Why blog?

I have read and/or own every book I can find on plotting a novel, and nothing seems to answer all my questions. So, I decided that perhaps I'm not the only one with questions. Rather than make lists (well, I do that anyhow) and sit in limbo when I reach a temporary dead end, I will open my questions up to others for discussion and maybe help.

I should say that this is not even my first novel. This is a prequel to another novel, that I feel compelled to do a good draft of before finishing the other book. And yes, I've studied novel writing at the Loft in Minneapolis, and am a published writer in nonfiction, so, no, I'm not a novice.

Ironically, after being bogged for a spell, I made a trip to in Sauk Centre. I unexpectedly had some extra time and headed to the Sinclair Lewis Interpretive Center, just off 94 on the way into town. I had been there previously, found myself drawn to the urn that contains half of his ashes (the rest were strewn over the Sauk River) and a wonderful photo of him leaning on an old car on Main Street, with the movie theatre marquee behind him.
This time I found myself looking intently at a section called "Birth of a Novel" and read through his typed plotting drafts, each one more detailed than the last. culminating in "Cass Timberlane". Awesome. And helpful.

However, for me, research is tending to bog me down. When I can't find what I want, I don't find it easy to go to the next thing on my list. So then this blog. Since I am compelled to communicate, it might as well be about these issues.

Take Beethoven. I'm researching his last years in Vienna. He lived in 40-60 different places. I want to know what they were. One would think there might be a timeline somewhere, or some documentation.

I became spoiled researching Mozart, for whom there are such luxuries. There seems to be far less documentation of LVB than there is of WAM. In the Thayer bios (a mess imo) there are countless references to the Conversation Books (CB) but only a few addresses. In addition, the street names have changed, so even when I am able to name them down, I will not necessarily be able to track them down on a map.

Then, I decided to find a documentary bio for LVB (OEDeutsch did one for WAM) but no such thing. I looked for a Beethoven Society and found little in terms of documentation. I searched for the CBs (apparently not yet translated) and could only find a copy of an index for them (which I am now anxiously awaiting).

So what now? Suggestions?