Write That Book (Scotland): Four Writers, 15 Books and an Afternoon Tea

Let me take you back to September 2022. I was writing my second book, Beatrix the Time Travelling Collie. I had it all planned; I just needed to finish the story, then me and Beatrix would be touring the world (or at least the UK) on a book tour. Beatrix was rather pleased with herself. She knew people would flock to see her, being such a stunning, beautiful Border Collie.

Then what did I see on my Facebook feed? Somebody called Michael Heppell was starting a Write That Book challenge. I did all that stuff you do when you know you want to do something but can’t quite muster the courage. So I phoned him. Had a rather nice chat with him. I joined the challenge the following day. It’s no surprise to hear that Michael is now a semi-regular guest on ITV’s This Morning, presenting the Confidence Clinic.

Write That Book was all online, but it was rather good. We had lots of Zoom meetings. Everyone was in the same boat. We had a book that we needed to finish. Some were further along than me; others were still at the idea stage. In November, Michael organised what he called an accelerator weekend. A full weekend packed with writing, ideas, and suggestions. We were all going to achieve so much in 48 hours. But that weekend, I had booked to spend a few days in the Lake District in Evie the campervan with Beatrix, writing the last chapter of her book. I did manage to join a couple of the sessions, even though the Wi-Fi was a bit on and off. I remember Michael asking where everyone was joining from. I shared a photo of Beatrix standing in Coniston Water and said I was camping in the Lakes. He said he thought I was mad camping in November. Everyone agreed.

That weekend didn’t quite turn out as I had planned. Beatrix became poorly and died the day after I raced back to Scotland. She had written the end of her book.

Devastated doesn’t begin to describe how I felt. But I also questioned whether I could finish the book. Would I be cashing in on Beatrix’s death? Could I proudly talk about a book my soulmate had written? Yes, she wrote it. I had to type it for her because she couldn’t manage the keys on the laptop with her claws.

Being in a group, even if it’s a group of relative strangers, has many benefits. They don’t know everything about you, but you’ve joined the group because you have something in common. In this group, it was writing a book. So I shared what had happened with the group, and the messages of support I received were heartwarming. Because of that support, I found the courage from somewhere to finish Beatrix’s book, to make it her memoir and something I could be proud of. After all, it was an absolute privilege having Beatrix in my life for nearly 10 years. I owed it to her to share the story of our life together.

Meanwhile, working away in her own writing world, was a retired forensic psychiatrist. Mr M came home one day and said, “I’ve just listened to a brilliant interview on the radio with an author who’s written a book. She sounds like somebody you’d like. It’s called I Don’t Talk to Dead Bodies. She’s in Cumbernauld, and she’s having a book launch. I think you should go.”

So I looked it up. I did wonder what sort of searches I might find keying in dead bodies into the internet, but lo and behold, there was a photo of the woman herself, Dr Rhona Morrison. I booked my place at the book launch and waited. The book launch was postponed, and I couldn’t make the next date. I emailed Dr Morrison and apologised. But I still got a signed copy of the book, I Don’t Talk to Dead Bodies. Brilliant book. And what a story!

Beatrix the Time Travelling Collie was published the following year, and I was just starting to do my book tour when somebody in the Write That Book group suggested it would be nice to have an actual meeting where we could see each other as humans, rather than just squares on a Zoom screen. And, even better, there was to be one in Edinburgh. I was up for it.

Mr M dropped me at Croy Station and said, “Oh look, there’s Rhona Morrison over there.”

“You must be Debra,” she said. Yes, Rhona was in Write That Book, and I didn’t know. We were both going to the same event. By the time we got to Edinburgh, we were no longer strangers.

At the event, between eating wonderful fish and chips and deep-fried Mars Bar (not so wonderful), I met many of the Zoom squares I’d been chatting to for months. Paul Underwood and Elaine Wallace, to mention a few.

We had a couple of these meetings, and at one of them, Beth Jordan, travelling down from Inverness by coach, had been delayed and wouldn’t arrive until the event was over. We felt it would be awful for her to travel so far and then have nobody to talk to. The venue had only been booked for a certain length of time, so Rhona and I arranged to meet Beth at the Costa above Waverley Station, where we continued our chat and had an extended Write That Book meeting, with Beth telling us all about the second book she was planning to write about her mum’s journey with dementia.

Then, a couple of months later, trying to organise another Scottish event, Rhona kindly offered to host the event in her house. I offered to do all the baking for afternoon teas and to bring along our cake stands and crockery from the tearoom that was crying out to be used.

And that’s how our little Scottish gang was formed.

Fast forward to October 2026 and it was time for another get-together. Sometimes there are quite a few of us, but there seems to be a core group of Rhona, Paul, Elaine and me. Sadly, this year, it seemed it would be just Rhona, Paul, and me, but at the last minute, Beth said she was coming.

I thought about what to bake for the afternoon tea. Rhona is always on savoury duty, and I do the scones and cakes. Throughout the year, you can often find Rhona and me at Caulders Garden Centre. No, not buying plants together, rather sharing tea and cakes. Rhona always picks a caramel slice, so I decided that had to be one of the treats. There’s nothing quite like thick homemade caramel, an equally thick buttery shortbread base and a thick layer of Cadbury Dairy Milk. No cheap chocolate on my caramel slice!

Paul loves cakes. All cakes. But I know he is particularly partial to a Victoria sponge, so that had to be the next choice. Individual sponges filled with raspberry jam and buttercream. I’m ashamed to say that I had to buy jam as, for the first year since the tearoom closed, I’ve not made jam.

