Last Last Chance, the first novel from mediabistro.com instructor Fiona Maazel, is getting scads of attention. A recent Time Out New York article tracks the genesis of the novel along with its narrative threads, including a kosher chicken plant, a "superplague" infection and quarantine, addiction and rehab, and, P.S., reincarnation. This is the apocalyptic/hilarious yarn you'll be seeing people reading on the subway all summer.

We were at the book party last week, where Fiona's foreign mom, making a toast that provoked daughterly squirms of embarrassment, showed that she could also turn a phrase. Recounting how surprised she was to learn so much from her child's book, she exclaimed, "It is like the eggs teaching the chickens!"

Blurb alert: Newsday said great things about the book last Sunday, concluding that Fiona "has pulled off a remarkable feat of the imagination."

UPDATE: Glowing review in Sunday's NYT Book Review. "Last Last Chance isn't your average novel, thanks in no small part to Maazel's funny, lacerating prose."

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This summer, I took a mediabistro class. My writing had been on hold for too long, and I needed to see if I still had it in me. I settled on a memoir course taught by Lizzie Simon, whose book Detour I had read and loved.

One week into class, I realized that writing a memoir was no easy task. The experience was raw and emotional, but I knew I was in safe hands right away. "I want everyone to know that I am not a therapist," Lizzie told us. "I am a writing coach who will help you in any way I can, but I am not here to diagnose you or judge you. I am here to make you feel safe and be a better writer."

I had a chance to ask Lizzie about her writing process and what it was like to tackle a difficult subject.

What made you want to write a book about bipolar disorder?

When I was diagnosed at the age of seventeen, there weren't any books available that came from a youth perspective and that communicated that you could not only survive mental illness, but also lead a healthy life. Mine was the first memoir about bipolar disorder by anyone under forty. I was 23 when I wrote it.

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Generally we try to keep it clean(ish) here in blogville, but we're making an exception. mediabistro.com instructor Alan Cross is a writer and producer for the TV pilot Video Shmideo, the all-American tale of adult video store owner Alan Zick. The pilot was a hit at the New York TV Festival, where leading man Ali Farahnakian won Best Actor for his performance. Ali was one of the founding members of the Upright Citizen's Brigade, and owns The People's Improv Theater (aka The Pit).

The pilot is here. You can also view new episodes on Channel 102. Every month, a lineup of shows submit episodes; a live audience votes to renew some, and the rest get the axe.

Currently, Alan is writing and producing a syndicated radio program for Paul Shaffer from The Late Show with David Letterman.

Alan can help you write funny-clean or funny-dirty. His TV Writing: Sketch Comedy class starts Tuesday, November 6.

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You got your job on mediabistro.com. Now Ed2010 tells you how to get promoted.

EdSchool Presents: Get the Promotion You Deserve

Want to know how you can get your boss to see you in a higher position -- maybe even promote you into that spot? Come find out how. Betsy Stephens, health and relationships editor at All You magazine (formerly of Fitness, Ladies' Home Journal, and Cosmopolitan) has been promoted five times in her career. She'll tell you how you can get out of that assistant editor role.

Part 1 (Nov. 6): What's Holding You Back?
You could be making career mistakes without even knowing it. Find out what you shouldn't be doing and how to recover from it if you are.

Part 2 (Nov. 13): 10 Tricks for Getting Ahead
Set yourself apart from the rest of the pack with these 10 simple tips!

Part 3 (Nov. 20): Salary Negotiation and Workshop
Getting a higher title, or even more money, is easy, we'll tell you what to say and when. You'll also be able to ask questions about your specific situation in this final session.

When: Tuesdays: November 6, 13 and 20 from 6:30 p.m. until 8 p.m.
Where: We'll send you the address when you sign up.
How much: $200

Who it's for: Assistant editors wanting to move into the associate editor role, or anyone who wants to get ahead!

How to sign up: RSVP REQUIRED. Write to edschool@ed2010.com with the subject line PROMOTION CLASS. Tell us where you work, your position and how long you've been working there. You'll get an email back with the PayPal URL.

Getting your nonfiction book published is hard. Getting it published when it deals with one of the most controversial topics of our time is even harder. Deborah Kanafani never intended to tell her own story. Instead, she set out to tell the story of the wives of Middle Eastern leaders in her upcoming book Unveiled, a first-hand look inside Middle East politics and culture that has already been hailed by critics as a must-read.

As a witness to the peace efforts between Israel and Palestine, Deborah was nervous about writing a book of this magnitude. "[In this book] I am trying to show peace efforts and present the path of peace as opposed to trying to point a finger," she says.

