George R.R. Martin has it kind of rough. He started writing the first book in his world-beating fantasy saga A Song Of Ice And Fire in 1991. Imagine starting something more than 20 years ago that a ravenous horde of nearly 60 million people would love you to finish off as soon as you can, thanks. At this point he should consider just publishing a bulleted list of plot points from the final two ASOIAF books and taking a vacation.
But the constant, sometimes invasive, speculation about the state of book six, The Winds Of Winter, may be having some effect. In a recent LiveJournal post, Martin confesses to having barely any time to see any movies, read any books, or upgrade to a newer social network. Why would he be so busy?
Note that Martin marked his mood on LiveJournal as “pleased.” Why would he be pleased, if he has no time to read or see a movie? Why would George be pleased? Is it because he has been declared the last active user of LiveJournal on the planet? No, it’s because he worked his ass off and the book is done, so stop bothering him.
In fact, as Vanity Fair points out, Martin’s slate of projects is conspicuously full—potentially executive-producing another HBO series, a Syfy show, and a pile of Game Of Thrones spin-offs. Would he have time to do all this other stuff if he hadn’t finished the book?
Earlier this year, Martin told fans he was making progress, though there was reason for skepticism at the time. Now, the evidence is piling up like so many flayed corpses. Yesterday Martin posted this: “I probably won’t be writing episodes of ANY television shows until WINDS OF WINTER is done and delivered, and that goes for the five GAME OF THRONES successor shows as well.” Indeed, he hasn’t written a Game Of Thrones episode since season four. And we all know the only reason you stop writing Game Of Thrones is so you can focus on writing Game Of Thrones. We look forward to the official press release, followed by the prompt creation and publication of book seven.