October 2017 ~ The Wandering Soul's Wander Tales..

Leaving stress behind at Atmantan, by the banks of a stunning Mulshi Lake

A glorious view of Mulshi Lake on a stormy afternoon

A huge waterfall had my jaw hit the ground no sooner did I enter the gates of Atmantan near Pune. I was quickly apprised there were close to 30 waterfalls around the property that was set on a hilltop by the banks of a brimming Mulshi Lake. It was late July and I had just returned from self-inflicted sufferfests in the mountains of Nepal and India followed by a hectic work schedule. I was ripe for a short, quiet break! So when I got an opportunity to experience Atmantan's Wellness Retreat, a new property ushering in the concept of wellness holidays in India, I didn't have to think twice.

A portmanteau of Atma(Soul), Man(Mind) and Tan(Body), Atmantan is an integrated luxury wellness resort situated in the lap of Sahyadris. Overlooking the stunning Mulshi lake, the resplendent scenery offers a perfect setting to the healing of mind, body and soul. Encompassing a variety of solutions like the inviting 3-day Spa Life where the aim is to relax and rejuvenate at one extreme to the demanding 14-day Fitness Challenge that’ll build endurance at the other end of the spectrum, the wellness packages cover a wide array of treatments and therapies, all with a singular goal of achieving better living through a mix of holistic, healthy and alternative treatments.

One of the many Waterfalls around Atmantan

Monsoon special; one of the most impressive waterfalls seen around Atmantan Property

Feeling the pinch of extensive travels, I opted to do nothing other than relax, something similar to the beginner Atmantan Living package. Comfortably housed in a room with ceiling-to-floor glass windows, I was sleeping, waking up and relaxing to the view and sound of low-hanging storm clouds relentlessly pounding the vast lake below and the green mountains in front of me. While it poured like heaven’s flood gates opened up, I spent my days letting the stress wash away bit by bit through indulging herbal baths and invigorating spa therapies. If I were staying here longer, for a week like most guests do, I would’ve also consulted the many therapists here who would’ve then advised and formulated a plan to ranging from fitness activities to diet and everything else in between.

The revelation that wellness is a serious business at Atmantan came via an odd conversation, when I was told that children below 14 years are not allowed in the resort. In a society where even the proposal of having child-free seats in a plane drew much ire from all corners of the internet, having a resort where kids aren’t allowed frankly left me impressed. The logic being it is hard to cater to children and their special needs while making sure the rest of the adults are not disturbed and well treated.

Vistara, the main dining area at Atmantan with a view to die for

However, the biggest revelation at Atmantan turned out to be that healthy food doesn't have to be bland and boring. Frankly I was not looking forward to healthy eating because I love my food to be spicy and delicious. I mentally prepared myself, expecting to be chomping on sprouts and salads but what a surprise the food turned out to be! The quantities, measured to provide the right amount of calories each meal, were insufficient to my eyes but my stomach thought otherwise. Using only Olive oil or rice bran oil and spices in limited measures as well as removing simple carbs to be replaced with hi-protein food, the chefs here have carefully curated a menu that doesn't disappoint even the foodies among us! And unlike me, if you love sweets, fret not; sugar is replaced with either honey or jaggery or Stevia extract for the more conscious but desserts are served without fail.

Selfie, err, Self Portrait

As with everything else at Atmantan, due diligence is taken in providing a conducive environment that allows for ignoring the stress and work from back home. WiFi is provided only inside the rooms and not in any other enclosures including the cafe and dining areas. Without even trying, the partial digital detox inadvertently became the soothing balm to my frayed nerves.

Away from my laptop, I spent most of my free time gawking from the many balconies, pavilions and open areas overlooking the lake or the mountains behind. Initially, I was afraid I might have to find refuge indoors, missing those stunning vistas in that pouring rain but the huge glass panels everywhere in the resort made sure the downpour didn't dampen or obscure my days in any way. In fact, what's a better time to do nothing, if not monsoon?

I have never taken to the idea of Staycation or Wellness Holiday before but I can now fully recommend it for the tired soul. I think it works because I apparently came back with a new glow as a friend pointed out.

