George R.R. Martin to Focus on the Winds of Winter, Says He Will Skip July's San Diego Comic-Con and November's World Fantasy Convention in Saratoga Unless He Completes and Delivers Book

On his March 16th entry in his Not A Blog blog site, George R.R. Martin parenthetically wrote: "Should I complete and deliver WINDS OF WINTER before these cons roll round, I reserve the right to change my mind."

By "cons," the author was referring to the San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) which will be held July 8-12 at the San Diego Convention Center and the World Fantasy Convention which will be held November 5-8 in Saratoga Springs, New York. By "change his mind," he meant he decided to skip these conventions, and for which he was sorry. He said, "I have too much to do. Too many things on my plate. Son of Kong foremost amongst them." To those familiar with his blog, Son of Kong is how Martin likes to refer to his long-pending Winds of Winter book.

A spokesperson for Penguin Random House, Martin's U.S. publisher, told The Hollywood Reporter that: "George is indeed focusing on his writing, and will therefore not be attending SDCC this year. Since he never confirmed that he would attend in 2015, this really doesn't affect any plans." His own representative last year told the entertainment news site that "the author is cutting back on his appearances in preparation for a big 2015, which will include...possibly the sixth, long-gestating A Song of Fire and Ice book."

The Winds of Winter, the much anticipated, long-gestating sixth installment in Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice seven-book fantasy epic will most likely not really be released within 2015. On January 6, Jane Johnson, Martin's UK publisher, sent a tweet that reads "it's not in our 2015 publishing schedule as it stands - I know no more than that at the moment."

Martin himself admitted he doesn't know when he will actually be able to finish the sixth book in his A Song of Fire and Ice seven-book saga. "I don't know," George R.R. Martin told Digital Spy. "I have days where I make lots of progress, I have days where I make next to no progress, I have days where I think I'm going backwards because I don't like what I wrote yesterday. So I've given up making any predictions on that. I'm just writing it and when it's done, it'll be done."