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
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  • MEAA FAQs

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  • Freelancing

    For the confused author/editor: Style sheets vs Style guides

    June 7, 2013 / 2 Comments

    What the hell is a style sheet?  Well, in computer lingo, it’s CSS or a cascading style sheet which tells you what everything on every HTML page of your website looks like design wise. It’s supposed to make it more efficient to create and design websites. But that’s not what you mean right?  No, it’s not. Say you are an author (fiction, non-fiction, corporate, government, whatever) and you send a document (your precious, your boss’ precious and so on) to an editor. And the editor sends the document back and a few others, one of which is this weird combination of the alphabet and square boxes. That little document is…

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    How to get started in journalism

    November 29, 2013

    How do I figure out what to do?

    June 12, 2013
    Fallon Michael's photo of eyeglasses on book beside macbook for Marisa Wikramanayake's blog post about their 2021 year in review

    My 2021 year in review – amazing goals success or failure?

    January 4, 2022
  • Freelancing

    14 easy rules to simplify your workflow and life as a freelancer

    June 4, 2013 / 16 Comments

    It occurred to me after this post a couple of weeks ago that it might be more useful to discuss in depth the practical but psychological/thought pattern/behavioural tips that you can adopt to help you be more efficient as a freelancer. I have discussions with people all the time over the way they set up their work and the rules they tend to live by in order to run their business. It differs each time. This is how it works for me. 

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    My year in writing: 2016 and the freelance writer life

    December 16, 2016
    A mug full of coffee on an open planner

    How I am planning for the next financial year as a freelancer – despite Covid-19

    June 26, 2020

    Cents & Sensibility: Networking

    October 7, 2011
  • Journalism,  Literary Journalism

    Profile: Amanda Curtin and world weaving

    May 29, 2013 / No Comments

    Amanda Curtin’s book Elemental will be officially launched tomorrow in Perth. It has been available for almost an entire month and I had the pleasure of interviewing her for this profile feature piece in April when I got sent a review copy in the mail. A book from Amanda Curtin in the mailbox is always a delight and a treat.   

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    National desalination research centre launched in Rockingham

    August 11, 2010

    Kerry Greenwood's Unnatural Habits

    January 3, 2013

    Alison Morton's Inceptio

    May 24, 2013
  • Australian Women Writers Challenge,  Book Reviews,  Projects

    AWW 2013: Amanda Curtin's Inherited

    January 24, 2013 / 4 Comments

      Precision is what comes to my mind, first. Amanda Curtin likes to write about connections, between person to person, between person and object, person and landscape. And about how those connections make us feel. Or why they are unique to us. Why they don’t make any sense or at least a different kind of sense to others. The back cover blurb for the book tells us:     Inherited brings together stories about the gifts and burdens we inherit from the world or from those we love, and what we, in turn, leave behind. Inherited is her latest collection of short stories. And every word in each story belongs…

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    Marianne de Pierres' Glitter Rose

    February 6, 2014

    AWW 2013: Interview with Amanda Curtin

    February 1, 2013
    The Paper House by Anna Spargo-Ryan

    The Paper House by Anna Spargo-Ryan

    May 25, 2016
  • Australian Women Writers Challenge,  Book Reviews,  Journalism,  Projects

    Kerry Greenwood's Unnatural Habits

    January 3, 2013 / 6 Comments

      I discovered Greenwood quite by chance somewhere around 2007. And ever since I have eagerly awaited the next installment of a Phryne Fisher or Corrinna Chapman mystery. You can just imagine how thrilled I was when ABC started airing the TV series of Phryne Fisher last year. Accordingly I was excited to find a new offering – Phryne’s 19th outing Unnatural Habits. I bought it to read on my flight overseas at the end of the year and avoided it till I was in my plane seat. Phryne is much the same, the same devil may care attitude towards social conventions that don’t make any sense, the same thrill…

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    A few right thinking men by Sulari Gentill

    Sulari Gentill’s A Few Right Thinking Men

    June 6, 2016

    Robin Bower’s Beyond Home

    March 28, 2015
    Drive Me To Distraction by Caitlyn Nicholas

    Caitlyn Nicholas' Drive Me To Distraction

    February 21, 2013
  • Events,  IPEd Con 2013,  Projects,  Updates

    Registration for the IPEd National Editors Conference in Perth 2013 now open!