I pondered the third delight. Then decided that as it was Scotland, it had to be shortbread. Special shortbread made with the secret ingredient, semolina. Yes, indeed. I thought about making book-shaped pieces, then thought about stars. Because we are all stars. Never forget that. So I made a selection. The squares turned out lovely, but the stars grew in the oven and looked more like monsters, not the look you’re going for in an afternoon tea. So they are now in my freezer. We don’t mind eating monster stars.

Finally, I needed two types of scones. Plain is always a good option. I wondered about treacle scones, or even cherry scones, but then thought I’d go for a power food and make blueberry scones. So, plain and blueberry scones it was. Not massive ones like lumps of dry dough, but not so small you need a magnifying glass to see them. Just the right size to hold in your hand and take a couple of dainty little bites. Scones with butter, jam and cream. It doesn’t matter which order you slap them on. It’s your scone. Your choice. But you must pronounce them scone as in tone, and not scone as in gone. It spoils the taste if you pronounce them wrong.

On the day, it was going to be Rhona, Paul, Beth, and me. Four writers from Write That Book, all writing totally different books. This is what these events are all about. Sharing ideas, mainly about how to promote your book, because that’s the hard part about writing. Writing the book is just the start.

I packed the car with everything. Years as a woman in a campervan mean I can pack things so that nothing slides around, breaks, or topples over.

At Rhona’s, we got everything ready, then caught up with all our gossip. We’ve missed our Caulders chats recently because Rhona is busy lecturing on cruise ships all over the world. Fancy picking that over meeting me for tea and caramel slice! Shame on you, Rhona!

We waited, and we waited. No Paul. No Beth. Would we have to eat four afternoon teas ourselves, we wondered? Perhaps licking our lips. Paul was travelling from near Loch Lomond, and Beth was coming down from Inverness. So we had another cup of tea and a biscuit. The caramel slices called to us, but we resisted.

First came the text message from Paul. He was on his way. Then he wasn’t. The train had stopped. There was a fault with the signals. Then the train was going again. But back to Balloch. With Paul. A now hungry Paul. So the messages went on. Eventually, by sheer determination, Paul travelled by bus, train, and, knowing him, probably by some sort of magic power, and I picked him up at Croy Station.

Meanwhile, Beth, on her long journey from the Highlands, was caught up in the roadworks on the A9 where they are making the single carriageway into a dual carriageway. I know from experience that this is causing massive tailbacks. But we didn’t know that at the time, and we thought Beth wasn’t coming.

So we started our afternoon tea. Just the three of us, with Beth’s three-tier stand looking sad and empty. Just as we were getting to the third of our cakes, the doorbell rang. We looked at each other. Surely not! What would we say? How would we explain that we had eaten everything? Actually, not everything because we had saved some for seconds.

Rhona answered the door, and a stressed-looking Beth finally joined the afternoon tea. Rhona looked at her phone and saw the message that Beth had sent hours ago, explaining she’d be late. Oops!

But soon we were all chatting around the table. Beth’s sad, empty stand was now stocked with all the same delights we’d enjoyed, and we continued chatting about everything books.

Later, all stuffed and on a sugar high, we retired to Rhona’s best room. We were on our best behaviour, so it was OK. For the next couple of hours, we chatted about our books, our ideas, our marketing plans, and the events we were planning. Paul shared some of his wonderful short stories, including the one he wrote after the last afternoon tea about the house opposite Rhona’s. Somehow he envisaged this being part of a time warp, and Rhona, Paul, Elaine and I all go investigating. I can’t tell you what happens, as that will spoil it for you when you buy his books, Ninety Tiny Windows, Ninety More Tiny Windows, and, coming out in November, Another Ninety Tiny Windows.

Beth shared the exciting news about her new publisher deal, the second edition of her first book, Thank You For the Kiss, with its new cover, and her second book about her mum’s journey with dementia due out later this year/early next year.

Rhona made us all jealous with her tales of sea journeys and lectures about her two books, I Don’t Talk to Dead Bodies and From Crime Scenes to Cruise Ships. Rhona has also started glass art. I already have one of her masterpieces of Florence in painted glass, and on her wall hangs a glass painting she did of herself. Well, actually, not herself, but Rhona, the magical bunny. Which is not actually her, but a bunny in one of Florence’s books. But which is the real Rhona? Her magical power? She can turn into a giant bunny and fly. We did question why, if she was the real Rhona, didn’t she offer to collect Paul and Beth on their delayed journeys. She just flicked her large purple earrings.

I shared my continued Florence series and told them the news about Who Ate Baby Jesus? Unfortunately, my author proof didn’t arrive until the day after, so I couldn’t let them see it. You should always take every opportunity to get others’ thoughts on your author proof before it goes to final print. And we laughed that not only had I once done a search for dead bodies on the internet, I had also searched for who ate baby Jesus to see if my book was showing up yet.

And the final extraordinary photo was of all our books. Four writers, 15 books. Not bad going, if you ask me. All thanks to a man called Michael, who accidentally brought us all together.

Roll on to the next afternoon tea.

Keep on keeping on, whatever you are passionate about. Surround yourself with like-minded people. Not people who are exactly like you, but those who have the same ideas, the same passion, and the desire to create something wonderful. And, in Rhona’s words, “Ditch the mood hoovers.”

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my blog. As always, please leave a comment so I know it’s not only me reading my words. And if you want to find out more about my books, here’s the link: Books by Debra Murphy