Gail Wylie
Bio
Family therapist - always wanted to be a writer. Have published books on autism. Currently enjoying trying my hand at fiction. Loving the challenges of Vocal. Excited to have my first novel CONSEQUENCES available through Amazon.
Achievements (1)
Stories (46)
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The Phone Call
For almost twenty-five years I lived in fear on a daily basis. My husband would go into rages without warning that made absolutely no sense to me. He would walk into the house and with one swipe send everything on the supper table crashing to the floor. Televisions would be raised above his head and smashed down in front of me. Or I would be beaten, as everything was ‘my fault’, in the midst of me not knowing exactly what I had done. I learned how to lie, how to move, how to react, how to dress and so on, in an attempt to protect myself and my children. Every day I walked on eggshells, not knowing what was coming next.
By Gail Wylie9 months ago in Psyche
The Gift of a Snowstorm
It all started with an offer we couldn't refuse. A local airline advertised a deep discount in the price of tickets to Las Vegas to celebrate the Superbowl. Our dream to travel together to visit the Grand Canyon several years earlier had been thwarted by unexpected issues in life at the time. This discount would make it possible for us to finally afford the trip.
By Gail Wylie2 years ago in Wander
Our Trip of a Lifetime
I was in my forties when my life completely changed and doors swung open for me in ways I had never imagined. I remember sitting a car with a friend at the time, who said “we will travel the world together.” I laughed at him in my heart, as I knew I couldn’t afford to travel anywhere and had no idea how to make enough money to do so. And then the doors began to open and we were on the move. Most of these opportunities were connected directly to the work I was doing, but it didn’t take us long to ensure that we arranged to have extra time together to enjoy the different places where I was working. Thus, it only was natural to plan to take the opportunity to go on a safari when I was invited to speak at a conference in South Africa in 2006. Something I had never dreamed I would be able to do.
By Gail Wylie2 years ago in Wander
It Only Took One Minute........ Top Story - April 2024.
It only took a minute. I was sitting at the computer in my office when the phone rang. I picked up the receiver and then laid it down my desk as I went to find the student who the call was for. Within seconds I was back at my desk, ready to resume typing, when I heard the student yelling obscenities at me for listening in to his call through the handset that was still lying on the desk. Sick and tired of the lies he was spewing, I was up running down the hall, ready to kill him. By the time I reached him, I had calmed enough not to hurt him, but as I turned back towards my room, I knew that I couldn’t go on like this any longer. The decision was clear. I had to leave.
By Gail Wylie2 years ago in Motivation
A New Day is Dawning
Ah Vocal. How I have enjoyed the time I have spent with you. Taking on the challenges, reading the works of others and submitting work from my past. And how I miss the freedom to continue filling my time with you and the many members and their works. Why? Because you managed to ruin it all by being too good!
By Gail Wylie2 years ago in Writers
Dilegevanet
The competition is fierce. One single squirrel against hordes of birds: sparrows, chickadees, house finches, blue jays, nuthatches, woodpeckers, blackbirds, juncos, Bohemian waxwings and so on, too numerous to count. But she is persistent, determined to protect this stash of seeds for the winter. She sits, by the bird feeder, filling her cheeks with as many seeds as they can hold and then runs as fast as she can along the fence to her nest to store them safely away. Within seconds she races back to the tree to secure more seeds before the birds take them all.
By Gail Wylie2 years ago in Fiction
A Meal For a Queen. Runner-Up in Nourished Challenge.
I was in my 36th year of life and had returned to college to finish up the university degree that had been interrupted by a pregnancy and marriage while I was in my teens. My children were now teenagers and I felt I could finally put some effort towards bettering myself. It wasn’t an easy decision. I was married to an extremely jealous man who had clearly demonstrated that neither me nor the children were safe when his rage overtook him. This had led to my developing coping skills over time, skills that had very little to do with who I was an individual and much to do with keeping us all safe. I didn’t like the person I had become and I missed the one I had been as a child. I knew I could not continue living like I was. Returning to college was the first step in a journey to reclaim my self.
By Gail Wylie2 years ago in Feast
