Navigating academic writing, the waters of academic life, should be a sustainable practice, which supports the learning and personal development of writers. However, cultures of writing differ in their sustainability. The sustainability of writing cultures relies heavily on whether writing is a solitary or social practice and whether it is process- or product-oriented. This paper compares metaphors of independent and social academic writing and considers what the metaphors convey about the culture of writing. We facilitated social writing sessions and collected metaphors from writers during focus group interviews. The metaphors were analyzed using Sword's (2019. Snowflakes, splinters and cobblestones: Metaphors for writing. In S. Farquhar & E. Fitzpatrick (Eds.), "Innovations in narrative and metaphor: Methodologies and practices" (pp. 39-56). Springer Singapore Pte. Limited) DEEPER-framework. The metaphors mostly conveyed a sustainable approach to writing, though more fleeting encounters with both independent and social writing were described. Only rarely were non-sustainable approaches described. As competition and comparison can impede benefiting from social writing, we propose drawing attention to writers' learning and professional development in each social writing session.