'Winds of Winter' still not finished; George R.R. Martin 'months away' from releasing the book

“Winds of Winter” is still not complete and George R.R. Martin has confirmed that the release date is still “months away.” The author has said that his latest deadline to finish the book for an early 2016 release was Halloween, but he has once again missed it.

Terming his current mood as “depressed,” Martin said in a long blog post that he knew that his fans would be “disappointed” by the news. He later added that his editors, publishers, agents and translators were also disappointed. However, he also pointed out that “no one could possibly be more disappointed” than him personally.

The author explained that although he has written “hundreds of pages” and “dozens of chapters,” there is still a lot that needs to be written and he is “months away” from completing the book. Martin also tends to revisit some of his writing to polish the work or make some “major restructures.” A few days ago the author was busy revising a chapter about Theon.

Talking about the completion of “Winds of Winter” and its subsequent release, Martin continued to use his favourite line “It will be done when it’s done.” The author conceded that the anticipation of the book had increased substantially in 2015 because the popular show “Game of Thrones” has already used up all the source material and is now heading into Season 6, without the next book in “A Song of Ice and Fire” series.

The publishers were keen on getting the book out before the premiere episode of the next season of the show and had apparently given Martin a deadline of Halloween to complete the book. The realisation that he will not be able to meet the deadline made him “depressed.” The author said that he had many “distractions” like travelling and new projects with HBO, which kept him from finishing the book.

“ There are no excuses. No one else is to blame. Not my editors and publishers, not HBO, not David & Dan. It's on me. I tried, and I am still trying,” Martin said in his post.

To launch the book in early 2016, the author was later given till the end of 2015 to finish “Winds of Winter,” but the book is still not complete. “I tried, I promise you. I failed. I blew the Halloween deadline, and I've now blown the end of the year deadline,” he said. The author continues to write, but confirmed that it can’t be released before the premiere of “Game of Thrones” Season 6.