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How I use bullet journaling as a freelance journalist
Marisa Wikramanayake posts about how to use bullet journaling as a freelance journalist to organise your work flow and processes.
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Day 3: So many emotions Day 3 of the Inaugural 2018 KSP - Varuna Foundation Fellowship
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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Frequently Asked Questions About Becoming A Freelance Writer: All the frequently asked questions about freelance writing you ever wanted to ask
Marisa Wikramanayake answers a few of the frequently asked questions about being a freelance writer.
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How to set your freelance rates for 2018 Bonus: free worksheet
A few years ago, I created a post about how to set a freelance rate similar to this one. It was very popular and I thought it was time to revisit the topic at the start of 2018. I have learnt a lot from my colleagues and from running a business since then. I hope this helps you. You can also get a free worksheet to help you with some of the calculations. Before we start: 1. There are several methods/means of arriving at a freelance rate and I will go through all of them. Figuring out the numbers for all of them will help you figure out the best…
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9 unexpected helpful lessons learnt as a freelance writer in 2016 A long list of the things I should probably not do
I think it is important to reflect on what lessons you have learnt so far from time to time especially when it comes to the business side of being a freelance writer. I think it is also important to acknowledge that some lessons you tend to have to keep learning over and over till they stick in your brain. And some things are easier for others to get straight away but tend to take you forever and vice versa. But in case this helps, here is a list of what I learnt in 2016, proving yet again that I did not know everything when I started out.
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7 useful lessons I learnt from an unexpected laptopless week The experiment that I didn't exactly sign up for
A lesson can show up at the oddest moment. Over the Christmas break, my laptop died. It was eight years old and the battery stopped working and the power cord no longer functioned well when plugged in. After having upgraded the hinges, the battery, the memory and several other parts of the laptop over the years, I knew it was time to get a new one. I generally try to hold on to laptops and technology for as long as possible – I don’t want to waste by getting new stuff as it comes out for the sake of getting new stuff if you know what I mean. That’s just…
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The Unconvential Guide to Freelance Journalism: Part 2 – setting up the business
So in Part 1 I explained why I wanted to answer the question of becoming a freelance journalist but also clarify exactly how difficult it can be to work as a freelance journalist. In this part I am going to tell you what, in Australia at least, you need in order to become a freelance journalist and to set up a business. Business type And the first thing you need to know is that yes, you are starting a business. And that you can be all by yourself as a sole trader, work with a couple of others in a partnership arrangement or set up a company with yourself working…
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The Unconvential Guide to Freelance Journalism: Part 1- demystifying the entire thing
A couple of weeks ago, a former university friend of mine (she was doing her BA, I was doing my MA) got in touch with me and asked me to meet her for coffee. I said “Sure!” And we did and she asked me a question: “How do I get into freelancing?” This was someone who has a job at a pretty top end publication but for whom it is a bit too stressful and not quite working out to be what she wants to write about. So I understand why she was asking me the question. I understand why she was considering the freelancing option. But I had to…
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Freelance rates and experience survey
If you came here via the MEAA e-bulletin link, you have come to the right place. If you are a freelance journalist working for Australian publications, we would like to hear from you. We want to know how much you are being paid at each publication as a freelancer, how often and everything else related to it. And we don’t know want any identifying information about yourself – it is totally anonymous. You can submit data as often as you like about as many publications as you wish to so we can track if there is bias present in how freelancers are paid and if indeed they are paid well.…
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Five years!
It’s been five years since I started freelancing. Or at least it was on Saturday. Five years. Wow. A lot can happen in five years. I started freelancing because I knew it would take awhile to get my foot in the door and work in-house and also because I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to. Freelancing is great – it allows me to work with a lot of different people, it allows me to meet different people and it allows me to mentor some and be mentored by others. It allows me to try new things and to keep constantly learning. And I am reminded that it also means that…
