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AC (After Covid): NotABlog - The Winds of Winter Mentions (Spoilers Extended)

EXTENDED

Background

In this post I thought it would be interesting to take a look at every mention of The Winds of Winter that GRRM has made since Covid "started" (early 2020) on his NotABlog.

Note: I recognize there is no official start date, but for the sake of ease I am going to start with 1 Feb 2020.

If interested: To Go Forward You Must Go Back: TWoW Resource - End of 2024 Edition

2020

February 2020 (3 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

  • 2/1/2020 - SoI&F 2021 Calendar (no mention of Winds, but the starting point I chose, some cool art with Quentyn on the cover of the 2021 calendar)

March 2020 (6 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

April 2020 (7 Blogposts - 2 Mention)

If there is a silver lining in these clouds, this will give me more time to finish WINDS OF WINTER.   I continue to write every day, up here in my mountain fastness.

I am still up in the mountains, doing the social distancing rag, and writing WINDS OF WINTER.   I have good days and bad days, but I am making progress.
...
The only thing I am writing myself is THE WINDS OF WINTER, as I have said many times… but with my producer’s hat on, I am still involved in a number of exciting new shows for HBO
...
There’s more, of course.   There’s always more.   But this post has grown long enough, and Westeros is calling.

If interested: With No Constraints, How Big Could the ASOIAF Story End Up?

May 2020 (6 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

June 2020 (9 Blogposts - 2 Mentions)

If nothing else, the enforced isolation has helped me write.   I am spending long hours every day on THE WINDS OF WINTER, and making steady progress.   I finished a new chapter yesterday, another one three days ago, another one the previous week.   But no, this does not mean that the book will be finished tomorrow or published next week.   It’s going to be a huge book, and I still have a long way to go.   Please do not give any credence to any of the click-bait websites that like to parse every word of my posts as if they were papal encyclicals to divine hidden meanings.
...
In between tapings, I return to Westeros.   Of late I have been visiting with Cersei, Asha, Tyrion, Ser Barristan, and Areo Hotah.   I will be dropping back into Braavos next week.    I have bad days, which get me down, and good days, which lift me up, but all in all I am pleased with the way things are doing.
I do wish they would go faster, of course.   Way way back in 1999, when I was deep in the writing of A STORM OF SWORDS, I was averaging about 150 pages of manuscript a month.   I fear I shall never recapture that pace again.   Looking back, I am not sure how I did it then.    A fever indeed.
...
Mostly, it’s just me in Westeros, with occasional side trips to other places in the pages of a great book.
Now you will have to excuse me.   Arya is calling.   I think she means to kill someone.

((And before anyone starts to panic, “oh my god he is making videos in place of writing,” OF COURSE I am still working on WINDS OF WINTER as well.   That really should go without saying, yet somehow I need to say it, or someone might make stupid assumptions.

If interested: GRRM's Writing Style: Some Possible Good News (LOL)

July 2020 (8 Blogposts - 1 Mentions)

This writing stuff is hard. Even so, it has been going well of late.   Three more chapters completed this past week.   And good progress on several more.
Still a long long way to go, though.   Do not get too excited.
...
Anyway… be good, kids.   Me and the Frog are headed back to Westeros.

August 2020 (12 Blogposts - 2 Mentions)

I am back on the mountain again… which means I am back in Westeros again, once more moving ahead with WINDS OF WINTER.
...
For the nonce, it is what it is.   My life is at home, on hold, and I am spending the days in Westeros with my pals Mel and Sam and Vic and  Ty.    And that girl with no name, over there in Braavos.

Dwelling where I am now, deep in the heart of Westeros, I find myself surrounded by my characters, the children of my mind and heart and soul.   They are real to me, as I write them, and I struggle to make them real to my readers as well.  

September 2020 (14 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

October 2020 (11 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

November 2020 (11 Blogposts - 2 Mentions)

Sometimes I do get the feeling that most of you reading my posts here care more about what is happening in Westeros than what is happening in the United States.
So let me assure you that, when not sweating out election returns or brooding over other real world problems, I have continued to work on THE WINDS OF WINTER.
No, sorry, still not done, but I do inch closer.   It is a big big book.   I try not to dwell on that too much.    I write a chapter at a time, a page at a time, a sentence at a time, a word at a time.   It is the only way.   And sometimes I rewrite.
Of late I have been spending a lot of time with the Lannisters.  Cersei and Tyrion in particular.   I’ve also paid a visit to Dorne, and dropped in to Oldtown a time or three.   In addition to turning out new chapters, I’ve been revising some old ones (some very old)… including, yes, some stuff I read at cons ages ago, or even posted online as samples.   I tweak stuff constantly, and sometimes go beyond tweaking, moving things around, combining chapters, breaking chapters in two, reordering stuff.
None of this is even remotely new.   It is how the first five books were written.
I was really on a roll back in June and July.   Progress has continued since then, but more slowly… I suffered a gut punch in early August that really had me down for a time, and another, for different reasons, in early September.   But I slogged on, and of late I am picking up steam again.

