FOLLOWING the popularity and success of her personal blog, The Mostyn-Thomas Journal, Melissa Mostyn from Wendover has launched her first e-book, My Daughter and I.

Receiving five star reviews on Amazon, Melissa’s compelling book has already been a huge success.

Melissa who is pre-lingually deaf shares her personal story and the developmental progress of her first child Isobel, who has cerebral palsy and associated disabilities.

Coming from an extended family of writers and artists, Melissa has always been interested in writing and begun writing her book late last year. Melissa refers to writing as her first ‘love’.

The idea behind the book stemmed from Melissa’s personal online blog. Melissa had a blog about her parenting experiences over the period of three years but as a single mother of two young children, it got to the point where she could no longer find the time to continue.

Melissa is open about the fact that she blogged primarily for her own benefit. She said: "Of course I was blogging to reach out. That’s what you do when you find yourself very isolated in your own personal turmoil."

Melissa found a way to make use of her journal material by writing her e-book.

She said: "I couldn't let three years of material go to waste; the book is more or less a compilation of the blog. Something that people can keep, and refer to again and again on a permanent basis."

What makes this e-book unusual is it is written from the perspective of a deaf person. The book follows the progress of Isobel, right from the day of her birth up to the present day via blog posts drawn from the journal, and also includes chapters that were never published online. Melissa said: "I have enjoyed revisiting the material and triggering my own memories of that time. It’s amazing how much circumstances can change in a relatively short time, especially where a child with disabilities is concerned."

Melissa’s next goal will be to release the book in print this autumn, there has been a lot of demand for it, she hopes that people come away from reading the e-book with a better understanding of what it’s like for a born-deaf person to parent a child with disabilities.

My Daughter and I is a self published e-book, available on Amazon's kindle store for £3.99.

Follow Melissa on Twitter @MyDaughterAndI or 'like' her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MyDaughterAndIbook