down and write what's on your mind.'

rebecca.gough@archant.co.uk