'Even though I like to write, I don't always get myself to sit down and do it. But I do have methods—timers, rewards, sayings I've made up:
I'm smart enough to know I need to trick myself to get some things done, and I'm dumb enough to fall for my own tricks."

For fifteen years, Debbie Merion has used writing prompts to help students write their best possible college essays. In her memoir, From the Period. To the Colon:, she uses the same prompts to get to the heart of her own story. Whether as a handwritten list of her third-grade ambitions for adulthood or her story about conquering her fear of dogs as an adult, writing felt good to Debbie from the age of eight.

In her Northeast Philly neighborhood in the 60's and '70s, persistence, grit, tenacity, and determination—whatever you call it—informed Debbie's life, and those of her parents and grandparents. Debbie captures both this moment in time and her love of the written word through story and photos, making the past suddenly become present.

"As Debbie Merion so rightly says, sharing our real-life stories is a refreshing antidote to the flood of fake news and lies that are drowning us on the internet. Reading her memoir will provide you with the prompts and inspiration to get the treasured details of your own best anecdotes down on paper. You will see that even the struggle to get a child to eat a hot dog—or anything but a cheese sandwich—can take on epic significance. And if, like me, you are the same age as the author, her inventory of everything from cap guns to flowered bathing-caps will bring back the best memories of your childhood."
—Eileen Pollack, Paradise, New York

"Debbie's juxtaposition from photos to text takes us on a whimsical ride into her rich past in the form of a book created for future generations. It's a loving tribute to family, literature, music, faith and friends."
—Carrie Jo Howe, Island Life Sentence

"Debbie Merion has taken the pleasures of her daily life from childhood and beyond, and transformed them into a whole bunch of practical wisdom and life-sharing."
—Anne-Marie Oomen, Uncoded Woman