Now pardon me.  I have more books to read (and one to write, I know, I know, I know)

December 2020 (7 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

2021

January 2021 (7 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

February 2021 (4 Blogposts - 1 Mention)

I wrote hundreds and hundreds of pages of THE WINDS OF WINTER in 2020.   The best year I’ve had on WOW since I began it.    Why?  I don’t know.   Maybe the isolation.   Or maybe I just got on a roll.   Sometimes I do get on a roll.
I need to keep rolling, though.   I still have hundreds of more pages to write to bring the novel to a satisfactory conclusion.
That’s what 2021 is for, I hope.
I will make no predictions on when I will finish.   Every time I do, assholes on the internet take that as a “promise,” and then wait eagerly to crucify me when I miss the deadline.   All I will say is that I am hopeful.
I have a zillion other things to do as well, though.   My plate is full to overflowing.   Every time I wrap up one thing, three more things land on me.   Monkeys on my back, aye, aye, I’ve sung that song before.   So many monkeys.   And Kong.
I will talk about all that in a different blog post.

March 2021 (10 Blogposts - 1 Mention)

You all know what is on my plate in prose.   I need to finish WINDS, and then maybe write another Dunk & Egg novella, and then get right into A DREAM OF SPRING, and in between edit some more Wild Cards books.
Once more into the breach, dear friends… Westeros beckons.

April 2021 (4 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

May 2021 (5 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

June 2021 (1 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

July 2021 (5 Blogposts - 1 Mention)

That’s all for now.   The woods were lovely, dark and deep, but I have promises to keep, and books to write before I sleep.

August 2021 (4 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

September 2021 (7 Blogposts - 1 Mention)

In a couple of weeks, ESPN will be bringing back those halcyon days with a four-part two-night documentary about that amazing season.
It should be a cool couple of nights.   And you know the best part?   I’m in the show.   Can’t say how much or how often, but they came up to my cabin a few months back and interviewed me for an hour or so (and never asked once about THE WINDS OF WINTER or the new GAME OF THRONES successor shows I am developing for HBO).

October 2021 (6 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

November 2021 (1 Blogposts - 1 Mention)

I have working, yes, yes… but not on the railroad.   I have been writing WINDS OF WINTER, editing three new Wild Cards books, sitting down with some amazing screenwriters and showrunners to create three hundred and seventeen new GAME OF THRONES successor shows for HBO and HBO Max,  and serving as executive producer on various other television and film projects in various stages of development

December 2021 (10 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

2022

January 2022 (1 Blogpost - 1 Mention)

For the past decade or so, he was writing an original  novel all his own, a period horror/ SF tale called BLACK TRAIN COMING.   He never finished it, though he had been laboring on that one even longer than I’ve been working on THE WINDS OF WINTER.   His declining health the past few years slowed him down considerably, sad to say.

February 2022 (6 Blogposts - 1 Mention)

(And me, you ask?  No, I did not write a script for the first season of HOUSE… part of me would have loved to, but I have been kind of busy with WINDS OF WINTER, the other THRONES successor shows, various WILD CARDS books, the WILD CARDS tv pilot for Peacock and UCP, DARK WINDS for AMC, ROADMARKS for HBO, NIGHT OF THE COOTERS and a couple other really cool Howard Waldrop projects, and… well, yeah, okay, I bought a railroad, never mind.   I did co-create the series with Ryan and help give it its shape, and he and I have been in constant contact ever since).

