Marisa Wikramanayake

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

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

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  • 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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    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 to deal with late payments as a freelancer

    January 26, 2019
    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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    City of Lights by Sammu on Flickr.

    Sri Lanka, December 2015 – February 2016

    December 5, 2015

    Gin & Tonic Update #3

    February 21, 2019
    A mug full of coffee on an open planner

    Setting goals as a freelance journalist

    October 11, 2019
  • 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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    Gin & Tonic update #2: I was so wrong! AKA #maricantmath

    February 7, 2019

    Where you will find me in October 2018

    October 11, 2018
    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
  • 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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    City of Lights by Sammu on Flickr.

    Sri Lanka, December 2015 – February 2016

    December 5, 2015

    MEAA news for February 2019

    February 28, 2019

    An update on Gin & Tonic

    January 24, 2019
  • 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 #3

    February 21, 2019
    Workers in black t-shirts outside a Fairfax building with flags protesting job cuts and the takeover by channel nine as part of the union MEAA's campaign.

    January 2019 MEAA Monthly Update

    January 31, 2019
    Norwich Street Art Warning by MarkHeyBo on Flickr

    Why I am resurrecting my Patreon account

    January 14, 2019
  • 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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    Thank you to my 500th fan!

    January 2, 2016
    Norwich Street Art Warning by MarkHeyBo on Flickr

    Why I am resurrecting my Patreon account

    January 14, 2019
    Untitled by Hamed Saber via Flickr

    My latest journalism work for Curtin

    September 1, 2013
  • The Paper House by Anna Spargo-Ryan
    Book Reviews

    3 amazing Australian authors I read in 2016 and absolutely loved

    January 9, 2017 / No Comments

    I tend to stumble upon my books (matters not if it is work by Sri Lankan or Australian authors) and I started young. We have a bookcase in our house that spans the length of the downstairs study. It is mostly filled with modern day thrillers and what I refer to as airport novels – Jeffery Archer, Frederick Forsythe, Connelly, Koontz, Deaver. John Grisham. Those books. A smaller bookcase housed the encyclopedia set and the treasure trove of Agatha Christie novels. In the bookshelf for us kids, there were Enid Blytons and Carolyn Keenes, topped up by regular birthday and Christmas gifts. I read the classics – the cornerstone foundation of…

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    Jane Rawson's A Wrong Turn At The Office Of Unmade Lists

    January 16, 2014

    Alison Morton's Inceptio

    May 24, 2013
    The Paper House by Anna Spargo-Ryan

    The Paper House by Anna Spargo-Ryan

    May 25, 2016
  • Cover of the book Portable curiosities by Julie Koh
    Book Reviews

    The best Australian books that 7 Australian writers loved in 2016

    January 2, 2017 / 1 Comment

    I wanted to write about some of the best books by other Australian writers that I had read and been blown away by during 2016. And then I thought – why not ask them who they read in 2016 that was amazing AND an Australian author? So that then I could have a list of books to then go read myself in 2017? So I did. I yelled out into the Twittersphere: Australian #writers: what was the best book by an Australian that you read this year? I want to write a blog post & will link back to you. — Marisa Wikramanayake (@mwikramanayake) December 24, 2016 And true enough, over…

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    AWW 2013: Marion Halligan's Murder On The Apricot Coast

    February 7, 2013

    The Sri Lankan "war generation" and the books that "made" us.

    March 26, 2011

    Australian Love Stories

    November 20, 2014
  • Australian Women Writers Challenge,  Literary Journalism

    Watch “Emily Paull in conversation with Liz Byrski” on YouTube

    July 27, 2016 / No Comments

    A week or so ago, I filmed this video for Westbooks of their Q & A session with author Liz Byrski. Find out about her latest book The Woman Next Door and her writing routine as she gets interviewed by Emily Paull. 

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    Marisa Wikramanayake waiting to present during the IPEd Conference freelancing workshop in 2013

    Where have I been?

    May 5, 2013

    Australia Day Book Giveaway Blog Hop

    January 25, 2013

    Eleni Konstantine's Snoop

    February 13, 2014
  • Photo of car outside Thornlie Mosque in Perth. (c) Yahya Adel Ibrahim
    Journalism,  Updates

    BREAKING: Perth mosque targeted with car bomb attack

    June 29, 2016 / 2 Comments

    A suspected petrol bomb was left in a parked car outside the Thornlie Mosque and Australian Islamic College during the Perth Muslim community's prayer session earlier this evening.

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    AWW 2013: Marj McRae's Not A Man

    January 10, 2013

    iPhone app replaces doctors' logbooks

    October 28, 2010

    Real men do read – they just don't let the sexy, geek goddesses know.

    February 6, 2013
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