In 2008—determined to cleanse the chaos in her mind by laughing at it—Donna Debs began writing the humor column “Upside Down” for several Philadelphia-area newspapers, including the Daily Local News and the Times Herald. Wash Your Brain is her first story collection.
Donna is also a former news reporter and editor for Philadelphia’s KYW Radio, and, for twenty-five years, she owned a writing/communications company, working with major corporate and nonprofit clients. If you peek into her window—but please don’t!—you may find Donna upside down in a headstand or handstand, trying to wash her brain that way, too. Since the late 1990s, she has doubled as an Iyengar yoga teacher with an active yoga studio.
“. . . (Wash Your Brain’s) unusual blend of jolly information represents a sterling example of how effective literary humor works.”
—-Diane Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review
“ ‘If you can’t make it better, you can laugh at it,’ Erma Bombeck wrote. Donna Debs has taken that advice to heart. It’s just the break we need from the insanity of modern life.”
—-Teri Rizvi, Director, Erma Bombeck Writers’ Workshop
“It’s been a while since I read a book that made me laugh!”
—-Susan Pohlman, Award-Winning Author of Halfway to Each Other
“Authentically hilarious—a great read!”
—-Lisa Smith Molinari, Award-Winning Author of The Meat and Potatoes of Life
blog bytes………………
who needs talent to sing?
I can’t sing. Sure, I can open my mouth and belt out a few tuneless lines, but I always assumed singing meant more than a chaotic shrieking with no resemblance to the song Alexa is blasting on the speaker. At least, I assumed. To explore this topic, let’s look up the definition of singing, shall we? Oxford says, “making musical sounds with the voice.” Merriam-Webster adds, “to utter with musical inflections.” Musical, meantime, is defined as “having a pleasant sound.” Quite restrictive, I might argue, with little room for personal interpretation. read more
mirror, mirror on the wall…. . .…is it good news?
A self-talk recommendation on my daily affirmation calendar was this: “Every time I pass a mirror, I say out loud, ‘Hi, honey’ and wave.” You can imagine what the scene was like at my house after following along, with Ray thinking I was cozying up to him when I was just sugar-coating myself, and with him being curious if a screw had loosened. read more
america needs a nap
It’s the middle of the day—maybe two o’clock, maybe four—and a light switch turns off in your head. Nervous, shaky, you start judging yourself. I’m all washed up, useless, lazy, stupid, soft, old. You run for coffee, grab a breath of fresh air, get up and walk around, try to keep busy. Maybe you reach for dark chocolate—it’s an emergency—thinking it will help your heart which may be failing since you feel so faint. You close your eyes for a second. If only you could justify it, get away with it, let go of the guilt. Admit it: You want to take a nap. read more
