After taking Brett Leveridge's Humor Writing course, Peter Scallion has had his work accepted by McSweeney's and Reader's Digest.

Peter had come up with a list of anxiety medications for an assignment in Brett's course. Brett suggested he submit it to McSweeney's. After New Anxiety Medications For Coping With Economic Gloom was posted, an editor from Reader's Digest read it and e-mailed Peter asking if he wanted to submit the material to the magazine. Peter was both flattered and flabbergasted.

Says Peter, "It's an example of what Brett was telling us: Sometimes it takes the right person to read your stuff and present you with an opportunity."

Currently, Peter is putting together a blog called "The Scallion-The Leaner, Greener Onion."

Peter says, "It's a satirical news site modeled after that brilliantly funny publication."

--William Battaglia

RELATED: Humor Writing Courses at mediabistro.com

Avalanches for Dummies is an article about Homer, a certified crash test dummy who has been utilized in engineering tests to determine what exactly happens to a human body inside an avalanche.

Author Andrea Clark remembers pitching the idea to High Country News after taking Jay Cooke's Travel Writing Boot Camp.

"After I took Travel Writing Boot Camp, I understood that an emailed rejection is a type of acceptance, so I would write editors back until I came up with an idea they liked."

Andrea has forged a relationship with High Country News through various assignments such as "Avalanche for Dummies" and would like to keep pursuing freelance work with other magazines.

"I became a lot more confident of a freelancer after I took the mediabistro course and began querying magazines about freelance ideas," says Andrea. "I also came to understand the idea of slanting a story. A general idea is usually not specific enough. Pitching the story is half the battle."

--William Battaglia

RELATED: Travel Writing Courses at mediabistro.com

Sharon Sakson's most recent book, Paws and Effect: The Healing Power of Dogs was released June 9th. Mixing scientific research with compelling narrative, Paws and Effect tells stories of inspiring ways that dogs have healed people. Sharon is also the author of Brussels Griffons: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual, Paws to Protect: Dogs Saving Lives and Restoring Hope, and co-authored, with Neil Plakcy, Paws and Reflect: A Special Bond between Man and Dog. Sharon is a journalist who has worked as a writer/producer at ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, WNBC News and other local stations. In addition to writing, she is an accredited American Kennel Club dog show judge. --William Battaglia RELATED: Upcoming Creative Non-Fiction Courses at mediabistro.com

After taking Jane Black's "Breaking into Food Writing" course at mediabistro, food lover Zena Polin's recent article, "Sol Food" published in the Washington Flyer has her savoring the taste of success.

"I never would have had gotten the commission with The Washington Flyer without mediabistro and the freelance marketplace," she said. "That membership was priceless, since the article is just so lovely."

But this is not Zena's first published piece. She is a woman of many trades - managing editor and principal writer of two destination magazines, Visitor St. Kitts and Nevis and Discover St. Kitts, author of two guidebooks, The Other Side of Sydney and The Pub, Club and Grub Guide to Washington, D.C, owner of The Winning Ticket, a public relations, marketing and communications firm that specializes in food, restaurants, travel and lifestyle clients, and she also writes a food and wine column in Dollhouse magazine.

Having taken several other mediabistro courses with Barbara Martin, Karen Shallet, and Kristin Harmel, she says "...All of them have inspired me to write and convinced me that editors are approachable, whether you are doing public relations or sending pitches. They helped humanize the process."

--William Battaglia

RELATED: Upcoming Food Writing Courses at mediabistro.com

Monique Reidy is the co-founder of thesavvygal.com, a Web based magazine for "motivated professional women who want more out of life."

She also co-authored Working World 101: The New Grad's Guide to Getting a Job. She described this process as "eye-opening."

Says Monique, "I had no idea what to expect so I just listened to what the instructor said. It was like between me and my partner, the blind leading the blind."

They searched through a list of book agents supplied by mediabistro and finally settled on Uwe Stender owner of TriadaUS Literacy Agency, Inc. which mediabistro featured in 2006.

