The MD of a Financial Planning firm, who is also an up-and-coming novelist, says that writing novels has helped him to combat depression.

Chris Budd, managing director of Bristol-based Ovation Finance, started to write novels seven years ago and now spends every Wednesday fuelling his creative juices and putting pen-to-paper.

His first novel, a Bridge of Straw, was published in 2013, and he has since gone on to write another novel called Manners from Heaven, which was released in December.

His second novel received high praise from Chartered Financial Planner, Martin Bamford, who said it was a ‘exceptionally well written second novel with a gripping story and appealing characters’. Mr Budd’s books are available on Amazon.

Mr Budd used to write as a student and then stopped but decided to start again after he found out that he was suffering from depression.

He said: “I always used to write as a student but I got out of the habit. Seven years ago I was suffering from depression and I went to see my doctor and the doctor wasn’t very helpful.

“It wasn’t serious depression. It was what I would call a 'thick head'. I then took some business coaching and in the three sessions, they found that there was something in my life that I was missing and that was writing novels.”

The MD, who dreams of having his work made into a film or TV programme, isn’t finished yet though, with a third novel set to be released in the autumn of 2018.

He said: “I’ve published two novels and am half way through the third. I spend every Wednesday writing and have done for the past seven years and I do it because I love it. Each book has taken about three years to produce, so I’m hopeful that I will have the third one out by autumn 2018.”

However, novel writing isn’t easy. The average novel sells 250 copies and the average professional writer earns about £11,000 a year. As a result, professional writers have their work cut out if they want their publications to be a success.

Despite this, Mr Budd has been pleased with how his novels have been received.

He said: “For the first one novel, A Bridge of Straw, about 500 copies have been sold. It’s difficult to tell exactly because many of the outlets don’t give you figures. But those copies will have been passed around, so I’m hopeful that it will have been read between 1000-1200 times.”

On top of his two novels, Mr Budd has also written a Financial Planning guidebook, which was described as an ‘excellent’ read by Chartered Financial Planner and Paraplanner, Dan Atkinson FPFS APP ACSI, a columnist for Financial Planning Today.

Apart from novel writing, he also plays guitar in a covers band called Love Potion No1 which regularly performs at charity balls and parties. His favourite guitar is an Ovation Legend, which leant its name to his company.