Make it happen:

My room at Arjuna Grove, that yellow sofa was one of my favorite spots

View of lush green Sahyadris from my room(L); Waiting out the torrential downpour at Atmantan(R)

Spread over 40 acres with 106 rooms, Atmantan is a multiple-award winning integrated wellness retreat that deftly combines traditional and alternate healing therapies (Ayurveda, Pranic Healing, Acupuncture etc) with modern fitness routines (Yoga, Spinning, Gym Workouts etc) to heal the mind and body. For instance, this October, Atmantan Wellness Centre celebrates anti-aeging month where Dr. Liana Nenacheva, Master in Traditional Chinese Acupuncture, would be conducting non surgical cosmetic acupuncture therapies in addition to the existing wellness packages.

Atmantan is at a distance of 170 kms from Mumbai and 50kms from Pune. Room rates start from Rs. 19000 and a minimum of 3-night stay is required. For more information, visit https://www.atmantan.com to #betransformed.

Note: I was hosted by Atmantan for the duration of my stay here.

6 comments

, by Neelima Vallangi

Guide

Travel Writing Guide: Brief but complete process, from Travelling to getting Published

There was a time when my mailbox was filled with questions about how to get to some place I'd written about or asking me to plan an elaborate, personalised trip for free, very very quickly. However, things have changed over the past few years and one of the most common I emails I get these days is about travel writing. From pitching an idea to finding out the editor's contact, there's a lot of stuff that can feel overwhelming about this line of work. But once you figure out the workflow, the process eases considerably. So here's a quick and brief guide to the entire process from travelling to publishing. I've already added few helpful links as resources in this post. But feel free to google more on specific steps to find out more, the internet is filled with insightful advice on every aspect of freelance writing.

Let's take a look at eight quick steps to getting published.

1. Travel

Self-explanatory but still I’ll expound. Easy thing to do here is going to interesting but rarely covered places. Hard thing is going to the same old destination but finding unique things to do. Either way, travel well to find fascinating places.

2. Think of a story idea/find an angle

Now comes the hard part. Think of a unique slant or angle to sell your travel story. Why should an editor or a reader be interested in your pitch? What’s the new angle you’re bringing to the table? Finding a marketable angle to your story is what will make or break the deal for you. You can't sell a destination or a travel story without a timely or an interesting hook. So work hard on that one.

5 Questions to Ask About Every Article Idea That Will Help You Make the Sale
How to Write Good Hooks For Stories

3. Find a suitable publication

Once you’ve figured out an angle, look for a suitable publication that’ll be interested in a story like yours. Pitching a longform narrative to Lonely Planet is as futile as pitching an exhaustive guide to BBC Travel. Finding the right publication is the key to making a successful pitch. Steps 2 and 3 are interchangeable though; either think of a story angle and find a matching publication or pick a publication and think how you can tweak your story to match their publication style.

4. Find the right editor to pitch and figure out the contact details

This is where I believe most newcomers hit a wall. Finding the right editor to pitch and figuring their email seems like impossible but all you need is some tricks really. Mastheads(a printed list of staff positions) are available on the websites of most magazines and for newspapers, LinkedIn as well as Google is a good place to start.

9 Insider Tips for Contacting the Right Editor

5. Craft a Pitch and hit send!

Once you got editor’s email sorted, focus on writing a kickass pitch. That it should be concise and interesting is a given. But also focus on why the editor/readers should care about this idea and why you’re the right person to tell this story. And then hit send!

30 Tips From 30 Days of Querying

The 6 Essential Traits of Query Letters That Work

7 Reasons Editors Are Not Responding To Your Queries

6. The agonizing wait, follow up and re-pitch.

If you don’t hear back within a week, follow up and then once more before taking it somewhere else. Most editors just ignore the email if they aren’t interested in commissioning the story. Don’t take it personally because the pitch might have been rejected for a variety of reasons that you’ll never know about for sure. So, for the sake of your own sanity, just ignore that gnawing sense of dejection and rework on your pitch to send it to another publication. Repeat the process till you get a commission.

