He added: "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."
Martin addressed his cancelled trip to Wellington for CoNZealand, the 78th World Science Fiction Convention, saying he was "heartbroken" that the event had been forced to go virtual this year. However, he also noted that "a long interruption" might have cost him "all the momentum" that he has built up, so he will visit next year when he hopes "both COVID-19 and The Winds of Winter will be done."As a further teaser, Martin said that he has been "visiting with Cersei, Asha, Tyrion, Ser Barristan, and Areo Hotah" while writing, and will be "dropping back into Braavos" next week, "with occasional side trips to other places in the pages of a great book."
Despite admitting to having good days and bad days on the novel, Martin appears to be sticking to his prior promise that he will not develop scripts for the Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon, until he finishes writing The Winds of Winter. Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.