March 2022 (7 Blogposts - 2 Mentions)

Yes, of course I am still working on THE WINDS OF WINTER.   I have stated that a hundred times in a hundred venues, having to restate it endlessly is just wearisome.      I made a lot of progress on WINDS in 2020, and less in 2021… but “less” is not “none.”
The world of Westeros, the world of A SONG OF ICE & FIRE, is my number one priority, and will remain so until the story is told.   But Westeros has become bigger than THE WINDS OF WINTER, or even A SONG OF ICE & FIRE.   In addition to WINDS, I also need to deliver the second volume of Archmaester Gyldayn’s history, FIRE & BLOOD.   (Thinking of calling that one BLOOD & FIRE, rather than just F&B, Vol 2).   Got a couple hundred pages of that one written, but there’s still a long way to go.   I need to write more of the Dunk & Egg novellas, tell the rest of their stories, especially since there’s a television series about them in development.   There’s a lavish coffee table book coming later this year, an illustrated, condensed version of FIRE & BLOOD done with Elio Garcia and Linda Antonsson (my partners on THE WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE), and my Fevre River art director, Raya Golden.   And another book after that, a Who’s Who in Westeros.  And that’s just the books.
...
And in addition to all that, let me say one again, yes, I am still working on WINDS OF WINTER.

If interested: Other subjects in the ASOIAF universe that GRRM wants to write about

Many of you reading this are fantasy fans, I know.   Waiting for WINDS OF WINTER, I know, I know… but looking forward to the new TV shows as well.

April 2022 (4 Blogposts - 1 Mention)

THE WINDS OF WINTER is going to be a big book.   The way it is going, it could be bigger than A STORM OF SWORDS or A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, the longest books in the series to date.   I do usually cut and trim once I finish, but I need to finish first.

If interested: [GRRM's Recent Comments on TWOW's Length (Spoilers Extended) : r/asoiaf](https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/ui4mbi/grrms_recent_comments_on_twows_length_spoilers/)

May 2022 (3 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

June 2022 (4 Blogposts - 3 Mentions)

He had been working on a novel called BLACK TRAIN COMING even longer than I have been working on THE WINDS OF WINTER
...
(It will feel odd to travel again.   I have only left home once since January 2020).
WINDS, you say?   Yes, still working.   Finally finished a clutch of Cersei chapters that were giving me fits.   Now I am wrestling with Jaime and Brienne.   The work proceeds, though not as fast as many of you would like.

If interested: GRRM's Recent TWOW Comments & Our Last "Unconfirmed" POV for TWoW

It is June 6 as I type this.   Next weekend, JUNE 12, will see the debut of DARK WINDS on AMC  and AMC+.
Yes, it has “Winds” in the title.   No, it has nothing to do with Westeros.   C’mon, guys, I did not invent the word, and I am not the first writer to use it in a title.

Yes, WINDS OF WINTER. No, have not forgotten. I was back with Tyrion this past week.

If interested: GRRM: "Back with Tyrion" in TWoW

July 2022 (12 Blogposts - 2 Mentions)

Which brings me to THE WINDS OF WINTER. Most of you know by now that I do not like to give detailed updates on WINDS.   I am working on it, I have been working on it, I will continue to work on it.   (Yes, I work on other things as well).   I love nothing more than to surprise my readers with twists and turns they did not see coming, and I risk losing those moments if I go into too much detail.   Spoilers, you know.   Even saying that I am working on a Tyrion chapter, as I did last week, gives away the fact that Tyrion is not dead.   Reading sample chapters at cons, or posting them on line, which I did for years, gives away even more.   I actually quite enjoyed doing that, until the day came that I realized I had read and/or posted the first couple of hundred pages of WINDS, or thereabouts.  If I had kept on with the readings, half the book might be out by now. So I am not going to give you all any kind of detailed report on the book, but… I will say this. I have been at work in my winter garden.   Things are growing… and changing, as does happen with us gardeners.   Things twist, things change, new ideas come to me (thank you, muse), old ideas prove unworkable, I write, I rewrite, I restructure, I rip everything apart and rewrite again, I go through doors that lead nowhere, and doors that open on marvels. Sounds mad, I know.   But it’s how I write.   Always has been.   Always will be.   For good or ill. What I have noticed more and more of late, however, is my gardening is taking me further and further away from the television series.   Yes, some of the things you saw on HBO in GAME OF THRONES you will also see in THE WINDS OF WINTER (though maybe not in quite the same ways)… but much of the rest will be quite different. And really, when you think about it, this was inevitable.   The novels are much bigger and much much more complex than the series.   Certain things that happened on HBO will not happen in the books.   And vice versa.   I have viewpoint characters in the books never seen on the show: Victarion Greyjoy, Arianne Martell, Areo Hotah, Jon Connington, Aeron Damphair   They will all have chapters, and the things they do and say will impact the story and the major characters who were on the show.   I have legions of secondary characters, not POVs but nonetheless important to the plot, who also figure in the story: Lady Stoneheart, Young Griff,  the Tattered Prince, Penny, Brown Ben Plumm, the Shavepate, Marwyn the Mage, Darkstar, Jeyne Westerling.  Some characters you saw in the show are quite different than the versions in the novels.   Yarra Greyjoy is not Asha Greyjoy, and HBO’s Euron Greyjoy is way, way, way, way different from mine.   Quaithe still has a part to play.  So does Rickon Stark.   And poor Jeyne Poole.   And… well, the list is long.    (And all this is part of why WINDS is taking so long.   This is hard, guys). Oh, and there will be new characters as well.   No new viewpoints, I promise you that, but with all these journeys and battles and scheming to come, inevitably our major players will be encountering new people in lands far and near. One thing I can say,  in general enough terms that I will not be spoiling anything:  not all of the characters who survived until the end of GAME OF THRONES will survive until the end of A SONG OF ICE & FIRE, and not all of the characters who died on GAME OF THRONES will die in A SONG OF ICE & FIRE.   (Some will, sure.  Of course.   Maybe most.   But definitely not all)   ((Of course, I could change my mind again next week, with the next chapter I write.   That’s gardening)). And the ending?   You will need to wait until I get there.   Some things will be the same.   A lot will not. No doubt, once I am done, there will be huge debate about which version of the story is better.   Some people will like my book, others will prefer the television show.   And that’s fine, you pays your money and your makes your choice.   (I do fear that a certain proportion of fans are so angry about how long WINDS has taken me that they are prepared to hate the book, unread.   That saddens me, but there nothing I can do about it, but write the best book that I can, and hope that when it comes out most fans will read it with clean hands and an open mind). That’s all I can tell you right now.  I need to get back to the garden.   Tyrion is waiting for me.

