George RR Martin shares update on The Winds of Winter progress: ‘It’s going to be a huge book’

Author said he’d finished a number of chapters in a matter of weeks, but still has ‘a long way to go’

George RR Martin has posted a new entry on his Not a Blog, with an update of sorts for his progress on the long-delayed book, The Winds of Winter.

In the post, Martin criticises websites “that like to parse every word of my posts as if they were papal encyclicals to divine hidden meanings”.

Back in March, the Game of Thrones author had told fans he had been writing every day during lockdown, “spending more time in Westeros than in the real world”.

While he confirmed in the new post that the book will not be released “tomorrow or published next week”, Martin said he has been writing for “long hours every day”.

“For the present at least, I am healthy… for an out-of-shape guy of 71, at least … and doing all I can to stay that way,” he said.

The latest update on the TWOW release date is that Martin hopes it and Covid-19 will both be finished by next year, so he can attend CoNZealand.

Martin also said he has completed several chapters in the past few weeks, but it was “going to be a huge book” and he has “a long way to go”.

In the post, Martin revealed he has been working on character plots for Cersei, Asha, Tyrion, Ser Barristan and Areo Hotah, and will be “dropping back into Braavos next week”.