Hey, it's summertime! Yeah, I know I'm a day late.

I was feeling somewhat over-burdened with work-related headaches this week, so I took a few days off from [tw] (and lots of other things).

When the stress gets heavy enough that I don't even feel like riding, then it's time to step back.

My biggest worry has been the documentation. The progress has been very slow, and beating myself up about it has made it go even slower. There has only been one day -- maybe two -- the last two weeks when I really felt like I was 'in the zone' when writing the docs (for those in the know: sorry about that pun).

Correctly or not, I believe myself to be somewhat talented at explaining things technical. I'm very conscious of over-explaining, confusing metaphors, and wordiness, but if I'm not writing in the zone then the docs suffer from all of those things, and I end up redoing it. Repeatedly.

It's a constant battle in my mind. Good docs are what the developers (and users) need, but anything is better than nothing.

I'm very easily distracted with instant messaging, phone calls, and email. That's certainly the biggest obstacle between me and 'the zone.' Unfortunately when I shut those things off for more than a few minutes, my friends, family, team members, and customers all seem to worry/panic. (And the truth is, I do have responsibilities that require my availability.)

I love my work, but I don't love all parts of it all the time. :-)