Book Debra

Debra Murphy

Storyteller  •  Author  •  Speaker
Self-Publishing Consultant

There is somebody who hasn’t slept properly in weeks. A story is keeping them awake. Characters are tapping them on the shoulder, asking to be written. They don’t think they’re a writer. Their English teacher told them as much, and they believed it.

Debra Murphy wants to tell them they are wrong.

A Yorkshire-born storyteller, author, and self-publishing consultant, now firmly rooted in Scotland, Debra has spent her entire career in learning and development — she just didn’t always call it that. Nine years running her own SQA-accredited vocational training company. A tearoom in Falkirk that became beloved by its community. And then major surgery, a heart attack on a Scottish mountain, a pandemic, and the slow, stubborn realisation that when everything else falls away, what remains is the story. And a very special Border Collie, called Beatrix.

She wrote a book. Then another. Then seven more.

Today Debra is a published author of nine titles, a self-publishing consultant who helps other authors bring their books into the world, and a speaker and workshop facilitator who believes — from hard personal evidence — that writing changes everything. Not just what you produce, but who you become. Writing, for Debra, is leaving a legacy: proof that she was here, that she had ideas and a creative mind that never stopped.

Debra likes to think she is living proof that writing can save you.

‘Random, Ridiculous Ideas That Save Your Life’

In 2012, fresh out of major surgery and still half-drugged, Debra made a decision that made no sense at all. She had never wanted a dog. She was afraid of dogs. She got one anyway and called her Beatrix. Six years later, on a Scottish mountain, that decision saved her life.

 

This is a talk about what happens when you follow an idea that has no logical explanation. It’s funny, honest, and genuinely moving. Audiences leave not just entertained, but asking themselves which of their own random, ridiculous ideas they have been ignoring. For conferences, women’s events, wellbeing and staff development programmes, literary festivals, and anyone who has ever talked themselves out of something they should have done.

 

‘Books, Border Collies and a Campervan Called Evie’

From tearoom to author via a Border Collie, a campervan, and a great deal of determination. This is Debra’s signature author talk — warm, funny, and genuinely inspiring. She takes audiences from the moment her tearoom closed its doors during a pandemic to the moment she held her first published book, via two very opinionated Border Collies and a campervan called Evie. For libraries, literary festivals, community groups, and schools.

‘My Body Had Other Plans’

Writing Workshop — Idea to Author

A practical and inspiring workshop from the seed of an idea to the first steps of writing. Debra creates a room where no one feels too late, too ordinary, or too frightened to begin. Accessible to complete beginners; genuinely useful for more experienced writers.

Self-Publishing Workshop

From manuscript to finished book — editing, cover design, typesetting, printing, and getting your book into the world. Practical, honest, and genuinely useful, looking at mistakes made and lessons learned the hard way.

Debra has been standing in front of audiences since 1989 — in training centres, colleges, universities, theatres, book festivals, libraries across Scotland, schools, and organisations across the UK. The venues have changed. The ability to hold a room hasn’t.

Book Debra

If you’d like to discuss having Debra speak or run a workshop at your event, please get in touch at debra@mothermurphys.co.uk