Picking up the Pieces

["Linda" <LMHTWB@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey Folks,

I had a small disaster this morning and sure could use some advice and
sympathy.  I was working on a piece of alabaster when I reached for a chisel
and SPLAT! the sculpture fell off my carving bench.  Now I have about five
smaller pieces instead of one bigger one.  I do realize that I should've had
the piece better situated on the bench or had the tools closer or not been
in such a rush, and have spent the rest of the morning kicking myself about
that.

I have spent about 2 months off and on working on this piece.  I have spent
countless hours just trying to figure out where this piece was heading.
Admittedly, I wasn't terribly thrilled with it so far, but I had hope that
it would end up to be a decent piece.  And now it all the work is *wasted*,
which is how I feel even though I know that working on a sculpture is never
wasted time even is the piece fails (or falls).  Here's the question.  How
does one psychologically pick up the pieces and move on to the next
sculpture?  Or would it be better to do something with the pieces now?  I
have an urge to immediately rework the larger pieces, but I'm not sure if
this is just out of guilt or frustration.  Any words of wisdom?

Linda