George R.R. Martin will be glued to his desk in the coming months, writing the rest of the books in his wildly-popular bestselling series "A Song of Ice and Fire." The 67-year-old author is determined to finish "Winds of Winter," the sixth volume in the franchise, just before "Game of Thrones" season 6 debuts on HBO.
"Maybe I'm being overly optimistic about how quickly I can finish. But I canceled two convention appearances, I'm turning down a lot more interviews — anything I can do to clear my decks and get this done," Martin told Entertainment Weekly about his game plan, adding he wishes it was "out now."
In order to finish as soon as possible, the author is also dropping his writing gig for a "Game of Thrones" episode, which takes an awful lot of time as he previously revealed. Martin has penned episodes in the previous seasons of the HBO hit but not in the current season.
He also believes that passing some interviews and appearances will allow him to focus his energies fully on "Winds of Winter," which fans have been raring to see for four years now. Martin's latest book in the series is "A Dance With Dragons," which was published in 2011.
Readers of the writer's novels have long been waiting for the sixth volume and some are growing more and more impatient and worried to the point that they fear that the novelist won't be able to finish the book at all.
Martin previously admitted that he got a bit distracted from writing it ever since he and his work skyrocketed to fame, because this meant that a lot of travelling (which he loved), appearances, conferences, and interviews (where he is asked the same questions over and over).
Martin shows his commitment to finish the book by skipping the San Diego Comic Con scheduled in July and the World Convention 2015 set to take place in New York in November. For now, fans can hope for "Winds of Winter" to hit the shelves before spring. Martin himself would announce the release date (when he can confidently set up one) on his blog.
