"Fresh, fearless, more or less brilliant stuff"--if you want to get hired. That sums up the importance of authentic assessment in writing and the unwitting harm caused by typically vapid writing prompts and rubrics, and rigid use of the so-called writing process. The point of writing is to have something to say and to make a difference in saying it. Rarely, however, is "impact" the focus in writing instruction in English class. Rather, typical rubrics stress organization and mechanics; typical prompts are academic exercises of no genuine consequence; instruction typically makes the "process" formulaic rather than purposeful. The overwhelming majority of Americans will not write academic papers for a living. The writing tasks that are required of individuals in the real world are actually more like the context-bound precise and focused tasks where audience and purpose really matter. Reality therapy is the only way to escape the inherent egocentrism that makes "all" writers think that they said it all and said it well--when, in fact, the paper contains only a third of their thoughts, a third of the thoughts is not clear, and the paper's impact is far less than the writer believes has been achieved. By introducing a real purpose, a real audience--hence, "consequences"--individuals get the feed"back" they desperately need to become good writers. The author encourages individuals to be "serious" about their writing. "Serious" means committing oneself to never confusing effort with results; saying "But I worked so hard on this!" can never be the exclamation of a mature writer. On the other hand, they must resist the temptation to be dismissive of ad copy, joke-telling, or letters to Mom as not serious enough. The best writing--regardless of content--is "always" "fresh and fearless." But such writing is only possible when teachers teach from the start that the Purpose is to touch real Audiences and create some alteration of the world--whether students are writing jokes or the great American novel. Otherwise, why write? It is far too difficult to reduce it to a mere chore. (Contains 2 notes.)