Marisa Wikramanayake

writer, journalist & editor ~ I help you tell stories.

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  • Home
  • Blog
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  • Journalism work
  • Editorial work
  • Events
  • Free resources
    • Perth & WA Literary Calendar
    • Women who review
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  • MEAA FAQs

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  • monochrome photo of person using vintage typewriter
    Books,  Gin & Tonic,  Writing

    6 Lessons from a year of writing crime fiction

    February 8, 2022 / No Comments

    I spent a year writing crime fiction and here is what I learnt.

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    HIM update for February 12

    February 12, 2016

    HIM and the experiment to write the draft under watching eyes

    February 3, 2016

    HIM update for Feb 26 and Mar 4 – sorry for the delay!

    March 7, 2016
  • Blog,  Freelancing

    What you need to know about freelancing in Australia and COVID-19

    December 31, 2020 / No Comments

    Marisa Wikramanayake discusses the state of freelancing in Australia in the light of COVID-19.

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    An image of two hands writing in front of a computer screen with a phone on top of papers on a desk

    How to easily track pitches in Google Sheets as a freelance journalist

    January 7, 2021
    Norwich Street Art Warning by MarkHeyBo on Flickr

    Why I am resurrecting my Patreon account

    January 14, 2019
    Top down shot of two people sitting across from each other a table having coffee with just their arms and cups in view

    10 Important Things You Need To Know About Finding A Mentor

    January 14, 2021
  • Blog,  Editing,  Freelancing,  Updates,  Writing

    The NYWF-ty List

    October 11, 2018 / No Comments

    NYWF is National Young Writers Festival and this is the "NYWFty" ("nifty") list because it is truly nifty and is full of the resources the young writers were asking me and other people about at all the #NYWF2018 sessions over the past weekend.

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    MEAA news for February 2019

    February 28, 2019
    Top down shot of two people sitting across from each other a table having coffee with just their arms and cups in view

    10 Important Things You Need To Know About Finding A Mentor

    January 14, 2021

    How do you tell a story?

    February 9, 2019
  • KSP cat by Ashleigh Hardcastle via KSP Writers Centre
    Blog,  Writing

    I hit 10,000 words!

    June 4, 2018 / No Comments

    I suppose I gave it away in the title but oh my God! 10,000 words! Here’s what happened on each day. Day 5 was the Friday. Nothing got done on Friday. I was really exhausted. My sleeping patterns were out of whack and I was trying to fix my ear issue. I thought I could go out to meet my union colleagues and friends for drinks and come back and write. The drinks part happened and was fun but the writing part did not happen. So I had zero words for Friday. I had about four to five thousand words at this point to write in order to hit 10,000…

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    I'm blogging this by Jhayne via Flickr (additional text by me)

    My top 10 posts in 2016

    January 20, 2017
    A phone with messags on its screen sits on a desk in front of a lit up keyboard

    My 10 Compelling Reasons For Running Youtube Livestreams Right Now

    January 22, 2021
    City of Lights by Sammu on Flickr.

    Sri Lanka, December 2015 – February 2016

    December 5, 2015
  • Katherine Susannah Pritchard and her typewriter (c) Marisa Wikramanayake
    Blog,  Writing

    Day 4: Freedom to write, freedom for writers

    June 1, 2018 / No Comments

    Day 4 already. Well, nothing was going to happen on Day 1 given how tired and jetlagged I was. Today, most of the day was pretty boring. I had not slept well the night before. So the day was full of waking, sleeping, doing things I needed to do like eat and so on. I thought about the book a lot. And then I did my makeup, changed, called an Uber and went to see my friend Vicki Laurie interview Peter Greste at the WA State Library. So three things happened today on Day 4: Peter Greste pleasantly surprised me. I was very happy about that. Thank you Peter Greste.…

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    A phone with messags on its screen sits on a desk in front of a lit up keyboard

    My 10 Compelling Reasons For Running Youtube Livestreams Right Now

    January 22, 2021
    City of Lights by Sammu on Flickr.