FIRE & BLOOD will include that tale… as well as a lot, lot more.   Aegon’s Conquest.   Maegor the Cruel and his war with the Faith.   The long reign of Jaehaerys the Conciliator and Good Queen Alysanne.   Septon Moon, the Serpent in Scarlet, Elissa Farman and the stolen dragon eggs, the regency of King Aegon III… it’s all here, and much more.
(And yes, this is the first of two volumes.   The second will follow… through not till the WINDS have blown).

August 2022 (4 Blogposts - 1 Mention)

I hope to wrap up the story line for one of the viewpoint characters of WINDS OF WINTER this week.   Maybe even two.

If interested: Why I'm Excited... GRRM's Recent NotABlog Comments (Lol)

September 2022(4 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

October 2022 (3 Blogposts - 1 Mention)

But right now, Ryan Condal’s focus is on HOT D season two, and mine is on THE WINDS OF WINTER.

November 2022 (3 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

December 2022 (4 Blogposts - 2 Mentions)

Casterly Rock will not remain forever offstage, I hope.   I have two more novels to go, and my plan is to have one or more of my viewpoint characters visit the Rock in THE WINDS OF WINTER or A DREAM OF SPRING, so I can show you all the wonders and terrors and treasures of House Lannister first hand.   Meanwhile, feel free to ponder… could Casterly Rock stand against dragons?

If interested: Thoughts on GRRM's New NotABlog Post on Casterly Rock

But now I am back in the salt mine, working… working on so many bloody things, my head may soon explode.   Yes, WINDS OF WINTER, yes, yes.   And HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, season two.   And several of the other successor shows that we’re developing with HBO.  (Some of those are moving faster than others, as is always the case with development.   None have been greenlit yet, though we are hoping… maybe soon.  A couple have been shelved, but I would not agree that they are dead.   You can take something off the shelf as easily as you can put it on the shelf.  All the changes at HBO Max have impacted us, certainly).   We are also still developing the Wild Cards tv series for Peacock, based (largely) on FORT FREAK.   And I have Wild Cards books to edit.  Oh, and did I forget WINDS OF WINTER?  No, of course I didn’t.   But if I ever did, I know you folks will remind me.
...
 Clearly, the Football Gods hate me.   Maybe they are pissed off about WINDS being so late too…
...
And watching WHITE LOTUS 2 on HBO made me want to go visit Sicily… but I won’t, not until WINDS is done and delivered, I promised.

2023

January 2023 (6 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

February 2023 (6 Blogposts - 2 Mentions)

(Please note that I did not use “Winds” in the title of this blog.   The last time I did that, the internet went nuts.   Guys, gals, c’mon, Tony Hillerman wrote and published THE DARK WIND decades before I ever dreamed of Westeros).

