heart disease - The Next Phase Blog

June has arrived and May 2021 has become history.

The World is Back!

Covid-19 is on the decline in the United States, The Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker reports that 51% of the population have received at least one dose and 41% are fully vaccinated. Here in Massachusetts, the numbers are even higher: 66% and 53% respectively with a positivity rate of 0.66% and dropping.

Many states, including my own, have tossed mask requirements out the door. Restaurants have returned to full capacity, Fenway Park is welcoming Red Sox fans again, and even Plexiglas barriers are going into storage.

I feel like one of those cicadas, emerging from 17 years of darkness and solitude to soar into a bright and sunny sky.

Because people are either staycationing or traveling within the U.S. instead of going overseas, tourists once again fill newly opened hotels. That means tours have returned and tour guides have hit the streets. I have led three ghost tours for Haunted Boston so far with more coming up.

Award Nomination

I received some good news on the publishing front last month. Trickster’s Treats: Coming, Buried or Not, an anthology that includes one of my short stories, Frostfire, has been shortlisted for an award. The Australasian Horror Writers Association named the anthology as a finalist for an Australasian Shadows Awards in the edited works category.

Trickster’s Treats: Coming, Buried or Not! was edited by Louise Zedda Sampson and Geneve Flynn and published by Steve Dillon at Things in the Well. I’m excited that the anthology has been shortlisted for this award because the proceeds from its sale benefit Australia’s Indigenous Literacy Foundation. Not all readers become writers but pretty much all writers start out as readers. I’m happy to help Australia’s indigenous children to become readers in any way.

When Life Intervenes

Marksburg Castle

Suze and I got busy in May—but not on writing blog posts. Life somehow intervened and took up time we use to write; thus, fewer posts than usual. Still, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I strive for a life well lived, filled with things to do, places to go, people to see, chapters to write, and tours to lead.

I can’t wait to start traveling again. Our Rhine Getaway with Viking River Cruises has been postponed twice due to the pandemic and we now have just over 300 days until we leave. In the meantime, I’m itching to go somewhere, anywhere.

Yet all those staycationers have booked up hotels and B&Bs through the summer. What to do? I’ll think of something.