1/12th of the Way-Lessons Learned -Evelyn Markasky

Everybody's been working really hard. The 1st month is almost over -- we are 1/12th of the way through! It's really interesting watching people go into depth in their studies.
We are still new, has enough time passed to have learned any lessons yet?
My brain goes immediately to Lora Hart (a RAW participant) whose submissions have a descriptions of what she learned, here is one example from her first Ring A Week submission:

Lessons learned:
1. It's best to have the correct materials.
2. 26g copper is not the best for a ring
3. People who use solder as an accent are most likely working with engraved depressions.
4. Solder really doesn't fill a gap no matter how much you use.
5. A Dremel engraver doesn't do the same thing as a real graver (not that I know how to use one of those)
6. Soldering steel is not as scary as I thought.
7. It's best to have the right tools.
8. Clean up is much more difficult than with metal clay (which I already knew)

I think we do really learn something with each piece we make, if we allow ourselves to see it.
Some things I've learned so far:

1. It's way easier to weld a gap than to solder it
2. A sketch and the 3-d object it's supposed to become can be two completely different things
3. Sometimes pods look like poop
4. You can make a triceratops head out of metal and comfortably wear it while bicycling
5. It's fun to experiment with color and heat on metal
6. The resin will eventually arrive
7. You can fold metal just like you can fold paper (Erin Austin)

8. Body parts are very inspirational
9. You can get amazing colors and designs from polymer clay
10. We keep working and thinking even when we're sick (or our families are sick) or on vacation
11. Ice can be set into a ring like a stone
12. Talons can be a cool inspiration
13. Pirates are cool

The question comes up 'How can we do this every day?' But more importantly is 'Why should we do this every day?' I'm going to leave you with a quote from an old Stephen King non-fiction book I'm reading right now: "What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work and study: a constant process of honing... Discipline and constant work are the whetstones upon which the dull knife of talent is honed until it becomes sharp enough... No writer, painter, or actor -- no artist -- is ever handed a sharp knife... and we hone with varying degrees of zeal and aptitude... I'm suggesting that to be successful, the artist in any field has to be in the right place at the right time. The right time is in the lap of the gods, but any mother's son or daughter can work his/her way to the right place and wait."
Stephen King, Danse Macabre, p.85, Berkeley Books 1983.