Monique advises people to take lots of mediabistro courses:

"I have a master's degree in communications but they don't teach you in graduate school how to write or sell a book."

--William Battaglia

RELATED: Upcoming Web Courses at mediabistro.com

Galia Gichon is an independent personal financial expert with more than 14 years of experience in financial services, including nearly 10 years on Wall Street.

Her recent financial product "My Money Matters", a boxed set of financial cards with money affirmations, instant money tips, and workbooks, has been featured in publications such as Newsweek, New York Times, Glamour, and Urban Baby.

She runs her own company, Down to Earth Finance, where she addresses individual financial needs and concerns and has made feature appearances on The TODAY Show, NY1, and Fox Business News.

Follow her on Twitter, @simplymoney.

--William Battaglia

RELATED: Business Courses at mediabistro.com

"For too long, we've been an underrepresented and misunderstood group and I want my book to change that fact," says Courtney Brandt.

Brandt is the author of The Line, a celebration of the marching band experience.

She has taken a young adult novel writing course with Mediabistro and has had two young adult novels published.

The Line is a self-published novel in a series of five books. The other novel, the next in the series, is titled, A Fine Line.

Says Brandt, "It was about bringing a fictional voice to band geeks everywhere."

--William Battaglia

RELATED: Young Adult Novel Writing Courses at mediabistro.com

Dino Vigo always knew he was destined to be a comedian. As a high school counselor for kids on probation, he just wasn't sure how he was going to fulfill his dream; that is until he signed up for Alan Cross's Writing Comedy for TV course. Vigo's comedy journey was about to begin.

Now a professional stand-up comedian, Dino has performed in nearly every comedy club in New York including Carolines, Comix, Laugh Factory, Stand Up NY, Laugh Lounge, Gotham and Comic Strip.

Says Dino, "Alan not only taught us the craft of comedy writing but showed us how to get work. He referred me to several writing jobs, suggested I take an improv class and even got me a spot in a McDonald's commercial."

As someone who has performed all over New York, he claims it's always a different experience anywhere he goes and that you shouldn't ever think about money because it's not there.

Says Dino, "You have to really want it; be prepared to be hurt and have the best experiences. Be prepared to be let down."

Dino received his first TV credit for BET's "One Mic Stand".

Says Dino "It has been an amazing journey and it all started with Alan's class."

--William Battaglia

RELATED: Humor Writing Courses at mediabistro.com

Erika Jakubassa has traveled to Argentina, Uruguay, and Puerto Rico. Next is Tuscany, Berlin, The German North Sea Islands, and probably Uruguay again. 2010 will most likely be Morocco. Similarly, she describes the Travel Writing course she took with James Sturz as a traveling experience of its own.

Says Erika, "It was a bit like traveling the world with a very nice and dedicated group of people, and a tour guide who was always encouraging and inspiring, and very giving of his considerable expertise as a travel journalist and writer."

She was sad when the course was over and claimed she had to return to everyday life without that weekly 'fix' of sharing stories and expanding her skills with other travel aficionados.

Says Erika, "The students were a great mix of ages, professional and personal backgrounds, and favorite travel destinations- all in class because they were serious about writing."

Erika offers this advice to travel writers:

"Think about the places you've been to and loved. Start writing about one of them in a way that makes other people able to live your experience through your writing. Send your piece to friends and family for comments. Parallel to that, get to know the market for your writing."

--William Battaglia

RELATED: Travel Writing Courses at mediabistro.com

As a general assignment reporter for WDBJ News 7 in Roanoke, Virginia, Carson Krislov has covered murders, festivals and interviews with political figures Mike Huckabee and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine.

She first got her first taste of reporting by taking Manoush Zomorodi's reporting course, an experience she described as "helpful" in deciding what she wanted to do.

When she arrived in Virginia, she was able to pitch story ideas which culminated in her producing her first story, "Cakes already baking for annual strawberry festival in Roanoke."

She advises those in the industry to seek out their alumni contacts.

"Extend your network," says Carson. "You never know who may be able to help you."

