It took a while, but everything has finally aligned I am once again working with Tengwar. Having been away a number of years, it seemed illogical to try starting off where it all stopped. Too much time has passed. Instead I have stepped back, re-evaluated, and reformulated my approach to tengwar work. Before doing anything, I combed through the Tengwar Textbook Fourth Edition, v2.0, past notes, and past transcription methodologies. This served two purposes. Firstly it reminded me of any transcription intricacies that I may have forgotten (read: I forgot a good bit) over the past few years. Secondly, this required me to really think through transcription rules, with a focus on standardization across all drafts. The transcription of English texts has a number of very grey and theoretical areas. In these areas, it is the responsibility of individuals to decide what is most "correct" or most "appropriate" for their circumstances. Standardization on my part ensured that execution of those grey areas would not fluctuate from draft to draft. It also makes sure that I'm not re-ingraining bad transcription habit. When doing this, I purposefully forget everything I've ever done, revisit all of my source material, and work out things from there. This is something I've done previously, and found to be very useful.
Standardization achieved, I was now allowed to begin focusing on the material and transcription itself. After much internal debate, I made a very conscious decision to not revisit old material for fear that its ghosts would haunt my new efforts. Nothing quashes the creative process faster than imitating something that I've made before. In order to evade past work as much as possible, I needed to formulate a new approach to the material so that I wouldn't fall back into the familiar. A summary of the new process is below for those who are interested.
Source Text: William Butler Yeats poetry once again. I read and transcribed poems for three months (roughly 60 hours) before a poem jumped out at me - The Two Trees. I had never read it before, but it just felt right. Boom. Source text had.
Ultimate Goal: TBD. It is the material's responsibility to tell me what it wants to be. This is true for each step of the way. The project progresses when the material says it is time and makes the way clear. This particular poem may turn into something, or I may be sent back to square one. Either way it will be interesting.
Process Reflections: In many ways this is a very unusual process for me. Usually I'll lay out materials or buy new materials so that a piece can be planned about this. This time, nothing has been prepared or pre-bought from the get-go. The text transcribed, the book it's transcribed into, the pens and ink used, and even the bag it's toted in have been acquired as they've been needed. The entire process so far has been incredibly organic - more like researching a paper than planning a project. When researching, I go in with a vague subject, review all the materials, and then let the materials available help dictate where the final product goes. Even after the writing process begins, that flexibility still isn't gone as entire sections of the paper can be thrown out and replaced at the eleventh hour. This particular project, such as it is, has begun much the same. There is a vague idea (Yeats + tengwar) and not much else. For once I look forward to enjoying the ride as opposed to anticipating the final destination.
