This article discusses a National Writing Project Young Writer's Camp for students in grades four through twelve with initial varying attitudes and writing experiences and how "campers'" attitudes and beliefs about writing and their own identities as writers were transformed over two weeks. Based on matched pre- and post-surveys, students showed a positive change in response to ten statements related to attitude toward writing. While two weeks is a short amount of time, the findings suggest that in an effort to raise test scores and school API ratings, teachers have moved away from the well-tested foundations of writing instruction (student choice, revision, writer's craft, publication, and authentic assessment) which showed a profound positive effect on the quality and quantity of the texts produced by the Young Writers. The authors argue that the writing activities done in the camp are possible in K-12 classrooms and that a reconceptualization of writing and writer identity is desperately needed in today's classrooms.