George R.R. Martin confessed he always had trouble beating deadlines, and this was the real culprit behind the massive delay of The Winds of Winter. Along with his other projects and commitments, the pressure from following a schedule only gives him more anxiety, thus slowing down his writing.
In a heartfelt note posted on his LiveJournal page, the famed fantasy author admitted he’s the person most upset with the situation:
THE WINDS OF WINTER is not finished. Believe me, it gave me no pleasure to type those words. You’re disappointed, and you’re not alone. My editors and publishers are disappointed, HBO is disappointed, my agents and foreign publishers and translators are disappointed… but no one could possibly be more disappointed than me.
Somewhere in the lengthy blog entry, he shared his struggle with following deadlines. For some reason, Martin does not work well with it. He wrote his first novel, Dying of the Light, without any contracts or deadlines, and the same goes for Fevre Dream and The Armageddon Rag.
At the time, no one was aware he was writing anything until he submitted the completed manuscript. “Write at my own pace and deliver when I’m done. That’s really how I am most comfortable, even now
GRRM Acknowledged Fault For Missing Two ‘The Winds of Winter’ Deadlines
Fans know that Martin was supposed to deliver it before Game of Thrones Season 6 premiered, and, at the time, he was confident the show would not catch up with the book. For things to run smoothly, his publishers demanded that he finish it by October 2015. His first deadline: Halloween.
Martin admitted the writing did not go as well as he had hoped. He’s had a busy schedule with all his travels and other projects, but he did not entirely blame all these—it went back to his anxiety about writing with a deadline. Realizing the book would not be finished by Halloween, he succumbed to depression.
Thankfully, his editors and publishers gave him another chance to submit the manuscript by the end of the year. Martin was confident he could finally do it, but the days turned into weeks, and all of a sudden, it was January 2016 already. He missed the end-of-the-year deadline.
Martin sincerely acknowledged that he failed to finish the book on time, and he blew his second chance. The deadlines took a toll on him, later noting: “The fewer the days, the greater the stress, and the slower the pace of my writing became.”
TWOW Remains Far From Finished Despite Martin No Longer Following a Deadline
The Winds of Winter is 14 years late, and Martin is no longer setting any deadline for the book. He asserted in 2021 that there will be no predictions anymore (via Not a Blog). With this, fans were left in the dark as to when they can anticipate the arrival of the book.
Martin gave us a hopeful update in 2022 when he revealed he’s 75% finished with the novel. Recently, a fellow author revealed he is now at 70%, which hints at a possible rewriting session. Within three years, the story did not seem to make any progress at all.
| For This Year (2025) | TWOW Updates | Source |
| March | The book is coming pretty well | Collider |
| April | Called the novel the curse of his life | Time |
| May | Reassured fans that he still cares about the book and his characters | Not A Blog |
It’s safe to say that Martin is now plagued with a different problem. With no deadline to stress him out, we can only guess what’s causing the further delay.
What do you think is causing The Winds of Winter’s delay? Share your thoughts below!