I want to return to Morocco, Granada, Seville, Toledo, Madrid, Barcelona, and Asturias as well… oh, and to Portugal too.   Lisbon and Porto are amazing.
But not until I finish WINDS OF WINTER.

March 2023 (5 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

April 2023 (5 Blogposts - 1 Mention)

I just need to finish THE WINDS OF WINTER, and then do either A DREAM OF SPRING or volume two of FIRE & BLOOD, and slip in a new Dunk & Egg between each of those in my copious spare time… and that will keep me ahead of Ira and his merry crew… for a few more years.

If interested: Thoughts on the new GRRM Not A Blog: A Knight and a Squire

May 2023 (5 Blogposts - 1 Mention)

((Some of you, I fear, may be having anxiety attacks just now, on the mistaken assumption that this strike affects WINDS OF WINTER*.   You can relax.   The WGA is a union of film and television writers.  It has nothing to do with novels, short stories, or any other form of prose fiction, nor comic books and graphic novels, nor stage plays, nor the editing of collections and anthologies   I have on-going projects in all those areas, and that work continues unabated.  And WINDS continues to be priority number one)).*

June 2023 (2 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

July 2023 (7 Blogposts - 1 Mention)

  • 7/22/2023

And, yes, yes, of course, I’ve been working on WINDS OF WINTER.  Almost every day.  Writing, rewriting, editing, writing some more.   Making steady progress.   Not as fast as I would like.. .certainly not as fast as YOU  would like… but progress nonetheless.

August 2023 (3 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

September 2023 (2 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

October 2023 (5 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

November 2023 (3 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

December 2023 (5 Blogposts - Mentions)

I also found time to meet with my British publisher, and my other British publisher, to talk WILD CARDS and A SONG OF ICE & FIRE and (of course) THE WINDS OF WINTER.
And… of course, of course… I also spent three days with HOUSE OF THE DRAGON.  Starting with a visit to the studio where HOT D is being shot.   (I had originally planned to visit there months ago, but the WGA strike put an end to that, and instead I stayed here in Santa Fe, working on WINDS OF WINTER and walking a picket line).

2024

January 2024 (5 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

February 2024 (2 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

March 2024 (4 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

April 2024 (7 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

May 2024 (3 Blogposts - 1 Mention)

The show will make its debut next year… and if it does well, THE SWORN SWORD and THE MYSTERY KNIGHT will follow.  By which time I hope to have finished some more Dunk & Egg stories (yes, after I finish THE WINDS OF WINTER).

If interested: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: Anything/Everything Dunk & Egg

June 2024 (8 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

July 2024 (5 Blogposts - 3 Mentions)

  • 7/7/2024 - Yum

So many people are cross with me because of how long it is taking me to finish THE WINDS OF WINTER?  Will they be buying chocolate me by the thousands and biting off my chocolate head in their wroth?

Last year, when I mentioned seeing my Voyager editor in London, the internet went nuts, throwing up all sorts of theories about how this meant that WINDS OF WINTER was done and a huge announcement was at hand.   Uhhhh… sorry guys, but no.   That’s not how it works.  Making contacts… which often turn into friendships… is a huge part of publishing.  Most of my communication with my editors and publishers is conducted via emails, phone calls, zooms, and texts (in the old days, we had letters written on paper too).   There’s not a lot of face to face, especially when we’re talking about people who live across an ocean… so when I travel, if I have a day or two to catch up with one of my editors or agents, I jump on it.   Every time I travel to NYC, I  get together with my literary agents, and my editors at Bantam and Tor.. along with old friends, family, and the like.   That’s true everywhere I go.   If I fly to Germany for a con or book fair, I will see my German agents, publishers, and translators.  If it’s Italy or Spain or Finland, same thing.   If I ever find myself in Brazil or Japan or Egypt, I’d try and connect with my Brazilian or Japanese or Egyptian publishers.   This is just the standard way of doing business, guys.  It does NOT signify that some momentous announcement is at hand.   It doesn’t signify anything, actually… except a desire to touch base, catch up, renew old contacts or make some new ones… and enjoy a nice meal.  So calm down, please.   When WINDS OF WINTER is done, the word will not trickle out, there WILL be a big announcement… where and when I cannot say.

