George R.R. Martin has described his long-delayed novel The Winds of Winter as “the curse of my life,” acknowledging that various professional obligations have repeatedly drawn his attention away from the book.
The 76-year-old author, best known for creating the Game of Thrones franchise, first began writing the highly anticipated penultimate volume in the A Song of Ice and Fire series in 2010. Thirteen years later, fans are still awaiting its release.
In a recent interview with Time, Martin admitted that while he continues to make progress on the manuscript, other projects—particularly related to television—frequently interrupt his work.
“I’m still working on it,” Martin said. “I have periods where I make progress and then other things divert my attention. Suddenly I have a deadline for one of the HBO shows, I have something else to do.”
Martin is currently involved with several high-profile projects, including HBO’s House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, as well as serving as a contributor to the video game Elden Ring and AMC’s television series Dark Winds. He also operates a restored movie theatre and recently opened a bookstore, which he insists do not significantly interfere with his writing schedule.
“I swear, I opened a bookstore and people say, ‘Why is George R.R. Martin opening a bookstore when he should be writing Winds of Winter?’” he said. “I don’t actually work in the bookstore, you know. If you go into the bookstore, I’m not gonna ring up your order. I have a theatre—I’m not the projectionist. They seem to overestimate how much time I’m putting into these things.”
The author also responded to online criticism after appearing earlier this month with three dire wolf pups, said to be the world’s first successfully de-extincted animals. The species, which figures prominently in his novels, had been extinct for over 10,000 years until a U.S. biotech company cloned the animals using ancient DNA.
While the photo opportunity drew public interest, it also sparked frustration from fans who quipped that “we got real dire wolves before Winds of Winter.”
Martin dismissed the backlash, stating, “It did not seriously infringe on the writing of Winds of Winter, but people make it seem like it’s one or the other. And it’s not.”
Despite the delays, Martin has shared occasional updates on the book’s progress. In 2022, he described The Winds of Winter as “a big, big book” and said it would likely surpass the length of previous volumes. At the time, he estimated he was about “three-quarters of the way done.”
A seventh and final book, A Dream of Spring, is planned to conclude the series.
