Writing news, a book review, and the common genetic disorders you probably haven't heard of

Also: Fond travel memories and a poll—I want to hear from you!

News of the Day

Eleven months from today my memoir, The Full Catastrophe: All I Ever Wanted, Everything I Feared, will be released from Motina Books. I’m so happy you’re with me on the journey to publication and look forward to engaging with you, my readers, in the coming months. More on this as we draw closer to the magical date: February 18, 2025.

I was delighted to have my essay, “What We Keep” (retitled “Ancient Hope Chest”) included in this beautiful anthology, Daring to Breathe: Stories of Living With the Foreverness of Grief, edited by Armen Bacon and Nancy Miller. Armen and Nancy are co-authors of a previous book, Griefland: An Intimate Portrait of Love, Loss, and Unlikely Friendship.

From the Amazon description:

“Daring to Breathe provides an honest glimpse into the lives of those who have survived and continue to survive—noting a new visual acuity, a razor sharp focus, something that allows each to see their lives through a new lens. This book honors both the men and women whose grief is in an advanced stage and their scars—which, over time, have become marks of distinction, even beauty marks. Essay contributors write about being more – more alive, more real, more awake, more loving, and more authentic. And finally, contributors give their readers permission to be happy again – embracing life, love, and all that remains.”

You can get your digital or print copy here or wherever you buy your books.

Months ago, writer Jennifer Chen posted a call in one of my Facebook writers’ groups (run by self-described “freelance whisperer” David Hochman) looking for writers who had published Tiny Love Stories in the New York Times. (Here’s mine.) A group of us had a fun Zoom meeting with Jennifer, then promptly forgot about the publication until suddenly, a couple of weeks ago, there it was in Writer’s Digest.

Jennifer points out that Tiny Love Stories are often about topics other than romantic love. My piece is one example.

“Casey Mulligan Walsh told a heartbreaking tale about forgetting to wear her watch and its connection to her son’s passing. She says, “I didn’t have the bandwidth to make it an 800-word essay. Tiny Love Stories zinged into my mind. It’s a good venue for something that you can write in a tight format, but you don’t want to spend all the work we know it takes to get a full-length essay to where it needs to be.”

Reading that now, I’d add that writing in microflash form actually does require a lot of work and finessing. A 100-word limit requires that every word be chosen with care. A pinpoint focus on a single moment isn’t necessarily any easier than writing a longer piece, where there may be room to reflect and meander. Yet it remains true that sometimes an intense moment can be rendered with greater impact in this tightest of forms.

In Jennifer’s words: “If you’re interested in reading the piece, the story is only available in the magazine. I’ve read past issues of Writer’s Digest through my local public library, using the Libby app. Or you can purchase a digital edition of the issue here.”

Inspiration Everywhere

After an intense period of fine-tuning my manuscript, querying agents and presses, and finally finding the perfect publisher, I finally have had some time to catch my breath and read some of the most gorgeous recent books on grief and hope. I’d like to share one with you today.

My review of End of the Hour: A Therapist’s Memoir by Meghan Riordan Jarvis

What does a therapist do when her own grief becomes too much to bear? And how does she reconcile the shift from counselor to patient? These are only two of the many questions I hoped to find answers to as I began reading End of the Hour.

For those of us who may not be therapists but whom others sometimes look to in their own grief having had decades of living with grief and loss of our own, we often wonder where to draw the line in terms of honesty about our struggles. Or whether, in fact, it's our line to draw at all.

Meghan Riordan Jarvis draws us in with the story of her childhood and a shocking loss that affected her deeply. As often happens with grief and children—and as was absolutely the case for me—little was said about a deeply traumatic event, and she was expected to continue as if nothing had happened. I related deeply to her desire to make others happy, to ask for as little as possible, and to gravitate toward a career as a helper. This is what so many of us do when we have nowhere to put our grief, especially if this was already a part of our personalities to begin with.

When both her parents die within a few short years, Meghan is tormented by guilt and falls into compulsive thoughts that take her down. Fortunately, she is surrounded by so many who love her and checks herself into a trauma facility. From there on, we learn so much about the patterns she (and so many of us) have developed in life and walk with her as she finds her way home.

I’m grateful to have read this book and gotten to know Meghan in this way, through her TedX talks, and her presence on social media. I did indeed find answers to the questions I had when I first opened this beautiful book, and I suspect you will too. I highly recommend reading this thoughtful book.

I’m looking forward to Meghan’s next book, Can Anyone Tell Me? Essential Questions About Grief and Loss, forthcoming from Sounds True Publishing on October 29, 2024, and available for preorder now.

Wanderlust and Reverie

We’re nearing the end of the dreary season here in upstate New York. We haven’t had the dreaded deep freeze or much snow this year, and though I enjoy safe roads and less mess, we’ve been left with what feels like endless gray days. I love the four seasons, but I often say the one thing I’d change about living here is that spring comes Too. Darn. Late.

Soon we’ll be in sunny Florida. Here are a few shots of our last trip there, in March 2023, to remind those of us in colder climes that warmer days are coming.

This trip, we’ll taking part in training a new crop of Ambassadors for the Family Heart Foundation. And while we’re on that topic, here’s my regularly scheduled PSA:

• Do you have high cholesterol? If your LDL-C (“bad cholesterol”) is 190 or over, doesn’t respond to lifestyle changes, and you have a family history of early heart events—stroke, heart attack, bypass surgery, stents—you could have familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), a genetic lipid disorder.

• Have you ever heard of Lp(a)? This very complex lipoprotein appears to increase the risk for both heart disease and stroke when elevated. It can cause artery blockages, inflammation, and possibly clotting in arteries. One in five people has elevated Lp(a) yet few have had the simple blood test that’s required to diagnose.

If heart disease runs in your family, remember this: Runs in the family is NOT a diagnosis.

Questions? Concerns? Please feel free to reach out to me directly. As Ambassadors for the Foundation, Kevin and I are devoted to spreading the word and providing personal support to those who have, or suspect they or a loved one may have, one of these genetic disorders.

And finally, a poll. I’d love to know what you’d like to see more (or less) of in these monthly missives. Please weigh in and leave your thoughts in the comments below or respond to me in email. This newsletter is for you, from me, with love.

Till next time,

Casey