The Full Catastrophe Newsletter, May 2022 🎉

May 20, 2022

Casey Mulligan Walsh, Writer

-embracing the full catastrophe-

The Full Catastrophe Newsletter
May 2022

"Am I not a man? Of course I've been married. Wife, house, kids, everything...the full catastrophe!" -Zorba the Greek, the movie

Hello dear friends,

May has arrived in the Northeast at long last, and with it, spring. I'm so looking forward to long days of fun on the deck with family and friends and to quiet afternoons with coffee and a book or my laptop. My happy place.

In this edition of The Full Catastrophe Newsletter:

* an introduction to Judi Merriam, a local writer with a new memoir
* publications old and new
* and finally! a peek at our most recent journey, this time to Ireland ☘️

I hope you'll join me.

xo
Casey

Inspiration Everywhere

I'm always inspired by fellow writers, and I have deep respect for those who walk through tragedy and deep grief and rise again.

Judi Merriam is one such person. After her son, Jenson, took his own life at 18, her path through profound sadness and guilt allowed her to develop empathy for those who grieve and gave her unique insight into how to help others who walk this often lonely road.

In her new memoir, Empty Shoes By the Door, Judi tells the story of her beautiful son's life, his death that blindsided all who knew him, and the lessons she's learned on the difficult journey from then till now.

I recently had the opportunity to talk with Judi at length and read her beautiful words. Her love for Jenson, her husband, and their other two children is evident, and her spirit shines through, as you will see in the excerpts in the blogpost that follows.

Empty Shoes By the Door was released on May 16, 2022, and is available wherever books are sold.

Empty Shoes By the Door

If you want a happy ending according to the world’s standards, this isn’t the story to read. Although pain and grief aren’t all-consuming the way they once were, my family and I continue to walk with them, and I anticipate we will for the rest of our days on this side of heaven. I suppose it would make everyone feel better if I could say “and we all lived happily ever after,” but life isn’t a fairytale, and I refuse to be delusional or live my days in denial.

We can’t escape reality no matter how hard we try; it always catches up with us and finds our heart’s hiding places. If we don’t accept truth early on, grief redefines itself into even greater darkness and devastation. Fairytales aren’t true no matter how many times we cross our fingers or wish upon a star.

I believe truth is typically the best course, so I follow Brene Brown’s advice and “rumble” with it regularly not wanting deception to claim victory. I’m convinced the only healthy way to deal with the factuality of a suicide is to meet it face to face from the heart wrenching moment it happens and not redefine it into something more acceptable. We also need to personally dictate how we’ll deal with it so as to avoid any delusion that would capture our thoughts and change it into something it isn’t. It’s impossible to dress up a suicide death and be truthful about it at the same time! Some try, but I don’t believe them.

Read More at The Full Catastrophe Blog

News of the Day

It's been a quiet few months, publication-wise, as I turn my attention to manuscript revisions and developing a book proposal. Instead, I've participated in multiple webinars given by some of the best writing teachers I know and enjoyed spending time forging connections, virtual and IRL, with fellow memoirists. Every day I'm so thankful for being party of such a genuinely supportive, caring, and kickass community of writers.

Just one example: In late March, I had such fun participating in an online cocktail hour/reading with a number of other writers as an alternative to attending AWP, shorthand for the conference hosted by the Association of Writers and Writing Programs. This was one of two such events hosted by Lindsay Merbaum, author of The Gold Persimmon and self-described "high priestess of home mixology." Lindsay brought together an eclectic group of writers, which resulted in readings that, though widely varied, held us in their grip from start to finish.

And I'm excited about a piece forthcoming in Split Lip Magazine (a voice-driven literary journal with a pop culture twist) in June. Huge thanks to Krys Malcolm Belc for accepting the piece and for his wisdom around the art of compressed flash nonfiction. I'll share the piece, which is strongly related to my memoir, as soon as it's out.

The Full Catastrophe: A Memoir

Orphaned at 12 and fearful of living a lifetime alone, I’m determined to create a loving family. But when a hostile divorce tears it apart, I learn fighting to ensure life works out as planned is not the recipe for happiness after all. This new source of strength carries me through the death of my son and teaches me what true belonging really means.

Finally, my most recent patient perspective blogs on familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), the genetic disorder causing severely high cholesterol, are up at WebMD.

Topics include:

How to Protect Your Family When You Have a Genetic Illness

What It's Like to Pass a Genetic Condition Down to Your Children

What it Was. Like to Find a Treatment That Works

Looking Back to Look Ahead

Here's an essay of mine that appeared in Brevity's Nonfiction Blog in 2020.

This peek into the buried truths often unearthed as the writing unfolds may make you think about topics to explore in your own lives.

The Space Between the Light

If you write, there are times you think you have a little piece of your story straight, and maybe you do. You see something, hear a few lines of a lyric, have an especially vivid dream fraught with meaning, or read a passage, and there’s a spark of recognition; a memory of something true you’d long forgotten or a nugget that had never quite made its way into your conscious mind to begin with.

You get it down as quickly as you can since sparks are, by nature, fleeting...

Read on

Wanderlust

And, at long last, travel. Though we're vaccinated and double boosted, we're still cautious and wearing masks whenever appropriate. So many of those we know and love have contracted COVID despite all their best efforts to avoid it. Like many things in life, all we can do is be as vigilant as possible and hope for the best.

To say my husband Kevin and I love to travel would be an understatement. so after over two years of being grounded, we were elated to make our first major trip since the pandemic began. Once Kevin got wind of the Cliffs of Moher Cycle Challenge on April 9, 2022, there was no question where our first journey since 2019 would take us. Ireland it was!

This trip (our third to Ireland), we stayed a while in Ennis (County Clare), Westport (County Mayo), Grange (County Sligo, where both his parents were born), and Dublin. I love the small towns and countryside, love driving in Ireland...but for me, every trip needs a good city to explore. From cycling to pubs to significant memorials to bookshops and more, it was the best of all worlds.

Such a gift to set out on new adventures. Such a gift to return home.