Look and Listen

Biography

Melanie Rigney has more than twenty-five years experience in communications and publishing. In the past three years, her company, Editor for You (www.editorforyou.com), has provided content and copy editing and manuscript evaluation services to more than 150 authors, publishers, and agents, including Tufts University and AMG International, and Dan Poynter, the nation’s leading expert on self-publishing. For the past two years, Melanie has served as a judge for the Publishers Marketing Association’s prestigious Ben Franklin Book Awards. She is a partner in Castaway Media, an independent publishing company that showed a profit on its first title within six months. Melanie has spoken at approximately 100 writers conferences in the past nine years, including the Maui Writers Conference, various chapters of the California Writers Club, the Printers Row Book Fair in Chicago, and the Glorieta Christian Writers Conference. In 2008, her schedule includes the Bay to Ocean Conference, Maryland Writers Association, St. Davids Christian Writers Conference, and the Express Yourself Infinity Writers Conference. Melanie spent five years as the editor of Writer’s Digest, the leading magazine for writers, and was involved in final-round judging for the magazine’s writing competitions. She was also a columnist for Personal Journaling magazine, and a founding contributing editor of Family Tree magazine. Earlier in her career, Melanie worked for Advertising Age magazine, Thomson Financial Publishing, Macmillan Computer Publishing and United Press International. Melanie is a member of the Women’s National Book Association, Capital Christian Writers, and Publishers Marketing Association. She is a founding member of the Virginia Writers Club's northern Virginia chapter. She serves on the board of the St. Davids Christian Writers Association, and is recording secretary for the Henry Clay Chapter of the National Society/Daughters of the American Revolution. She is very active in her parish in Arlington, Virginia, including two years as a Parish Council member, a co-facilitator for a group for returning Catholics, and service on the development committee. Melanie is among her parish's volunteers at the Arlington Food Assistance Center. She also serves on the Communications Committee for Cursillo, a lay Catholic movement, in the Diocese of Arlington. Melanie contributes regularly to the Arlington Cursillo's blog at http://yourdailytripod.blogspot.com/. Melanie’s memoir about her return to faith, What to Wear on Your Way to Hell…and Other Detours to Heaven, is being shopped by a leading Christian literary agent. She is currently at work on the sequel as well as other projects. Melanie grew up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and graduated from South Dakota State University with honors with majors in journalism, French, and political science. She has lived in Lincoln, Neb.; Milwaukee; and Cincinnati, but spent most of her adult life in the Chicago area before moving to Arlington in 2004. In addition to writing and editing, she likes to travel, cook, stay in touch with her family and pals across the country, and research her family's history.

Inspiration

I've been writing since I was nine years old ("Amy's Valentine," a story written for Miss Minnie Moxness's fourth-grade class; alas, it has been lost to the ages). I did all the usual--worked on the junior high, high school, and college newspapers, joined all the clubs. I ended up with United Press International after college, where I learned to write tight and edit quickly. As time went on, I believed my calling in life was editing, helping other people's work look better, rather than creating my own. I've dabbled in writing coming of age and historical fiction, but truly found my voice as a writer in crafting my memoir. As an editor, I believe my job is to help authors make their books the best they can be, both technically and from the craft viewpoint.