--William Battaglia

RELATED: Reporting Courses at mediabistro.com

Since taking Debra Alfarone's Intro to Reporting course, Katie Bogey has secured a freelance associate producer position at News 12 Connecticut and is now working as a reporter for YNN (Your News Now) Buffalo.

Says Katie, "Debra went above and beyond by helping me secure the position at News 12 Connecticut. This class taught me what I needed to do in order to get a reporting job."

Katie has observed that a lot of news stations are hiring one man band reporters.

She advises those attempting to break into the industry to "make contacts with people in the news business and get a job at a local news station doing whatever position they have available."

--William Battaglia

RELATED: Reporting Courses at mediabistro.com

Lakshmi Anantnarayan co-authored an op-ed titled "A War on Pakistan's Schoolgirls" which was published in The Washington Post.

Lakshmi Anantnarayan is the Communications Director for the international women's human rights organization Equality Now.

Said Lakshmi, "The experience was an eye-opener because The Washington Post op-ed led to several other media opportunities for us. Our print pieces were accepted in The Independent (UK) and the International Herald Tribune and we were invited to five radio interviews."

Lakshmi worked on the article in an Op-Ed Writing course with Lionel Beehner.

Says Lakshmi, "When I signed up for the course I had been in non-profit communications for six years, and although I was successful in getting journalists to cover our stories, I had never successfully published an op-ed that I had drafted."

--William Battaglia

RELATED: Op-Ed Writing Courses at mediabistro.com

Janet Lombardi's Mortgage & Marriage Modification personal essay appeared in Newsweek's "My Turn" column.

In the piece, the mediabistro student shares the hardships of her marriage with her husband, a heroin addict who was able to hide his addiction well and managed to clean out his IRA account in the process.

In this compelling piece, Janet recalls the pain and shame her husband felt when he told her he had lost it all. She writes, "His body slumped in relief. 'I'm tapped out,' he said. A look of shame crept over him. His pleading blue eyes looked tired and rimmed with dark circles."

Janet took Andrew Craft's Personal Essay Writing course with mediabistro.

--William Battaglia

RELATED: Essay Writing Courses at mediabistro.com

Danny Fingeroth, who has taught comics and graphic novel writing at mediabistro, was quoted in Peggy Orenstein's editorial in The New York Times Magazine this Sunday.

"Little girls these days have lots of real-life role models, lots of ways they can be in the world, but they still have precious few larger-than-life heroes, especially in the all-important realm of fantasy, where they spend so much of their free time. And that's a shame," writes Orenstein.

She goes on to quote Danny. "Superheroes, according to Danny Fingeroth, onetime editor of the Spider-Man comics and author of Superman on the Couch, give kids (read: boys) a way to feel in control in an arbitrary world, where adults appear to make on-the-spot rules that they're forced to obey."

"'And then they look at the larger picture,' he adds, 'and see war and plague and people abusing authority. The idea that there's this superhero who uses the means of evil -- violence -- in a restrained, smart way to do good: that's appealing.'"

Danny's new book, The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels, is out now.

--Lisa Fraser

RELATED: Upcoming Comic and Graphic Novel Writing courses at mediabistro

Ann Stephens kept a blog during her diagnosis and treatment for colon cancer. Eventually she decided she wanted to publish her experience in print. Ann heard from a friend that submissions were being accepted for Bernie Siegel's book Faith, Hope and Healing: Inspiring Lessons from People Living with Cancer. Her essay "The Touch" is one of 32 pieces in the book.

Publisher's Weekly praised the collection, saying, "Anyone struggling with cancer will find many relatable voices and, in Siegel, a compassionate expert commentator."

After taking an on-line Non-Fiction Writing course with Kelly McMasters, Ann felt confident in submitting her work.

"The mediabistro on-line course helped me get focused. The feedback Kelly provided helped me clarify the nuances of my message and definitely helped my writing style," said Ann.

--William Battaglia

RELATED:
Nonfiction Book Proposal Writing courses at mediabistro.com
Essay Writing courses at mediabistro.com