I didn’t keep the date of the day when I first saw my (pen) name in print. I couldn’t even tell you the year, now, but it was in the 1990s and it was a short story in The People’s Friend, the first of 50-60 stories and articles I wrote for them and a couple of other magazines too. What I do know is the date when I first saw my (own) name on a book in a bookshop – September 5th, 2013, at the launch party for my first-published in Waterstones, Glasgow, five days after it came out. All of which is a long-winded way of saying I’ve now been a published novelist for 10 years. It’s an odd feeling. I’m still working out what to include in a coming blog post about the last 10 years, but it was most definitely a milestone and fizz was definitely consumed to mark it.
In damper news, we’ve had some serious rain here in N.E. Switzerland this past week; so much so that our hugenormous Lake Constance is currently 98cms higher than it was this time last year. No flooding down here, as the lake was low to start out with, but there was some further up the Rhine and other rivers. The water level is nicely above average now, in spite of the lack of snow melt the past couple of years.
More book news: Saving the Lakeside Hotel is in Amazon Prime Reading (UK) for the next few weeks, so you can download it for free if you have Prime, and we’re getting ready for Christmas at the Lakeside Hotel now too. (Sorry, I know it’s early to start mentioning Christmas…) Pre-order will start at the end of this month. Here’s the gorgeous cover image, and the usual massive thanks to James at Go On Write for making it.
linda huber 
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