George RR Martin
George RR Martin, author of the "Song of Ice and Fire" fantasy series that is the basis of the television series "Game of Thrones," gestures during his masterclass at the Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival (NIFFF) in Neuchatel, July 10, 2014. Reuters/Denis Balibouse

The delay in the release of “Winds of Winter” has not been caused by writer’s block, George RR Martin has confirmed. However the author also added that he has a lot of things to get done. It seems that no matter how hard he works, he is falling behind on some of his projects.

Martin has a lot of projects to focus on, but he is “always, always” working on the next book in “A Song of Ice and Fire” series, he wrote on his official blog. Replying to a comment by one of the fans, the author said that he never “professed writer’s block.” He said that this problem, which plagues many writers, hasn’t affected him. His problem is something else.

The biggest problem that Martin faces is having “too much to do.” Apart from his other books, the author is also involved in TV adaptations of his work. His “Wild Cards” series is coming to the small screen soon, and he is also involved with HBO for another show, which he is not allowed to talk about at the moment.

Martin hopes that “things will calm down soon,” so he may be able to finish “Winds of Winter” and the book after that quickly. However, he is not very optimistic. The author calls his work his “children,” and he is equally fond of them all.

In order to speed up his work, Martin has collaborated with other writers before. He has worked with Elio and Linda on “A World of Ice and Fire,” Lisa Tuttle for “Windshaven,” Daniel Abraham and Garden Dozois on “Hunter’s Run,” and with over 40 writers for his “Wild Cards” series. However, he has not and is not willing to share his work for “A Song of Ice and Fire” with anyone.

With all this work already done and a lot more to come, one of the fans asked what Martin does to relax. The author explained that his work is fun for him so he doesn’t feel the urge to get away from it all. His only wish is for more hours in the day to get more done, and also perhaps some extra energy because he is not as young as he used to be.

Martin described his current mood as “tired.” He did not give any details about the progress of “Winds of Winter” or about when he hopes to finish it. In the past few months, the author has said that he is close to completing the book and is hopeful he will have a release date this year.

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