Abstract

This chapter chronicles a detour that was the result of the author's struggle to find a suitable ending to a single recalcitrant sentence while writing an article manuscript. The text narrates both the emotional labor connected to these writing struggles, the behavioral flights away from the discomfort of being stuck, as well as the cognitive flights of inattention. The text weaves between descriptions of embodied discomfort, the reflections these discomforts gave rise to and a tale of practical activities such as answering emails, drinking coffee, and being seduced by memories of childhood and youth triggered by the pervasive discomfort. In addition to describing the concrete difficulties and discomforts of academic writing, the text illustrates and addresses the social and relational nature of this practice.