With remarkably good timing, I just got some proof of one of the most important maxims of writing/publishing: don't give up! And don't delude yourself into thinking that all publishers have exactly the same taste, either.

(And I know that may sound mysterious, but I can't write any more explicitly about it here! At least not yet.)

I've been immersing myself in opera all day--Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, still, because I'm preparing to write about it and I need it to be practically bleeding out my ears, or else I won't be able to be convincing or convinced of my own theories. And it's so much fun to do this part of the work. Wonderful music, interesting ideas--enraging libretto, yes, in many ways, but very interesting....actually, it's always more fun to write about something that sparks a strong personal response. The first time I tried to watch "Cosi", three years ago, I actually leaped up, turned off the TV and felt like kicking it, for added emphasis. Now, I don't hate it anymore--and even back on the first viewing, I was struck by how beautiful the music was (making the opera even more intense and aggravating). A few years of knowing it helped...getting a little older probably helped (this is NOT a romantic, sweet, or easy-to-swallow opera)... and looking at it from the perspective of my thesis (representations of the Middle East in a time of war) makes it absolutely fascinating. But that initial kick of repulsion is what gives the real edge to thinking about/listening to it, still, three years later.