Fractured Motherhood, #author Maggie Walters

Fractured Motherhood: when love, trauma and parenting intertwine 

She never thought she could be a mother.

Not after an abusive childhood. Not with a mind fractured by multiple personality disorder. And not with the fear that she might repeat her parents’ mistakes.

But when Maggie Walters and her partner adopted three children from the Philippines, motherhood became both a reckoning and a revelation. Every tantrum, every silence, every ordinary chaos tested her deepest dread: what if I become them?

To break the cycle, Maggie turned back to her own parents’ hidden histories, uncovering the traumas that had shaped—and broken—generations. In learning their story, she began to rewrite her own.

As her children grew up laughing, quarrelling, and living the carefree childhood she never knew, their wholeness became her healing.

Fractured Motherhood is a raw and lyrical memoir of fear and resilience, love and repair—a story of inherited wounds, and of how family can be both the wound and the cure.

To connect with Maggie ...
https://www.maggie-walters.com/product-page/fractured-motherhood
https://www.maggie-walters.com/
https://www.instagram.com/maggiewalters_writer/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggie-walters-042606289/
https://www.facebook.com/maggie.walters/

Transcript

unknown 0:00

Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 0:02

It's good morning, Maggie Walters. Welcome back to Yellow Shelf. Thanks for having me. Oh, it's my pleasure. It has been a couple of years since we spoke, or maybe 18 months.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Yeah, it has. Yeah. It's taken about two years to get this.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

We were reminiscing about my growth, uh, my maturity in Yellow Shelf, and obviously your second, your second book. Congratulations. It's out now. It's called Fractured Motherhood. Maggie, tell us all about it.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Okay, fractured motherhood. Um, it really is about all aspects of motherhood. I think that there is the theme, you know, as mothers, we have fears and we have doubts and if we're doing it right. And I really try to hit that across all aspects. But then again, for me, it has that added layer of my complex mental health with multiplicity, as well as including our adoption story. So I like to think that it hits a lot of bells and whistles and will really resonate for a lot of different people.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Yeah, and you're right, touching on, you know, the journey of motherhood or even fatherhood for that matter. You know, we go into it, I've got two children, and you know, it's exciting, but then you have no idea, and then you also have no idea what you're in for. You have no idea how exactly right. So there's this aspect to your book of yeah, motherhood is intense. Motherhood is and do you want to share with the audience? You you did allude to it because you and I have spoken about your previous book, but tell us a bit about I guess what you describe as your uh your mental health um and mental journey around some of the extra challenges. Do you want to talk about that? Because I think that's a really interesting aspect to the book.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

I think that's an extremely important part of my story, and and it's where I think, especially for survivors, um, it's really gonna resonate with them because we have this burden of feeling like, are we gonna repeat on our kids what's happened with us? And how do we break those chains? What do we do? So I really try to address a lot of that. You know, parenting with complex trauma background is not easy, you know, um, because you you do, you question everything. Um, the other side of that is it's also full of hope for the survivor because I'm my kids are all grown now, you know, they're pretty ordinary rat bag kids, and I love them all to death. And they've done really well, they're making their ways in way in the world. And I'm sitting back going, how did that happen? And I've gone back and I've looked at these different points and gone, it's all about hope. And it's where do we find that hope? I find that hope in very interesting places, and I talk about that in the book. Um, and that's actually really important. The other thing that's also really important is fractured is not split. They are two very discrete books. Um, they can sit along side by side with each other really well, but if someone wants to pick up fractured, they don't need to have read split first. Yes. I had a psychiatrist in Melbourne review the books and he said they're like bookends for each other. He said, Split talked about how you wrestled with who you were, but fractured is about living it out and living with hope, in spite and well, including your mental health and how that actually makes your life bigger and bolder and stronger.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Yeah, and you touched on that hope that you know what what was what was your uh trauma and your really difficult childhood. Um, and then the the moving in through different stages of your life and you know, the thriving and and also the challenges, but you know, the that that hope that you have, um, and you and the book can give to others, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

So, and that's really one of my big goals was to was to do that with the book. So I like to think I succeeded. You know, a couple people have liked it. In fact, I even had one person tell me the other day they liked it more than they liked Split.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

So we love we love honest feedback, but you know, and I'm not surprised because your writing style is incredible, you're um raw, authentic, like keeping it real, share. You and I, there's an old interview in the yellow shelf bowl, which I'll add to uh the show notes is is our interview on Split. I know Split's still available, I think it's available on your website, is that right?

SPEAKER_01 4:19

Yes, it sure is.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

Yeah, I mean, you mentioned they're different books, yes. Um, but clearly, like, you know, I remember the first time I read Split, it was yeah, it was just incredibly powerful and insightful. So I'd recommend people do that as well. You know, it is, it is um very confrontational. Um, and but you know, you don't shy away from you know sharing what's real.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's exactly right.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

And Maggie, do you want to talk to us about you as a writer? I know some people might be watching for the first time. Tell us a bit about your writing journey and anything we need to know about you these days.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Wow. Um, since putting Split Up, it's been really amazing the journey that I've gone on. Because I do now look, I've probably got a bit of an edge because of my multiplicity. People go, ooh, well, that's interesting. Let's get her in. Um, so I do a lot of talking now and I share with groups. I'm actually doing a professional development course for Lifeline soon, you know. So it's it's just so all these opportunities. I get out to libraries, I am I'm just finding it so wonderful to get out to encourage others who struggle with her now with fractured with their own motherhood journey with trauma or just their multiplicity journey, and to be able to say, hey, life can be full, life can be fun. So my my life is very much now split between writing, because I'm now writing my next book, um, and um which is not memoir. I'm going pure fiction now, but anyway, that's another story for another day. Um and so I'll get out and I go to libraries and I talk, I teach writing workshops. Fabulous, you know, and so it's like just this, these all these opportunities and avenues have opened up for me that are just fun.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

That is so wonderful to hear because you know, you as you know, you life has been a very, you know, peaks and troughs journey for you. So I I'm that brings me joy to hear that. Yeah, it's fun.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Thank you. Yeah, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

And Maggie, I heard there's another book that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Yeah, yeah. I'm I'm trying, I don't want to share too much. Don't say anything, um, but it's it's gonna be a series, it's a fiction series, and um still in my bailiw of you know, advocacy and normalizing mental health. But um I'm fun with it.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

You've said enough, and I've I get the chance to say, Hey, when you're ready, will you come back? Yes. Oh, that'll be good. And listen, so the the book, Fraction Motherhood, is gonna be out in the next few weeks. It is available for pre-order. You can go to your website. Um, do you want to do you have any other socials that you'd like anyone to follow?

SPEAKER_01 7:07

My main um author social is Instagram, so just Maggie Walters writer. Um, I am on Facebook, but that's more of a personal page. But people can join me there. Um, I'm on LinkedIn, you know. I'll put some Instagram. Instagram is the main one.

SPEAKER_00 7:23

Yeah, I'll put I'll put Instagram and I'll obviously put your website just to make people can people can't.

SPEAKER_01 7:28

I mean, Split's still out there, fracture will be out there. It's launching. Um, the official release is April 15th. Yes, but I'm doing my launch here in Lismore um on the 5th of May, just before Mother's Day. So I thought that was pretty special.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

That's really lovely. Yeah. Well, Maggie, enjoy the journey, the launch, the writing retreats, the teaching, and like you said, just the fun that has come from becoming an author and sharing wonderful books. Now your second book. And I yeah, I think I think I heard you say yes to the third book coming back when it's ready to share.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

Absolutely. Cool.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

Maggie, thanks for joining us today.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

Not a worry.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

Cheers.