Monday, January 18, 2010

travel count down week 2, continued

As promised, here it is-- More later: I've been trying to do some "tweaking" to the Angels in the Flames novel, so as to make it ready to send off to the next publisher. The tweaking is a restructuring of the chapters, growing it from ten chapters to twelve. I don't know if that will be a big improvement, but I hope it will be publishable, finally. So I'm still rewriting. I'm not sure that it will ever end. I've heard of novelists who continue to rewrite even after their work is in print and on the shelves--yes, rewriting them as they sit on the shelves! I hope I won't be that compulsive. But as long as this novel keeps coming back, "good" rejections notwithstanding, I'll keep looking at it to see how it can be improved. I really want this one published.
I missed the deadlines for a couple of short stories that I wanted to write and submit to contests. But I have been working on practising Italian and Hebrew for my trip. However, I learned from a friend who had lived in Israel for a couple of years that Arabic might be even more important especially in Christian areas. I don't know a word (other than "salaam") of Arabic. So, I've ordered some Arabic textbooks from the public library. Hopefully, I can get a few useful words. I realize that with the history of British presence and the current interest of American Jews, most likely we can get along just fine using only English. However, I do know that people appreciate it when tourists make the effort to say a few words of the language of the country they're visiting. That's my goal. Just a few words. As a linguist and language teacher with 30 years experience, I know it takes at least 2 years to learn a language with any degree of fluency. (Language school with claims to the contrary are ridiculous. Don't buy a course with such a claim. It's too good to be true, so it's too good to be true.)
This week and next will be filled with packing and repacking, at the very least. I never pack just once. I also need to know what the latest rules are for the airlines. Thank heaven we're not going to the USA! Already, by avoiding the USA, we've saved a considerable amount of money on insurance!

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