After J.R.R. Tolkien published The Hobbit, he spent the next 12 years, while employed as a college professor, writing his epic high fantasy, The Lord of The Rings. Despite the success of his first book, he ran into issues with his publishers over the LOTR as it was deemed to too long. The publisher was concerned about the market viability of a story that was the about the same length as Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace (over 450,000 words). Tolkien wrote them, "I would gladly consider the publication of any part of the stuff." To play it safe, the publisher separated his story into three parts. The first book of the Lord of the Rings trilogy was finally published when Tolkien was 62 years of age.

I would by no means equate my writing with the genius of Tolkien, but I do understand his desire for his story to make it out into the public market. I am 64 years of age and have also spent the last 17 years, while employed in my day job as the Executive Director of a non-profit arts organization, completing the fantasy story I originally started for my children when they were young. It has taken so long that I now have grandchildren of the same age.

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It can take a long time to write an epic story amid many competing responsibilities. To that end I took the approach of 19th century author, Anthony Trollope. Anthony was a postmaster, but he dedicated time each and every day to writing before going to work. Anthony became one of the UK's most prolific authors. I am not claiming to be as disciplined as Anthony Trollope but I try do to write something every day and I keep detailed spreadsheets to track my progress.

I developed my self discipline in my younger days when I planted trees. During my eight seasons I planted just over 500,000 trees. I was asked how I managed to put a half-million trees in the ground, I replied, "one tree at a time."

In a few weeks I will start posting book three of the Cor Series, The Scepter and when it is completed, my story will be longer than War and Peace. Thankfully these are the days of the webnovel and a story can go on indefinitely, as long as you can hold the readers attention. Writing a webnovel fantasy is like treeplanting, you just keep your head down, write one word at a time, and never quit.

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