George R.R. Martin may be an iconic author, but it’s safe to say his to-do list could give anyone nightmares. Known for his groundbreaking ‘A Song of Ice and Fire‘ series, which HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones‘ brought to screen.
Martin has been balancing numerous projects. And unfortunately, it’s causing a bottleneck in what fans really want: the long-awaited release of ‘The Winds of Winter‘.
George R.R. Martin Calls Some TV Projects “Pleasant”, But Most Were “Not So Fun”
In a recent blog post, George R.R. Martin got candid about how working on his TV projects this year has made it hard to churn out the pages. He hinted that while some of the work has been enjoyable (like his upcoming show ‘The Hedge Knight‘), the majority has been, well, less than thrilling.
Juggling multiple TV shows and trying to finish ‘The Winds of Winter‘ sounds like a lot of pressure. Martin admitted, “My various television projects ate up most of those months. Some of that was pleasant [like] ‘The Hedge Knight’, most of it was not.”
Related: George R.R. Martin Announces 7 More ‘Game Of Thrones’ Spin-off Shows Are In Progress
Now, while we don’t have the full details on what those “not-so-pleasant” projects were, ‘House of the Dragon‘ fans might feel a bit nervous. After all, Martin has already thrown some subtle shade at the series by omitting it from his list of favorite TV ventures.
Moreover, he’s also been dealing with personal stress, such as the loss of his close friend Howard Waldrop, which has only intensified the pressure. He was a science fiction author who died in January.
“The stress kept mounting, the news went from bad to worse to worst, my mood seemed to swing between fury and despair, and at night I tossed and turned when I should have been sleeping,” he wrote. “When I did sleep, well, my dreams were none too pleasant either.“
There’s Still A Long Wait For ‘The Winds Of Winter’
And what about ‘The Winds of Winter‘? The good news is that George R.R. Martin has been writing, just not as much as he would like. “Writing came hard, and though I did produce some new pages on both THE WINDS OF WINTER (yes) and BLOOD & FIRE (the sequel to FIRE & BLOOD, the second part of my Targaryen history), I would have liked to turn out a lot more,” he confessed.
Related: ‘A Word A Day’: Fans React As George R.R. Martin Tells Not To Pester Him About ‘Winds Of Winter’
If anything, it shows how committed Martin is to delivering quality work, even if it’s taking longer than expected. He’s also been working on ‘Blood & Fire‘, the sequel to ‘Fire & Blood‘. But everyone’s focus is on ‘The Winds of Winter‘. Here’s hoping that amidst all the TV show chaos, Martin finds time to give fans what they’ve been craving for years.
