This is K.M. Wyland and you are listening to the 468th episode of the Helping Writers Become Authors Podcast.

When I first started out as a writer, one of my mantras was that I had to treat writing like a job.

This meant dedicating consistent swaths of time. had to treat writing like a job.

This meant dedicating consistent swaths of time

to it every day and showing up at the desk

with the same dedication that would be required

if a boss were standing over my chair. These days writing is my job, but I realized

something interesting the other day and that is that I don't really think of the

actual writing as my job. The business side of stuff,

social media, blogging, podcasting, etc. That's what I tend to think of as my job.

I realized how backwards this is, especially since I actually do write for a living.

It's easier to put the daily deadline stuff ahead of the actual writing sometimes to feel, for some some reason that it's more important.

It's a funny head game almost all writers seem to play with themselves even it seems when writing

really is their job.

I'm glad I recognize this mindset because it seems when writing really is their job.

I'm glad I recognize this mindset because now I know I can do better at combating it on a daily basis.

And while I work on that, I hope you enjoyed this week's podcast, six requirements for writing better character goals.

Quick, tell me what your characters want.

Maybe you have an immediate answer.

Maybe your protagonist wants to save the world, survive, or live happily ever after.

While those are all legit goals that have powered hundreds

of good stories, what I'm talking about is what your characters want. I'm talking

...