All Handwork

Quote interpretation?

“But how shall I begin to go this road – where is the handwork of my art, its deepest and lowest point at which I might begin to be proficient? I shall go back over every path to that beginning, and all that I have done shall be nothing, less than the sweeping of a doorstep…”

I get the feeling I’ll understand this much better if I’ve read the novel (is it a novel?) where this is from, but I’m taking a stab anyway.
It seems like the author is looking to undo a mistake, redo a part of his life or possibly just erase that mistake altogether. But at which point should he start to make amends? “How shall i begin to go this road.”
“Where is the handwork of my art”: His art, i’m guessing is his mistake(s). His handwork, the proof and/or consequences of said mistake.
“Its deepest and lowest point”: where he really, really screwed up. The deepest and lowest point is the most obvious, so where his mistakes have caused the most damage.
And then in the last sentence, he talks about what he plans to do. To retrace his steps, so to speak, and do it all over again from the beginning, so that “all that I have done shall be nothing.” His mistake will be erased.
“less than the sweeping of a doorstep” emphasizes his intentions to undo whatever damage he’s done, because sweeping your doorstep is like a daily chore, something insignificant, unimportant, that you do when you need to. And its something that hints at getting rid of something (ie. dirt, dust, unwanted things,) and cleaning up a path, which ties in with his goal of going back to the beginning.

Bear in mind, I don’t really know the background or context – how the author/character came to think and write these thoughts, so this is just my interpretation. Hope it helps.

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