November 8, 2009

You get to decide the future of Perth Diary

If you haven’t noticed, the Sunday Leader has got a brand spanking new website. I went exploring.

Turns out that in the review section they are printing blog posts from the Kottu feed. Turns out there is no Perth Diary anywhere in the pages online or in print.

Turns out that they have cancelled Perth Diary and have [...]

October 26, 2009

16 Things I Learnt From Being A Columnist

18/365 by amizing at Flickr

18/365 by amizing at Flickr

I’ve been writing the Perth Diary column for four years now. Four years is a long time. So I thought I’d share what I have learnt while writing the dashed thing.

  1. When in doubt, especially if your column covers a beat that isn’t politics, sports or finance specific, write about your cat or dog. People seem to love your pet’s idiosyncrasies, primarily because one thing people love hearing about is how something makes trouble for someone else but not for them. You can only pull this off if you are willing to be sarcastic about yourself though, along the lines of “Yes, I know I am Muggins but I love the dashed bloody animal.” Why do you think lolcats are so popular? Pets are cute bundles of trouble that happen to other people.
    Continue reading → 16 Things I Learnt From Being A Columnist
October 11, 2009

Perth Diary: 11/10/2009

Marisa Wikramanayake writes about what it means to be a member of the Media Entertaininment and Arts Alliance (the union for the media and publishing industries in Australia) for the 11th October 2009 edition of her weekly column Perth Diary. Perth Diary is published once a week in the Sri Lankan newspaper The Sunday Leader and is reproduced online in full for free at The Sunday Leader’s website and Marisa’s website at http://www.marisa.com.au where you can find her other work as a freelance writer, journalist and editor. [...]

September 7, 2009

Perth Diary for 6th Sept 2009 is online

Marisa Wikramanayake’s latest installment of the Perth Diary column has been published in the Sunday Leader. This week she discusses the problem of writing for a living and supporting oneself while doing so. [...]

June 28, 2009

Regarding The Perth Diary Column

Hi,

I figured I should let people know what’s happening.

I have not written any Perth Diary articles/columns for a month now. What happened?

Well, creatively speaking – I am burnt out.

But also, I am slightly fed up. It is not easy to write a weekly column without any editorial guidance as to word length or content. My emails [...]

June 8, 2009

07/06/2009 Perth Diary Is Online!

Marisa Wikramanayake writes the Perth Diary column for the weekly Sunday Leader newspaper in Sri Lanka. This week’s column is about the onset of winter in Western Australia and the importance of rain. Marisa is a freelance writer and editor based in Fremantle, Western Australia. [...]

May 25, 2009

24/05/2009 Perth Diary Now Online!

No it won’t knock your socks off nor will it rile you up but here it is.

Perth Diary:

I am leaving Fremantle this weekend. In a way, I am glad.

The truth of the matter is that I am going to Busselton for about three days. Busselton is a country town, three and half hours drive away from [...]

May 19, 2009

17/05/2009 Perth Diary Is Online!

Ok, you lucky readers have two options: you can either read the heavily edited version (censored for public tastes) that was published in the Leader here, or you can read the uncensored version in this entry.

Continue reading → 17/05/2009 Perth Diary Is Online!

May 11, 2009

10/05/2009 Perth Diary Online Now!

Marisa Wikramanayake is a freelance writer and editor and pens the Perth Diary column for The Sunday Leader. This week she discusses the protest marches held on the May Day weekend in Fremantle. [...]

May 3, 2009

03/05/2009 Perth Diary Now Online!

Marisa Wikramanayake is a freelance writer and editor based in Perth, Australia. This entry is her latest contribution for her Perth Diary column in the Sunday Leader newspaper and discusses __. She is currently writing her second novel, a historical work, a poetry collection and a collection of her best work from the columns. When she isn’t doing that, she reviews music for RTR FM and books for Compendium. Sometimes she plays with her cat or plays the drums in an indie rock band. [...]