The farther I go, the behinder I get.” A lot of the time that seems to be the mark of my progress in my craft. I just finished a mahogany credenza. It took a long time to complete, partly because I was also wrestling with a health issue (now overcome). Because of this and a storm of cats I endured during its making, keeping track of what I was doing became a problem. It was like I’ve told people about why I generally don’t work past 6 PM, “I can remake what I tried to do the next morning.”
The question of progress does not resolve itself by more hours. In fact, I am generally occupied every hour of the day between 4 in the morning and 6 in the evening except for a rest period in the middle of the day. I attain whatever progress I experience by continually answering the bell and coming out of the corner like a prize fighter. It happens, in other words, because of a determination to continue. This, in turn, occurs because of a discipline that I have built up over the years.
Discipline is part and parcel with who I am. I would say that that, a love of problem solving, a detail orientation, a bent to activity (rather than study or contemplation), continual prayer, and a knack for working with wood pretty much sum up who I am. At this time in my life I am not monetarily wholly dependent on what I do for my craft. This gives me room to, say, cut winter wood, grow a garden (tomatoes this year), keep the property maintained and experiment with different pieces. Thus, I go forward every day on a fairly wide front.
In all this, I don’t think I am in any major way different from others around me. I am just trying to keep my eye on progress