The Art Of The Follow Up

The Real Reason Your Pitch Was Rejected

Finding a publication for your (rejected) story idea

8 Reasons Your Pitch Got Rejected and How to Fix It, According to Top Editors

4 Things You Must Do When Your Ideas Don’t Sell

7. Get a commission. Start working on the story.

Here comes the exciting part. Your story is commissioned and you have to actually sit down to write the whole thing. Daunting as it sounds, get to work as soon as possible and keep it aside for a day or two before reworking on it with a fresh perspective. Edit your work carefully to remove all the fluff. Also it helps immensely if you can provide the images to go with your story, maximizes your chance of getting a commission. So if you have good images to support the text, prepare those images and send an online link for the editor to view. Make their job easier and they’ll love you for it!

8. File the story. Work on edits. Enjoy the glory!

Once you’ve filed the story, wait to hear from the editor on the edits required. Don’t fight every change but be reasonable and object to changes that you feel aren’t keeping in line with your story. Once the final edits are done and dusted, wait with baited breath to see the story go live. Because irrespective of whether you’ve been in this field for a decade or just starting out, the thrill of seeing your byline never really fades. That’s it, there’s no glory. Sorry!

Also read: 9 questions you asked me about Travel Writing

3 comments

, by Neelima Vallangi

Guide

9 questions you asked me about Travel Writing

Last week I asked you to ask me anything on travel writing and these are the questions that made the cut. So let's get on with it and I hope you find this helpful!

1. How did you get started as a travel writer?

As someone who had no training in writing or mass communication, I took to blogging before writing professionally. I started my blog in 2008 to record my travels. But more importantly to write quick guides for those asking me same questions again and again about my recent travels. While I never had the idea of writing professionally in mind at that point, publishing on the blog helped me hone my non-existent writing skills.

Four years later in 2012, I visited a small village near Kodaikanal that I was driven to write about, not for money but just to get the story out. So I googled and sent the most stupid pitch I’ve ever sent to The Hindu. Surprisingly, the editor accepted the story and it ran in Metro Plus. That’s was my first print publication, for no money.

Few months down the line in the same year, National Geographic Traveller India edition was launched and I saw some of my blogger/photographer friends’ images get published in the magazine. I was green with envy and wanted a piece of the action myself. Who here hasn’t dreamt of publishing with the iconic yellow box? So I quickly googled “how to pitch a photo editor”, “how to find an editor’s email” and shot this amateurish mail (see image above). To my shock and surprise, I got a response, and a positive one at that! I took a chance and asked the photo editor to introduce me to the deputy editor. She did and I googled some more on “how to pitch a travel story” and fired my first pitch for a story. I was a published travel writer with a brand new story featuring words and images by yours truly in January 2013. And that’s my how my journey began. Since then I've written consistently for a small but niche selection of national and international publications. You can see all my published work here - https://neelima.contently.com/.

2. How difficult is it for new writers to get published in magazines?

I wouldn’t say it’s difficult but I wouldn’t say it is easy either. Thing is, it is quite possible for a new writer to get published in a publication. The important thing to keep in mind is that you should have a great story to tell, know how to sell the idea and you’ve found the right publication for your story. I think that’s where experienced writers have the edge over new comers. They’ve enough experience to glean an idea from a trip or vacation. A week spent in Nepal is not a story idea; it is a trip report. A week spent in Nepal chasing an elusive mountain or rarely covered cuisine is a possible story idea.

Read this post for more clarity - No Bylines? Five Ways to Pitch Stories When You Don’t Have Writing Clips

3. Do you have any advice for emerging writers/bloggers?

If you’re an emerging writer, write as much as you can and edit your work with a vengeance. I always assumed that writing well is an innate skill. But soon I realized great writing happens with a lot of practice than just talent. So it is quite possible to hone your craft, might take a lot more work for some of us but the good news is that we can all get better at this. So start a blog or open an account of any public platform and publish your writing to an audience. I cannot stress enough how helpful it is to get direct and instant feedback. Also, invest as much time in reading good stories.