    November 2, 2012 / No Comments

    Hi everyone, One of the projects taking up my time these days is organising the 6th IPEd National Editors Conference which will be in Perth in April 2013. We have international and national writers, publishers and editors attending and it’s going to be absolutely fantastic. We opened registrations yesterday so if you are in Perth in April and are keen to attend, go book now for an early bird discount on fees AND to make sure you have a place at one of the workshops we will be running and the extra events like dinners and cocktail parties.

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    6 May 2013: MediaPass Student Industry Day

    April 16, 2013

    Freelancing panel at IPEd 2017

    September 14, 2017

    IPEd 2017: Workshops, whirlwinds and welcome

    September 13, 2017
  • Freelancing,  Projects

    Mentoring

    October 16, 2012 / 2 Comments

    At a Society of Editors (WA) meeting tonight, I was asked to be a mentor by an enthusiastic wannabe editor. I was both amused and flattered. She made a distinction between advice and ongoing support – someone who would show her the ropes and keep her from freaking out too much along the way. You have to admire her enthusiasm and the fact that she stepped forward and asked. It got me thinking. When I first started I desperately wanted a mentor too. I didn’t get one. These days, I blog about what I know and as I said to someone this week, I am happy to meet up one…

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    You May Also Like

    For the confused author/editor: Style sheets vs Style guides

    June 7, 2013

    Cents & Sensibility: Networking

    October 7, 2011
    Cat asleep on a wall - Photo by Iván C. Fajardo on Unsplash

    Why I really need to take a week off for rest right now

    February 17, 2021
  • How to write a book,  Projects,  Writing

    Copyright issues

    May 11, 2011 / 1 Comment

    The lovely Janine Ripper requested the low down on copyright issues for writers.   Here it is as succinctly as I can put it: 1) Anything you write whether it is recorded on paper or on disk or on the internet in a blog, as soon as you write it, is copyrighted to you. As soon as your work takes on a tangible form, it is copyrighted to you. Automatically. If you write under a pseudonym, the copyright is extended for 70 years after the moment it was first created especially if they cannot figure out the identity of the author.  Otherwise, it is 70 years after the date of…

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    You May Also Like

    How do I get started?

    April 20, 2011

    The writing process, step by step

    April 27, 2011

    Inspiration (or is there a muse?)

    April 6, 2011
  • Writing

    Why you shouldn't let your muse get drunk on champagne/how to braintrain your muse

    May 4, 2011 / 1 Comment

    Muses and alcohol… when you need control, that’s not a healthy mix.   So this came about because someone I know who requests writing advice on a regular basis, said she had a muse problem. The person she had based her muse on was going through a change of circumstances and that meant that she felt uninspired to continue writing – the change didn’t fit the story.   So I thought I’d clear up some things about muses.

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    Freelance writing plans for 2017

    January 6, 2017
    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
    KSP cat by Ashleigh Hardcastle via KSP Writers Centre

    Day 2: A cat is here!

    May 30, 2018
  • How to write a book,  Projects,  Writing

    The writing process, step by step

    April 27, 2011 / 1 Comment

      We discussed the process of writing in the last post. This post is about the steps in writing a book and getting published. So the first one was about how to get started with writing as a hobby or getting used to writing in general process wise and this is about the process of writing, editing and publishing a particular book.

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    Inspiration (or is there a muse?)

    April 6, 2011

    How to write a book: Part 1: Introduction

    September 25, 2013

    How to write a book: Part 5: Structure (or Chapter and verse)

    April 13, 2011
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