In this article, the authors report the importance of teaching students about collaborative writing. When teachers are effective in helping students to learn processes for collaborative writing, everyone involved needs to speak, listen, write, and read about how to write well and what makes writing good. Students are forced to "go meta" about their writing processes and products. They learn more about the "why" and "how" of their writing choices, and when they apply these lessons in the midst of learning them, they gain greater control over their writing. There can be an inherent resistance from students to participating in a collaborative writing project, and there can be good reasons for this--bad prior experiences, reluctance to modify ideas to meet those of other group members, and scheduling issues can all have an effect. Collaborative projects can be fraught with peril, to be sure. They can be messy; they can be difficult, but the end result can be exciting. Giving students the opportunity not only to collaborate, but to collaborate productively in a professional setting can give them the chance to experience how much writing is done in the professional world--written together, with multiple voices, multiple viewpoints, and (sometimes) significant conflict. The results can give students a new perspective on writing and the task of working together toward a common goal.