My dragons do not talk.   They are relatively intelligent, but they are still beasts.
They bond with men… some men… and the why and how of that, and how it came to be, will eventually be revealed in more detail in THE WINDS OF WINTER and A DREAM OF SPRING and some in BLOOD & FIRE.  (Septon Barth got much of it right).

If interested: GRRM's Recent NotABlogs: Small Change on TWoW Announcement & His Thoughts on Dragons

August 2024 (3 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

September 2024 (6 Blogposts - 2 Mentions)

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.   My various television projects ate up most of those months. 

I’ve had a lot of things on my mind of late, so there was plenty to talk about:  WINDS OF WINTER

October 2024 (5 Blogposts - 2 Mentions)

By the time I finished the story, I was in love with Dunk & Egg.  Still am.  I have written a lot of stories over the decades and created a lot of characters.   They are all my  literary children… some m0re than others… but Dunk & Egg were special.   I  mean to write the rest of their tales as well … in my copious spare time after I finish THE WINDS OF WINTER, yes, yes, I know

If interested: Dunk & Egg: "Summerhall"

One of these days I need to write that story about Braavos we were developing for HBO.   They shelved that one a couple of years back, alas, but that does not mean I won’t go back to it… after WINDS OF WINTER is done, of course.

If interested: Let's talk about Braavos in The Winds of Winter

November 2024 (7 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

December 2024 (2 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

2025

January 2025 (3 Blogposts - Mentions)

Meanwhile, we’ll be moving on to “The Sworn Sword,” the second tale of Dunk & Egg.   And once I finish THE WINDS OF WINTER, I will need to get hopping on “The Village Hero,” and all the other tales that await the lads.  Don’t worry, I am sure you folks will remind me.

If interested: Dunk & Egg: "The Village Hero"

February 2025 (3 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

March 2025 (1 Blogpost - 0 Mentions)

April 2025 (6 Blogposts - 2 Mentions)

Something else is going to be happening on April 8 as well.  (Or maybe on April 9).   No, I am not announcing the completion of THE WINDS OF WINTER, the sixth volume of A SONG OF ICE & FIRE.  Please don’t start any rumors to that effect.   I am so tired of having to issue denials every time some offhand comment of mine, most having nothing to do with WINDS,  somehow convinces half the internet that the book is imminent.   It’s not.  No.  (Maybe I need to stop making offhand comments)

Big news coming on April 8, I said, and no, it was not going to be the delivery of THE WINDS OF WINTER, don’t go there, had nothing to do with that.  But it was going to be something very cool, something astonishing.

May 2025 (3 Blogposts - 1 Mention)

I know, I know.  Some of you will just be pissed off by this, as you are by everything I announce here that is not about Westeros or THE WINDS OF WINTER.   You have given up on me, or on the book.  I will never finish WINDS,  If I do, I will never finish A DREAM OF SPRING.   If I do, it won’t be any good.  I ought to get some other writer to pinch hit for me…   I am going to die soon anyway, because I am so old.   I lost all interest in A Song of Ice and Fire decades ago.  I don’t give a shit about writing any longer, I just sit around and spend my money.   I edit the Wild Cards books too, but you hate Wild Cards.   You may hate everything else I have ever written, the Hugo-winners and Hugo-losers, “A Song for Lya” and DYING OF THE LIGHT, “Sandkings” and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST,  “This Tower of Ashes” and “The Stone City,” OLD MARS and OLD VENUS and ROGUES and WARRIORS and DANGEROUS WOMEN and all the other anthologies I edited with my friend Gardner Dozois,   You don’t care about any of those, I know.   You don’t care about anything but WINDS OF WINTER.  You’ve told me so often enough).
Thing is, I do care about them.
And I care about Westeros and WINDS as well.  The Starks and Lannisters and Targaryens, Tyrion and Asha, Dany and Daenerys, the dragons and the direwolves, I care about them all.  More than you can ever imagine.

If interested: GRRM NotABlog 5/28/2025: Howard Meets Hercules Discussion

June 2025 (1 Blogpost - 0 Mentions)

July 2025 (1 Blogpost - 0 Mentions)

August 2025 (1 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

September 2025 (4 Blogposts - 0 Mentions)

October 2025 (2 Blogposts (as of 10/16/2025) - 0 Mentions)

If interested: GRRM's "Tentative" Schedule/Plan

TLDR: A list of every TWoW mention from the "start" of Covid (~February 2020) until now (10/16/2025) in GRRM's NotABlog. Let me know if I missed any, this was tedious.

Posted Oct 16, 2025, 5:43 PM UTC

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