    Sri Lanka, December 2015 – February 2016

    December 5, 2015
    My desk in Phillips cabin at the KSP Writers Centre (c) Marisa Wikramanayake

    Day 3: So many emotions

    May 31, 2018
  • My desk in Phillips cabin at the KSP Writers Centre (c) Marisa Wikramanayake
    Blog,  Writing

    Day 3: So many emotions

    May 31, 2018 / No Comments

    Day 3 and I am just grateful. I didn’t get to sleep until five am because I was just so thrilled that I had met my goal. You get a high after you write and type everything in. But I did sleep in bursts till about noon. I would wake up, do some work related things, sleep a bit, write a bit and so on. I woke up at noon and went over to the main house and the office to meet Shannon who is the director here at KSP Writers Centre. I gave her some things from Sri Lanka and she offered to do a pharmacy run for me.…

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    The Writers' Cabins at KSP (c) Writers Bloc

    Day 1: Home on my back, home where there is a bed

    May 30, 2018
    An image of two hands writing in front of a computer screen with a phone on top of papers on a desk

    How to easily track pitches in Google Sheets as a freelance journalist

    January 7, 2021

    MEAA news for February 2019

    February 28, 2019
  • KSP cat by Ashleigh Hardcastle via KSP Writers Centre
    Blog,  Writing

    Day 2: A cat is here!

    May 30, 2018 / No Comments

    Day 2 and I woke up joyful today. Joyful because it was such a wonderful thought that I could write and everyone was going to be mindful of that. That no one would disturb me, no one would interrupt me, no one would think to themselves “She is free – let’s get a hold of her.” Also annoyance because my article was overdue and I needed to get it done so I knuckled down to do that while battling my ear going strange again. I made a mental note to see my doctor as soon as I get back to Melbourne. I figured out the A/C and I had a…

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    A photograph of a microphone by Michal Czyz on Unsplash

    How my business will change for the better in 2021 and why

    December 17, 2020

    Why I write at 4 am

    March 14, 2019
    I'm blogging this by Jhayne via Flickr (additional text by me)

    My top 10 posts in 2016

    January 20, 2017
  • The Writers' Cabins at KSP (c) Writers Bloc
    Blog,  Writing

    Day 1: Home on my back, home where there is a bed

    May 30, 2018 / No Comments

    Oh good heavens, day 1 and am I tired. It was a whirlwind weekend with a wedding and various wedding related celebrations and the attempt to pack a bag that does not want to take on pairs of shoes, two saris and related accoutrements and another trenchcoat. “Do you think this fellowship will be useful?” my mother asks, as I decide where the notebooks will go: main bag, carry on bag or laptop bag? I look at her. I know what she means – Sedition took twelve years to write because I also had to live and it ended up on the back burner a lot and even after finishing it,…

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    A phone with messags on its screen sits on a desk in front of a lit up keyboard

    7 Important Lessons I Learned About Running Awesome Livestreams

    January 30, 2021

    An update on Gin & Tonic

    January 24, 2019
    A phone with messags on its screen sits on a desk in front of a lit up keyboard

    My 10 Compelling Reasons For Running Youtube Livestreams Right Now

    January 22, 2021
  • Blog,  Freelancing,  Journalism,  Writing

    Frequently Asked Questions About Becoming A Freelance Writer:

    January 18, 2018 / No Comments

    Marisa Wikramanayake answers a few of the frequently asked questions about being a freelance writer.

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    Gin & Tonic update #2: I was so wrong! AKA #maricantmath

    February 7, 2019
    A phone with messags on its screen sits on a desk in front of a lit up keyboard

    My 10 Compelling Reasons For Running Youtube Livestreams Right Now

    January 22, 2021
    A photograph of a microphone by Michal Czyz on Unsplash

    How my business will change for the better in 2021 and why

    December 17, 2020
  • Updates

    A Guide to effective activism in Australia in 2017

    January 30, 2017 / No Comments

    Share this post on effective activism around. This list of the things we can do right now came out of a brainstorming session online where people were despairing a bit and I thought creating a post would render it more available to the public. If you have more ideas on effective activism to share or want to critique an idea listed here (I am not an expert on these things), leave a comment and I will add it with credit. Some of these will have different options to cater for the run up to the WA election. Before you read this post, please read this one by Gilbert Caluya on…

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    Plan B by Sebastien Wiertz via Flickr

    The writing plan for June

    June 3, 2016
    Norwich Street Art Warning by MarkHeyBo on Flickr

    Why I am resurrecting my Patreon account

    January 14, 2019
    green typewriter on brown wooden table

    My goals for 2022: making my freelancing work better for me

    January 18, 2022
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