Whoa--it's been three days since my last journal entry! Bizaare, huh? ("Inconceivable!") (Yeah, yeah, you can't really be a nerd if you don't throw in at least a few Princess Bride references from time to time.)

I actually made a resolution not to get on the internet at all in the past couple of days, because I was getting way over-addicted...and therefore wasn't getting any writing done during the day, of either sort. (Which was especially bad because we've been spending our evenings cleaning/unpacking for this weekend's family visit, so our normal evening writing time got axed for the sake of a nicer house. Good in the long run, but frustrating, too.) So in the past few days--although, admittedly, I didn't get any fiction written--I was a whole lot more productive, reading up a bunch on my thesis and (what the heck) thinking a whole lot more about the fiction.

So, remember the Mozart/alchemy fantasy story? Yesterday I finally got into the university library to do some catch-up research for that, and realized, damn it, that it just won't work in terms of the scenes I had plotted out. But when I realized that, I actually felt a sense of huge relief, because--tada!--I can turn it into a high fantasy, change the names, adapt the characters, and do whatever I want! Because I no longer have to stick to the historical record! God, that's so much easier. (And it's the only way I'll be able to finish it in time, too! Just a little side-benefit.)

But in the meantime, could I just vent a bit about my academic field? Because as I did the research, what I came across was dozens of modern academics berating Constanze Mozart for being crass enough to sell Mozart's scores/letters for money! Hello?? Her husband had just died, leaving her and their two children penniless, without any income! She didn't have the money to selflessly think about preserving his legacy for the future (and thus making things easier for the musicologists)!

The funniest line I came across, in a really catty book called _Constanze Mozart After the Requiem_ said something like: "If she really had been upset about her husband's death, why would she be writing to his patrons and the Emperor only three days afterwards, asking for money?" Gee, I dunno. Maybe because she and her kids needed to survive????

And of course, she's also criticized for being a bad wife during Mozart's life, because--get this--she "insisted" on "sharing his pleasures" and going out with him at night instead of saving them money by staying home and concentrating on the house while he went out.

It's good to see how liberated modern academics can be. And it's of course interesting to compare all this to contemporary diaries of the Mozart's circle of friends, all of whom talk about how in love the Mozarts were and how happy they were together.

But no, she certainly wasn't good enough for him....

Okay, enough ranting for one day. Back to work!