Most students avoid the reflective nature the writing process requires. Their resistance to meta-cognition, thinking about one's thinking, often means they are incapable of capitalizing on their strengths or improving upon their weaknesses. The author believes students who are familiar with writers' lives and habits will be that much more effective in guiding themselves through the writing process. Still, if students are truly going to learn the behaviors of proficient writers, then they need to do so by gaining it through procedural knowledge. Being able to name the strategies some authors use during the writing process is not enough. Students need to experiment with these authentic strategies by applying them to their own writing process. In order to provide more authentic writing experiences for students, the author examined strategies used by professional writers in their work. This article details some exercises derived from her research, as well as the impact of the exercises on students who used them. The author's research leads her to believe that there is a real need for more authentic student writing experiences.