About the Author
Phyllis M Skoy has been writing throughout her life. However, it wasn’t until 2013 that she submitted her work for publication. Phyllis was named Discovery of the Year for “bosque, the magazine” for her short story, “Life After.” Her first novel, What Survives, was short-listed for the Santa Fe Writers Project.
A one-time song lyricist, Phyllis practiced the short form as she studied and pursued a career as a psychotherapist and psychoanalyst. While living in New York City, she studied American Sign Language and Seido Karate and established a karate program for the deaf in collaboration with her karate grandmaster, Kaicho Nakamura. Although she retired as a second degree black belt, her program continues.
Phyllis has a master’s degree in counseling from Fordham University, a master’s degree in social work from Wurzweiler School of Social Work (Yeshiva University) and a certification in the child and adolescent from Metropolitan Institute for Training in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy.
In 2000, Phyllis and her husband relocated to Placitas, New Mexico, but Phyllis returned to NYC in 2001 to work as a volunteer for the Red Cross after Sept. 11.
“As They Are,” forthcoming in April 2022, is the prequel to her award-winning novel, “What Survives,” both of which are set in Turkey. She also is the author of “Myopia, a memoir.”
Phyllis is retired from a small private psychoanalytic practice in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
A New Love: Meeting Monk
In 1987, my beautiful English cocker died of liver cancer. He was 14 years old. He left me shortly after my mother’s death, the death of my dearest cousin, and in the midst of my divorce. To say the least, it was a difficult year. I was single in New York City, working for peanuts at a nonprofit and trying to finish a master’s degree. I lived in a fourth-floor walk-up, and my dog could no longer make it up the stairs. I was also very poor. The thought of getting another dog, as much as I had loved this one, was beyond consideration. I mourned...
read moreInterview with Five Directions Press
I was delighted to share time with author Joan Schweighhardt during this interview for Five Directions Press, which describes itself as “literary journeys along paths less traveled.” In this lovely conversation, she asks me about my transition from my career as a psychoanalyst to author. She draws out some very interesting aspects about my novel What Survives, as well as Myopia, a memoir. Plus, this is my first interview where I reveal what lies ahead: My next novel, As They Are, which is a prequel to What Survives. So many readers of What...
read moreLoss of a Different Kind
In these terrible times of multiple losses and deaths, the separation of children from their families, widespread hunger and poverty, the forced isolation brought about by the coronavirus, it might be difficult for anyone to appreciate what the loss of my furry four-legged companion might mean to me. Until that last Monday of the year, at 11:30 a.m., when our beautiful Australian Cattle Dog, Django, took his last breath in our arms, I was never alone. He was a working dog, and I was his job. He followed me everywhere I went, sitting patiently...
read moreDanse Macabre
The past several years, just before my novel What Survives came out, I became friendly with some Turkish folks who left their homeland for asylum in the United States. Shortly after their arrival, Trump was elected President of the United States. When I asked my new friends if they were concerned about being deported or what might come of this administration, they told me not to worry. There are checks and balances here, they said. They also said: And I am seeking asylum. So, I am fine. Don’t worry about me. As our checks and balances began...
read moreA Question of Carbon Footprints and Other Potential Transgressions
I was in conversation with a dear friend, one who constantly challenges me to examine my better conscience and my behavior in relationship to the earth. I had just returned from my fifth trip to Mexico, a place where I am always happy to be. The kind and loving nature of the people, the colors, the tastes and smells, the music and fireworks, the history and cultural blend of Indigenous and Hispanic influences inspire and intrigue me. As I have had a long love affair with the desert and Turkey, I also dearly love Mexico. Call me fickle, I have...
read moreReading Proust in Book Club
My book club, like most book clubs, has shifted its membership over the years. When I was invited to join, there were at least a dozen members. Now we are six. Several folks moved away, and a couple passed away. We made a declaration to keep going. During one of our most doubtful periods, and at the loss of another member, someone asked: Has anyone read Proust? These are really bright people. We do have one man in the group, so I cannot say “bright women,” but these are not readers of best sellers or pop fiction. We are serious readers. And...
read moreLife isn’t fair
As I gaze at the photo above, I cannot know if these little boys were merely having fun or this was how they managed to eat. They look clean and decently dressed, so perhaps it was a game. Who can come up with the best treasure? I hope it was all in fun, but the neighborhood was poor. I will never know. A number of years ago, when I was a white belt in karate, there was an instructor who would get us all into push-up position, and while we held our bodies up by our palms or fists or fingertips—whichever push-ups we were doing that day—he...
read moreBelonging to the Critter Club
It has often struck me, as indeed it has struck most of us who love our dogs with great passion, that the length of life allotted to dogs is exceedingly short. In my humble opinion, this is an unfortunate failure on the part of Mother Nature. After losing my beloved English cocker spaniel in the late 1980s, I swore never to have another dog. The loss was too hard to bear. I could not conceive of going through it all again. Years later, after moving to New Mexico and living in a house with land, surrounded by open spaces nearby, my husband...
read moreEmbracing the Winter Skies
Thoughts on our current political climate No place I have ever been has skies quite like New Mexico. They reflect moods that can turn on a dime. This was the winter sky at the beginning of our walk last week, indicating by all signs that a storm was coming. We were the only car in the parking lot and the only people in the park. A light snow blew around us. Our blue heeler Django led the way, searching for life, dogs, other humans. My mind went, as it almost always does these days, to our political climate. The storm has been coming and...
read moreLove and Food in a Turkish Kitchen
There is nothing quite like the kitchen at the Raindrop Foundation, which is a center for Turkish culture in Albuquerque. Sorry for the blurriness of the photos, but these are women in constant motion! It is impossible to get them to hold any pose, as they put together an incredible meal for all of us. On this occasion, some of us washed our hands and joined them in rolling the dolma and filling in the squash. My cabbage rolls looked nothing like theirs. They kindly assured me, saying that it takes much practice. My Japanese neighbor said the...
read moreRecent Awards
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