SHE receives daily fan mail from across the world and has even been told that one devotee’s unborn child will be named after a character from her book.

It is a dream come true for Stephanie Hudson, who fantasised about writing a novel from her early teens, but believed her dyslexia was too big a barrier to overcome.

After selling almost 2,000 copies of her first book Afterlife, the 29-year-old mum believes she is proof that you should never stop believing in yourself.

“I always wanted to be a writer but because I was dyslexic, I was told it would never happen,” says Stephanie, who lives in Bursledon.

“It’s only as you grow up you realise that even if you’re told you can’t do something, it’s not necessarily true.

I really do believe now that if you have a burning passion for something, then that’s enough.”

Always struggling with reading and writing, Stephanie was diagnosed as dyslexic when she started secondary school in Wales.

The condition is a common type of learning difficulty that primarily affects the skills involved in the reading and spelling of words.

Stuck in the bottom set for all her subjects at school, Stephanie says her diagnosis was never really explained to her.

“It was a case of, ‘you can’t spell and this is why’. It was only when I became an adult that I found out more about it. I hated school apart from English and Drama. I found lessons so difficult and I didn’t get any extra support.

It made me feel even more stupid than I felt I already was.”

It was only when Stephanie – whose dad and sister are also dyslexic – was introduced to the Point Horror series at the age of 14 that her love of writing was ignited.

Devouring one book after another from the teenage horror fiction brand, she was hooked.

“Reading had always been something I struggled with but I found that the more I did it, the better it got.

“As I got older, I started to challenge myself and read things like Pride and Prejudice, which isn’t the easiest thing to read if you’re dyslexic.”

But her rising aspirations were quickly crushed in the classroom.

“I remember a particular English assignment, where we were told to write a scene for a short story. I put everything into writing a really vivid piece about a girl being chased by a beast through the forest, but because it was full of spelling mistakes my teacher said, ‘You will never be a writer, get that idea out of your head now.’ And she made me redo the assignment.”

The comments left their mark on an impressionable young Stephanie for many years to come.

So writing became her secret. Filling notebooks with poetry and horror story ideas, she didn’t tell a soul.

With her writing dreams abandoned, as soon as she left school, Stephanie immersed herself in computer courses at a local college.

She went on to read Computer Studies at the University of Bolton, which is where she met her husband, Rob.

It was only when she found herself out of work for several months three years ago, that Stephanie started writing her first book, paranormal romance Afterlife.

“My writing bug quickly became an obsession, I got the story into my head and it just flowed out. I’ve never been stuck once.

“In terms of the spelling and grammar, Spell Check has been a lifesaver for me. I couldn’t have written the book without it.”

The first of a seven-book saga, Afterlife is set in a gothic nightclub.

When new girl in town Keira lands a job there, she is captivated and plunged into a world she never knew existed. The deeper her obsession with dark and forbidding nightclub owner Dominic Draven becomes, the harder it is to decide – should she stay or should she run from a madness she thinks may consume her?

While books like the global vampire smash-hit Twilight have undoubtedly made the paranormal romance genre immensely popular, Stephanie says Afterlife is a completely different read.

Initially writing the book purely for herself, Stephanie says it was her mum – who now edits her books – who urged her on.

“She couldn’t believe it when I told her that I’d written a book! But when she read it, she said, ‘you have got to get this published’.

“My mum is a very straightforward person, so I knew she wouldn’t say it if she didn’t mean it.”

By now, Stephanie had got a job in a restaurant, and sent her book off to countless publishers and literary agents between her shifts.

But she got knockback after knockback.

“It was very disheartening. I didn’t have an Englishdegree and had never had any books published.  No one was ever going to give a dyslexic waitress a chance.”

It was only this year that Stephanie discovered you can self-publish books online through Amazon’s Kindle Store.

She has been amazed by the fantastic response from people telling her how much they love the book.

“Fans write to me every day and I have had lots of five-star reviews on Amazon.

“One lady got in touch to say she was going to name her unborn little girl Keira after my book’s main character, and I got an email from a woman in London who said she had started a book club with her friends to talk about Afterlife.

“Some people have even asked me when the movie is coming out – that would be the ultimate dream!”

Currently on maternity leave from Frankie and Benny’s in Eastleigh (where her husband Rob also works as a manager), Stephanie is spending every spare moment between tending to her 12-week-old baby Ava and working on the saga.

The second book, The Two Kings, was released this month, and Stephanie is halfway through the third instalment.

“I feel I have accomplished my dreams in full, both by being a writer and becoming a mother,” she says.

“Dyslexia held me back all these years, not because of the disability itself, but because I let it.

“It would be fantastic if this did take off massively.

“It’s amazing to have had two books published and that people are enjoying them. I just hope it doesn’t stop.”

To buy Afterlife or The Two Kings by Stephanie Hudson on Kindle or paperback, visit amazon.co.uk degree and had never had any books published before.