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Moffat Writers Ink 

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Moffat Writers Ink is a group of writers who meet, on a monthly basis, to support each other in their writing careers.

What started off as a crime offshoot of a creative writing group, has developed into a group of authors from various genres. We now cover crime, fantasy, horror and sci-fi and all cross-genres in between. The group was set up to help writers who were at the publishing stage of their writing process but needed support to take that final step.

Getting published, whether traditionally or self-published, is a difficult process. From getting your book in the best possible condition before submitting to agents and publishers, to writing a submissions package, using social media for promotional purposes or the whole self-publishing process, there is someone in the group who can advise.

Many of the members are happy to alpha and beta read their fellow members’ books, checking on how well the story flows, how well the characters resonate with the readers, any plot holes or other big issues. Having people you can trust at this stage is incredibly important. Some people will charge you for this service. Family and friends won’t necessarily give you decent feedback. Other authors know exactly what’s required and how to explain what the problems are.

Some of our members are already self published. Their guidance has been invaluable to others who want to take this route. We’ve had authors doing talks on finding decent editors and proofreaders, how to format the book, how the financial side works and how best to promote your book. This final subject is something we can all learn. Whether you’re traditionally published or self-published you need to do a lot of the promotional work yourself. Some of us are of an age where TikTok and Instagram are foreign concepts. The younger members of the group keep us updated with what works and what doesn’t.

Many of the group have gone on to be published authors with great success. May Rinaldi has been shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland debut crime novel and long listed for the McIlvannie Crime Book of the year – results in September. Other members who have been on the shortlists for these major prizes are Daniel Aubrey and Doug Sinclair. FD Quinn was shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association (CWA) short story award – we’re looking forward to her debut. Iain Alexander’s Dark Necessities won the Pitlochry Quaich for Best Crime Novel at the Scottish Association of Authors annual awards ceremony. And if that wasn’t enough, his TimeShift took second place. Looking forward to Dark Heart, coming soon – don’t read alone.

Perhaps our best known member is MW Craven. His Washington Poe series has won numerous awards, and the books always make the top of the best sellers’ charts. Look out for Poe and Tilly coming soon to your TV screens.

Last year we worked with Moffat Town Hall Trust to run the first Moffat Crime Fest, bringing top crime authors to the town for a day of panel chats, signings, author dinner and quiz. It was a great success and will return next year – keep a look out on here for details.

We are a free to join group, with thanks to Moffat and District Community Council for funding to enable us to meet monthly.

We meet every third Thursday in St John the Baptist’s church in Moffat at 7pm. If you have a book at the ‘ready to publish’ stage, come and join us for some great advice and support.

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Apart from writing

Writer: May Rinaldi
May Rinaldi
Mar 28
2 min read

What do I do when not writing?

My husband Kris Koren was a professional traditional Scots music musician before taking up sound engineering (arthritic fingers don’t play so well). We used to go to lots of folk festivals, our favourite being the Glenfarg Folk Feast. So many wonderful memories from that time. As well as amazing concerts and singarounds, Glenfarg ran two competitions over the weekend. One was a funny song competition, the other the World Puffabox comp.

I was once the reigning World Puffabox Champion – blowing the inside out of an empty matchbox as far up the course as you can. Clear?

There were some memorable contestants – Fil Campbell (Irish folk singer) sucked instead of blowing and nearly choked. One elderly contestant who will remain nameless blew air out of both ends at the same time, then there was the person whose box caught a passing gust of wind (possible from the previous contestant) and recorded the only negative score in the competition’s history.

 

The song contest is for the best original, funny song (you can steal the tune but not the words). My group – The Bad Girls – don’t ask – entered every year and even won a couple of times. This video is our last appearance, we lost Joy (our lead singer) and wanted to do something in her memory. We recruited a few of the younger Glenfarg folk (and also author LP Mennock) to join us. We didn’t win. We wuz robbed!!

 

 

I also love quizzes, so entered The Chase. Had a great day, met some lovely people and got an idea for a new book – the rest of my team were a cage fighter, a player of Irish Football and a roller-skating axe thrower – the perfect crime squad run by the older, female brains of the group (me).

 
 
 

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