Marisa Wikramanayake

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

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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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    An update on Gin & Tonic

    January 24, 2019

    Where you will find me in October 2018

    October 11, 2018
    My desk in Phillips cabin at the KSP Writers Centre (c) Marisa Wikramanayake

    Day 3: So many emotions

    May 31, 2018
  • 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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    What is a typical day for a journalist?

    October 16, 2019
    KSP cat by Ashleigh Hardcastle via KSP Writers Centre

    Day 2: A cat is here!

    May 30, 2018
    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
  • 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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    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

    MEAA news for February 2019

    February 28, 2019
    The Writers' Cabins at KSP (c) Writers Bloc

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

    May 30, 2018
  • Monday musings,  Updates

    Five years!

    December 16, 2013 / 2 Comments

    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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    Monday musing: The Other Writer

    September 2, 2013
    A real bookshop by Elsie esq via Flickr

    My love affair with books

    May 27, 2013
  • Science journalism

    Tips for being a science journalist

    December 14, 2013 / 8 Comments

    A brief summary of my seminar (part of the UWA Science Communication Seminar series) on 6 August 2010.

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    Big Bang confusion

    March 16, 2011

    False balance: A science journalism pitfall

    October 2, 2012

    53 free ways for science journalists to brush up on their science… and counting

    November 25, 2013
  • Projects,  Real Scientists

    Day 1: Explosions, books & how to keep kids keen

    October 7, 2013 / No Comments

    [<a href=”//storify.com/571811/day-1-explosions-books-and-how-to-keep-kids-keen” target=”_blank”>View the story “Day 1: Explosions, books & how to keep kids keen” on Storify</a>]

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    AWW 2013: Interview with Amanda Curtin

    February 1, 2013
    Drive Me To Distraction by Caitlyn Nicholas

    Caitlyn Nicholas' Drive Me To Distraction

    February 21, 2013

    I need your help!

    April 17, 2012
  • Projects,  Real Scientists

    Curation of @realscientists starts tonight!

    October 6, 2013 / No Comments

    Colour me terrified. @realscientists is the brainchild of a few people, namely @scienceupulie and @DrYobbo both scientists in their own right and also science communicators. Which means they blog and tweet and podcast about science all the time.  @realscientists is a rotation curation Twitter account which means one scientist takes over each week and tweets about his/her work, whatever field of science it may be. The curators are introduced and farewelled each weekend on the Real Scientists blog and their tweets are usually storifyed for posterity as well. Last week it was sharks with @WhySharksMatter taking over for the week. From next Sunday it will be a virologist who likes to…

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    Foursquare for flora and fauna? The ClimateWatch smartphone app

    September 28, 2012

    How to have an adventure

    September 9, 2013
    A real bookshop by Elsie esq via Flickr

    Capering criminally with the challenge: what I read for Australian Women Writers 2013

    January 3, 2014
  • Freelancing

    Best places in Fremantle to write

    September 27, 2013 / No Comments

    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 network at an editors' conference

    January 14, 2013

    Cents & Sensibility: Networking

    October 7, 2011

    Freelance writing plans for 2017

    January 6, 2017
  • How to write a book,  Projects,  Writing

    How to write a book: Part 1: Introduction

    September 25, 2013 / 4 Comments

    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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    How do I get started?

    April 20, 2011

    Inspiration (or is there a muse?)

    April 6, 2011

    The writing process, step by step

    April 27, 2011
  • Events,  Updates

    Crimescene WA & Real Scientists

    September 23, 2013 / No Comments

    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…

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    The Writing Calendar: June 2016

    June 9, 2016

    How do you tell a story?

    February 9, 2019

    Freelancing panel at IPEd 2017

    September 14, 2017
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