This article describes The Bare Book Project, a writing and research project that challenged pre-service and in-service teachers to create their own original pieces of children's literature, and use aspects of their personal writing as models for students in elementary school classrooms. Building on research regarding teacher modeling in writing classrooms, the author investigated teachers' purposes for, and methods of using their own writing as models, as well as the benefits and challenges that teachers experienced when they incorporated their own writing during classroom writing instruction.