When is it safe to start writing the next book?

It's inevitable that when you finish up one book, you begin looking forward to the next. I'm doing the hard work to finish Rekindling, but my thoughts are inching ahead to the sequel to Mist on the Meadow. I've got a good idea where I'm going with it and for those of you who read it, the answers to Wolf's gift will be forthcoming.

One of the stumbling blocks I continue to hit is the foreign language piece. I thought I'd done a pretty good job explaining the German terms as I used them, although I didn't translate the folk song directly. I did hit the highlights in English, but a consistent reviewer comment is wishing they understood the German words. I guess I didn't do a good enough job because the reviews are still coming back with the same comment (here's a link to the post I did on Writing with International Flair that explains the miscellaneous phrases I used).

As I prepare to embark on the new journey with Wolf and Marissa, I'm going over other works that use foreign phrases. Diana Gabaldon comes to mind. She uses many Gaelic phrases. My DH also likes to watch Grimm, which incorporates many German words, except on television you get a visual. Victoria Holt wrote a book that takes place in the Black Forest, but memory only calls to mind the one word she used - Lenchen (a term of endearment). Ultimately, it's the story that matters, and if the story is strong enough, the occasional foreign word/phrase probably won't jump out. Then again, readers are much more sophisticated these days. They expect much more from a book than we did when I was growing up.

First things first - final edits on Rekindling.