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Preston Point Road, East Fremantle, Western Australia
[aesop_map height=”100″ sticky=”top”] “Ten minutes or so,” the guy at the pizza place says. I nod and walk out. And then walk on. Down Canning Highway, towards Freo. [aesop_map_marker title=”Canning Highway” hidden=”off”] I should have known that when I started out to the pizzeria and found out that the girl at number 196 keeps chickens (who by comparison in size to Trouble the cat MUST be over 5 kilos), that I would go exploring today. And so I walk past the carpark of the swim school where either someone has bled to death after an accident or dropped a jar of tomato sauce while loading groceries into the car…
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Marianne de Pierres' Glitter Rose
Marisa Wikramanayake reviews author Marianne de Pierres collection Glitter Rose for the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2014
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Australia Day Book Giveaway Blog Hop
Marisa Wikramanayake takes part in the Australia Day Book giveaway Blog Hop for 2014, giving away a choice of two books from the never ending giveaway pile.
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Australian Women Writers Challenge 2014
Marisa Wikramanayake announces her intention to participate in the Australian Women Writers Challenge for 2014
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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…
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How to get started in journalism
While meandering through Facebook one day, I noticed that a younger friend of mine had tagged me in a status post. I clicked through to see what it was about and why he would feel the need to mention my name. It was the status of a friend of his, a young university student and he had offered my name in the comments on it as part of the advice he had offered to this student’s query. The query was this: Made another application but it doesn’t look like I’ll even get an interview how the fuck am I supposed to become a journalist if no one will hire me without…
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53 free ways for science journalists to brush up on their science… and counting
This is a list of FREELY AVAILABLE basic science primers, courses and videos that science journalists can take to brush up on their beats/niches/topics of interest. NOTE 1: MOOCS = Massive open online courses = free, short, online, provided by universities to give you a primer in the basics of a scientific topic of study. Both MOOCs and the Coursera courses will use Youtube videos so don’t eliminate them on that basis. NOTE 2: Coursera courses vary in length and whether you get a certificate at the end and are offered at different times so some of the ones listed below may drop off and on again depending on when…
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Best places in Fremantle to write
A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction. – Virginia Woolf, ‘A Room of One’s Own’ And if you need a change of scenery, then here are the best places in Fremantle in which to write. They are in no particular order and I am only listing the great things about them – find the one that is your particular nesting ground. As for criteria – warmth, wi-fi, food and drink and a general sense of people being around is the bare minimum for me as well as minimal distraction. Dome cafe, South Terrace/Cafe Strip, Fremantle What is awesome about it?…
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How to write a book: Part 1: Introduction
Three years is a long time. Three years ago, I was asked to run an online group on how to write books. The posts ended up here. A lot has changed in three years. It’s time to re-issue the posts with updated information. So for the next few weeks, every Wednesday (or for some of you, Tuesday night) there will be a post to do with writing a book, answering a specific question in your email and posted on this blog. What’s your part in this? Well, you are welcome to sit back and read the posts but you can also participate. You don’t need to be writing a book,…
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Crimescene WA & Real Scientists
I am really rather excited about the second week of October this year. Why? Well, the week starts on the 6th of October. And at midnight sharp on the 6th of October, I take over the @realscientists account on Twitter. The @realscientists account is curated/run each week by a scientist, science writer, science artist, science communicator, science illustrator… you get the idea. The aim of the project is to get more information about science, all sorts of science, out to the public. And I am part excited, part terrified, part nervous about taking over tweeting about what I do to do with science for a whole week. If you have…