I'm Melanie Rigney, and I'm happy you found your way here.

I'm humbled and thrilled to share that Franciscan Media on September 1, 2013, will publish my daily devotional, Sisterhood of Saints: Daily Guidance and Inspiration. Sisterhood of Saints: Daily Guidance and Inspiration (September 2013;
Franciscan Media) is now available for pre-order at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. This book is designed for today's busy woman. For each day, you'll find a short synopsis of the saint or blessed's life; a paragraph about its relevance to your life today; a snippet from scripture or the woman's writings; and a challenge. The entries are based on themes in all of our lives, such as caregiving, cleaning, coping with illness or disability, faith community membership / involvement, relationships, work, and the like. It should take just ten minutes or so to read the page. Hopefully, the lesson and the challenge will stay with you throughout the day.

I'm also a regular contributor to the Catholic devotional Living Faithand Your Daily Tripod, a terrific Catholic blog. My devotions also have appeared in Penned from the Heart and Daily Devotions for Writers. I love the challenge of including Scripture, prayer, and lesson in a message that typically is under 300 words. Devotions writing is something I began in 2006, a year after I returned to the Catholic Church following an absence of more than thirty years. My dear friend Anna LaNave facilitated a returning Catholics class I took at my parish, and we were delighted to be asked to co-author When They Come Home: Ways to Welcome Returning Catholics, a book for parish staff and lay leaders.

And in my spare time, I dabble in fiction writing. I've had a short story published and another that placed in a fairly prestigious writing contest but for now, it's the nonfiction that is my focus.

I also do manuscript evaluations and content editing, which I love as much as writing. I've been an editor for more than twenty-five years, including a nearly five-year stint as the editor of Writer's Digest magazine. (To learn more about that part of my life, please visit www.editorforyou.com.) But these days, my passion is writing. While you're here, please check out my blog; writers, groups, and other resources I love; where my speaking ministry is taking me; places where I or my work have appeared; and how to contact me.

I wish you joy. I wish you peace. I wish you love.

Life isn't about how you weather the storm. It's about how you dance in the rain.






"We love because
he first loved us."

1 John:4-19