As a newbie to writing, and related editing and publishing processes, I recently experienced an eye-opening, roller coaster ride of a learning curve as the Ascribe writers prepared a collection of short stories with plans to publish.
It was an ambitious project. Several group members served as editors, for each other and for the rest of us, in order to ensure our work was the best it could be. Each story was reviewed by four editors. In our scramble to meet deadlines, we created quite the log-jam at the end, making for extremely short turn-around times for writing changes and submitting stories to the next editor. Read more
In photography, the golden hour (sometimes known as the magic hour) is a period shortly after sunrise or before sunset during which daylight is redder and softer than when the Sun is higher in the sky. In medicine, the golden hour is right after a traumatic event. The first hour after the accident is when the patient is most likely to see the greatest recovery. For me, the golden hour, or my magic hour is before sunrise, when the telephone doesn’t ring, the kids are still sleeping and the demands of email can be forgotten until after nine. 
If you’re anything like me, you have a life that keeps getting in the way of your writing. I have a job, two kids, other hobbies, and a house and property to look after. I try to balance it all out, juggle all the balls, but sometimes you’re thrown a curve that can keep you pre-occupied for months. Or maybe you’re even thrown three curve balls, at the same time, plus all the other stuff that comes up like graduations and birthdays. There are at least two reasons to keep a writing practice going even when it seems like you’ll never have more than half an hour to write at a time. 
About to jump into a new writing project, I find myself developing brand new characters, and I realize I haven’t really done this in a while. I’ve been working on one large writing project for a long time and have grown very comfortable and familiar with my main characters. Yes, there are new characters that enter the scene from time to time and have their roles to play, but the main characters remain constant. They grow and change along the way, but I see them so clearly. While there is a lot to creating any character, there’s something about creating a new main character and the world around them, seeing them begin to take shape and take on a life of their own. Beginning hazy, you start to see their faces, their bodies, their mannerisms. Their passions, views, and the way they look at and interact with the world take shape. You see their relationships and the way they connect with people, and how these interactions make them feel. I find it a fun and exciting process.