A Song of Ice and Fire author George RR Martin had isolated himself away to get on with finishing The Winds of Winter well before the pandemic hit the US. And now the 72-year-old has given a writing progress update for fans. The Game of Thrones creator lamented how a number of Science Fiction and Fantasy Conventions had been cancelled or postponed and this included this year’s WorldCon in New Zealand.
Fans will remember last year Martin set himself a deadline of late July 2020, when WorldCon takes place, to have The Winds of Winter finished by.
The author wrote on his blog in May 2019: “But I tell you this — if I don’t have THE WINDS OF WINTER in hand when I arrive in New Zealand for worldcon, you have here my formal written permission to imprison me in a small cabin on White Island, overlooking that lake of sulfuric acid, until I’m done.
“Just so long as the acrid fumes do not screw up my old DOS word processor, I’ll be fine.”
Well in his latest blog post, Martin pointed out that the New Zealand WorldCon would be going virtual this year.
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Martin then wrote: “If there is a silver lining in these clouds, this will give me more time to finish WINDS OF WINTER.
“I continue to write every day, up here in my mountain fastness.”
Well, that’s certainly encouraging for fans that he continues to write every day.
After all, the author has said in previous interviews that he only writes when he has a whole day set aside to do so.
Whatever the case, it looks like Martin is heading towards the finish line.
ASOIAF expert BryndenBFish certainly thinks so, tweeting in response to the blog update: “Getting close to gettin’ done.
“Lotta people elsewhere yelling that GRRM is pRoCraStiNAtinG again.
“Call me an optimist, but I like to think he’s polishing WINDS to an even better sheen than DANCE.”
