Although learning to write for publication is an important outcome of doctoral education, it has received surprisingly little scholarly attention. Within a phase-driven socialization framework, this study uses narratives of faculty who regularly write with their doctoral students for publication to expose challenges students commonly encounter in the writing process. Common challenges include conceptualizing disciplinary writing as a homework problem, failing to contextualize results within the larger ‘story’ of scientific discovery, and being largely unaware of the revision process that almost always accompanies publication. Implications of these findings as they pertain to doctoral education are discussed.