Welcome to the Next Draft ‘Zine, a roundup of recent posts and bits and bobs I picked up along the way over the past month. Next week I’ll start on my indie writer and publisher journey and share with you tips, tricks and lessons I’m learning along the way. And if you aren’t yet, hopefully encourage you to start writing your own book.
Featured Articles
In case you missed any articles from December, now’s a great time to catch up!
Looking to Move Forward – 2022 in Review. The evolution of my work and writing throughout 2022, leading up to Next Draft’s focus in 2023.
How to Create Personal Change – Be Still – The third and final piece to transforming your life is to be still. It doesn’t matter how you do it. What’s important is that you learn to listen to yourself on the inside and out.
Save the Planet. Don’t Waste Food. Up to 40% of all food is wasted. It’s a huge contributor to climate change. Learn some ways you can minimize waste in your life.
Room of Acknowledgment
Accolades for Rock Gods & Messy Monsters:
- #12 in Independent Book Review’s Top 30 Impressive Indie Books of 2022!
- Starred Review in October at Independent Book Review
- #1 on Amazon Kindle’s Hot New Releases in Pop Culture, Pop Culture Music, and Absurdist Fiction in September
- Bookbub’s most frequently wishlisted books in December
- Bookbub’s New Releases for Less selection in October
To celebrate, it’s currently on sale at Amazon through Ukrainian Christmas!
If you’re not an Amazon fan, you can also find it on Bookshop.org.
Guest Corner
Experiential designer and general all-around-creative-genius Kri Pelletier of Firehorse West recently wrote an article called Storefronts are Great Big Book Covers. (She designed the cover for Rock Gods.)
I was beyond touched to read myself described as “a most prolific human and burgeoning cult classic author.” Thanks, Kri!
A Quick One
** More than one in five people employed worldwide have experienced violence and harassment in the workplace, including physical, psychological or sexual advances. This is the first ever joint analysis of data worldwide by the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO), “Experiences of Violence and Harassment at Work: A global first survey“ is available as a downloadable pdf.
Why am I mentioning this? Because my novel Rock Gods & Messy Monsters deals with harassment and violence in the workplace. The novel is funny and absurdist, but it tackles the very real issue of abuse at work.
** Never listen to articles saying publishing is dead, and that you’re more likely to get hit by lightning than have a bestseller. Instead, look at indie author Colleen Hoover and the success she’s having. If she can do it, why not you? The New York Times recently did a piece on her and her work.
Press and Media
I was delighted to be a guest on the Athena Wellness Podcast with Kathy Robinson a few weeks ago. Check out “The Journey of Finding Yourself with Diane Hatz”
Also on
(and a bunch of other places but it was getting a bit much!….)
I was also featured on Kathy’s “Wellness Wednesday” program a few days later and talked about how to sit with fear. (The Wellness Wednesday link will take you to a main page where you can connect with all the above platforms and more.)
In case you’re interested in additional media Rock Gods & Messy Monsters has received, please visit Whole Healthy Group (my publishing company) to check it out.
Stay in Touch
If you’d like to stay in touch, please do!
- Please subscribe now if you aren’t, (free and paid)
- If you’re Facebook-friendly, please follow and like my Facebook author page!
- I have a Medium account if you’re a member. Right now I tend to be cross-publishing, but I’ll most likely put some original content here in Substack and on Medium as time goes on, and I get the financial side of my writing career sorted out. (Meaning, I don’t have time right now to write original pieces in two places, promote a book, and write a new one….) But please follow me there if you’re a Medium person.
- Also Twitter – @dianehatz and Instagram – @wholehealthygroup
And Finally
- Next Draft is broken up into different sections to cover several topics, including the main Next Draft category (monthly zine mainly), My Books/Fiction, Indie Publishing & Promotion, Self-Care/Spirit, and a couple others. If you’d like to receive one or a couple of these topics but not all, please visit my About page for instructions on selecting specific areas. (Scroll down the page.)