If you’re an emerging blogger, hone your writing by practicing as much as possible but also understand the nuances of writing for a publication vs. writing for a blog. Both are very different requiring unique styles of writing and approach. Read this helpful post detailing the fundamental differences between travel writing and travel blogging just published by my friend Lakshmi Sharath. Decide if you’re in it for the long haul because both require quite a lot of effort and there’s very little intersection in the kind of work you’ll do in each one of these fields.

And read up on the art of story telling!

4. How do you decide what stories you want to tell and what you want to skip while writing about your travels?

Before pitching any story to a publication or writing about it on my blog, one question I ask myself is “why will anyone care about this?” Let’s say I had a brilliant epiphany on my recent trek and I want to tell everyone about it. But why would you be interested in it unless it is funny or revealing or surprising or relatable or evokes an emotion that’s not boredom in the listener?

Our adventures seem great to us because we have a whole lot of context to process it but it is very difficult to translate that feeling to an external audience. So you’ll have to ask yourself, what will the reader take away from this story? If it’s five minutes of a monologue about how great my trip was or me dealing with what I thought were great adventures but were really quite normal, I’d skip that story. A good story should inform or inspire or surprise the reader in the very least. At best, it can take you along on a fantastic journey to discover other worlds within our world.

Also read - Travel Story Idea Troubleshooting Guide, or "Why Can't I Sell My Articles?"

5. Do you take lots of notes while travelling?

I used to but now I’ve gotten very lazy. I need to up my game in taking notes diligently. Because it’s most important task for any writer, to be able to notice and reproduce those little details that make any scene or story complete.

6. How do you find balance between documenting travel vs. enjoying?

Oh the eternal paradox! I haven’t found that balance. I am always at odds on whether I should be taking notes/photographs or just enjoy the moment. More often than not, the latter wins but only due to my own indolence. But it is an occupational hazard you simply cannot escape, to have your head buried in a phone or notebook as a travel writer.

7. What is a good pitch? What are the main components of your pitch, what format do you deliver it in, and how short do you generally keep it?

I guess a good pitch is the one that gets you a commission! ;)

Cheekiness aside, a pitch should have these three things to make a sale -

A concise story idea with a unique angle. It doesn't help to say I went to Rajasthan. I did this and I went to that place. I want to write a story for your magazine. You should have an angle. Think about it, have you ever read a travel piece which talks about all the places writer went to and what he saw? Exactly. So read the publication, target the section you want to write for and think of a story idea that matches that particular section. If it's a newspaper with no particular sections, think of a clear and unique angle to write the story.
You will need to prove your writing skills to a large extent through the pitch itself if you are just getting into publishing because you'll have no previously published stories to substantiate your claim that you can write a story well. Have a strong lead and do not cram the pitch with unnecessary details. Save that prowess for later when you get the commission.
Lastly, you should end the pitch with your qualifications, where you say why you are the right person to do this story. You can tell what other publications you have written for. It is alright if you never written for any publication before. You can say I worked in so and so field, which makes me an expert to write this story or anything else that might work in your favor in convincing the editor to assign you the story.

The general guideline is to keep your pitch within 2 paragraphs but if you're pitching a complex or nuanced story, you can always ignore that rule and write a longer query. But make sure you don't go overboard with providing unnecessary details that'll tire/bore the editor. See a sample pitch of mine here.

8. Which all publications should I contact to get my articles published? How to find such publication firms?

Totally depends on what kinds of stories you want to write. Looking for the selection of magazines available at airport bookshops is one way to find out about all sorts of niche publications apart from the famous travel magazines. The other way is to Google. Wikipedia can be of great help to figure out regional publications. You can also look at other writers’ portfolio to see their published clips, gives you a fair idea on the available market in a similar field.

Here’s a helpful resource on the various markets available for pitching - Where Travel Writers Can Get Published: 16 Places to Look for Sales Leads

9. What is the basic skill or practice that one should work on to improve our writing?

I’d say writing and reading daily. Invaluable!

Also read: A brief but complete process from travelling to getting published (and some helpful links).

1 comments

, by Neelima Vallangi

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