In this article, the author introduces the notion of the balloon metaphor, an exercise she created for preservice writing teachers, in which they reflect upon their writing mentors and their writing journey. The author also discusses three very important issues facing the field of literacy today: teachers are not taught to write, teachers of writing must write in order to teach writing well, and teachers must find the time to write with their students and other teachers in order to support writing communities in schools. The National Writing Project Summer Institute is discussed as a professional development model that transforms teachers into writers, and Louise Rosenblatt's reader response theory is mentioned as a theoretical construct of the NWP. The author concludes that teachers who write produce students who write, that all teachers are teachers of literacy, and that teachers who write and reflect upon their practice will develop students who are confident, competent writers.