Deborah also knew that the many years she spent in the Middle East would allow her to present the human -- rather than political -- side of these often-overlooked women.

"My ex-husband was a high ranking diplomat, and I had spent many years with the wives of leaders, and I thought they had amazing stories to tell. No one knows what the women go through. I decided to tell their stories."

Like many authors, Deborah struggled with deciding whether to write a nonfiction book or a memoir. "I wanted to write about other people, but the publishers pushed for my own story to be the narrative thread, as an American that the reader could relate to. It was a difficult process -- I had to tell many different stories and incorporate various themes."

Deborah Kanafani will be teaching Nonfiction Book Writing in New York beginning October 25.

-- Dorit Feith

Are you sick of election talk yet? As Denis Kucinich would say, hello? With the first primary still 3 months away, we've already had 7 Republican debates and 13 Democratic debates. We're a full 384 days until the election, and we're already in candidate overload. So what is one to do when the public has already lost interest before the crucial voting begins?

John Neffinger of KNP Communications and the Huffington Post feels your pain. He works with candidates to improve their message and delivery to make them more likeable to the public (a nearly impossible task, we know). He was recently featured on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric and he is also teaching our upcoming workshop Delivering Successful Professional Presentations. If he can make Hillary Clinton more likeable, just imagine what he can do for you. hello?

[Image from Owen's Photolog and sound file of Kuchinch from Mythtv

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Dear Anne, You rock.

Big time congrats to student Anne Jarmaine, whose independent TV pilot cleaned up at the New York Television Festival. It won the TV Guide Audience Award, the award for best drama, and Ella Rae Peck was named best actress. There were a record number of submissions this year.

Anne developed the script in our tv spec script writing class with Laurie Scheer.

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I am a reality show fanatic. I am also a foodie. So naturally my favorite show on television is Top Chef. My sister sends me text messages every Wednesday to remind me the show is on. I once hired an intern just because he asked me in his interview if I thought Marcel or Ilan would win the finale. He is now our web production assistant, so I think I made a good call. You can imagine how thrilled I was when I watched last week's episode and saw that the guest judge was blogger Andrea Strong of The Strong Buzz. Andrea's reviews are everywhere, including on the wall of my favorite ice cream shop, Maggie Moo's. She is also teaching an Intro to Food Writing class for us this September. Here is what Andrea shared with us about her judging experience:

How did you get to be a guest on Top Chef?
I was approached by Top Chef a few years ago about being a guest judge for Season One, but unfortunately that didn't work out. I love the show and was excited to be a part of it. Then they called me in February to see if I was still interested in doing the show and I said "tell me where you want me to be and I'll be there." I was flown down to Miami in April. Restaurant Wars was a great episode to be a part of. I have opened restaurants and can understand the stress of it all, and because I review restaurants now for The Strong Buzz every week, it really did seem to be the right fit for me and the show.

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When you're starting out, your financial portfolio probably has lower dollar amounts than a Denny's menu. You're making less than $35k a year while you fork over a ton of cash every month for an apartment that's only slightly more spacious than the boxes of Manolo's you have no right buying. You're paying for Ramen noodles with your AmEx. None of this actually happened to us, of course. We're just speaking hypothetically.

Though it sounds cool when you tell your friends you scored a media job right out of school, the reality is you're not going to be raking it in right off the bat. You need to make every penny work. That means doing things like starting a 401(k) or retirement plan as soon as you pick that college graduation cap up off the ground.

If you're wondering how you can do that and still afford those Ramen noodles, swing by our seminar on Salary Survival Skills. In one night, you can put together a financial toolkit that will make your life a lot easier in the short term and in the long run.

This seminar is part of our Get a Post-Diploma Life: Jump-start Your Media Career series. Top editors, financial planners, and media professionals will guide anyone breaking into the media business on how to ace an edit test, nail an interview, get an editorial job, and survive and thrive on an entry-level salary.

Jessica Eule, Assistant Director of Education

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Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan is our biggest blog-crush ever. He's the founder Apartment Therapy, the NY home design site that has now spawned sites in LA, San Francisco, Chicago, the kitchen, the nursery, and gadgetville. And now it's gone green. In the newly launched Green Home, you'll find out about things like how people were injured in Walmart-style stampedes for eco-correct bags at Whole Foods.

Maxwell is also the author of the Apartment Therapy book, which is why we invited him to appear on our panel on how bloggers get book deals. You can check him out on the free preview here, but you'll have to watch the whole thing to get a look at his adorable stripey socks.

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