On Writing Another Abstract

My linguistic subfield has a really big conference every two years. This year it is in Germany whereas last time it was in Hong Kong. I submitted an abstract two years ago and it was rejected. :-( Instead of moping, I enjoyed a 10-week intensive language program paid for by the US government. This summer I plan to enjoy a long vacation and am determined to have my abstract accepted so that the long vacation will take place overseas instead of in my parents' backyard. I also plan to tour the conference facilities and make a positive impression on a huge hosting institute that I would like to work for at some point in my career.

In the past, I wrote my abstracts quickly, reviewed them a few days later, then submitted them before I could change my mind. Most of the time this method has worked just fine, but after a few rejections, I've learned to take more time and think about every word included in the abstract. Today's struggles mostly consisted of writing a persuading description of my work and looking for good examples. After I finished the darn thing, I then had to shorten it because the call for papers description limits the abstract to 500 words or one page. Hmmm... does that mean I can have either more than one page if it's under 500 words or more than 500 words as long as it fits on one page?

With references, I failed both requirements (and that has never been a problem in the past when writing abstracts). I read past accepted abstracts for this conference and found there is a lot of variation. Some people use a really small font size and others flirt with danger and ignore the specifications. Some leave out references and others include them. Most calls specify preferences for references and data. Sometimes these are included in the page/word counts, and other times they aren't. Hmmm... In the end, I kept my references and shortened my text so that everything, including the title, is 498 words. My references make up a second page. One would think that it wouldn't really matter, but the conference is in Germany, so it might matter... I read a previous abstract by the current conference organizer. He included a word count (499) in his abstract. I figured I should have one word less than him. :-)

My call deadline is in 10 days. I will send my abstract by the 11th, but am waiting to hear feedback from a few others before I take the final risk and click 'send', then keep my fingers crossed until Feb. 28th. At least I can cross this task off of my to-do list and resume chapter writing and take a break from thinking about a summer filled with Fanta and Doener Kabobs (but oh how I would like to taste Knoblauchsosse once again...).