Embarrassing Question 'Winds Of Winter' Author George RR Martin Wouldn't Ask Himself

“Winds of Winter” is coming, but not even its author knows when exactly it will be released. The delay of “Winds of Winter” has become so long that this is the one question "A Song of Fire and Ice" author George RR Martin is asked no matter where he goes. A few interviews have surfaced online that show how the interviewers have to be careful around the subject, but still find creative ways to ask Martin about it.

In one interview, Martin opened up about role-playing to Mháire Stritter and TDE creator Werner Fuchs interview George Martin at Worldcon 2017 in Helsinki. The interviewer first joked about the author wearing the best George RR Martin costume, and then followed that up by asking him what he would ask the “real” Martin.

The question Martin, whose books gave rise to the highly successful "Game of Thrones" series, appears to have thought of appears to be the same one everyone else was thinking about in the room. The author said he will skip this question because the answer would get him into trouble. The interviewer then said she would not ask him about a certain book from a certain series, saving Martin from having to address a question that follows him everywhere.

The very same question was asked of Martin with great reluctance by John Hodgman in a video posted on the official blog of the “Winds of Winter” author. Hodgman asked the question, though said that he was only doing it to get it out of the way respectfully.

Martin conceded that he should have completed the book a few years ago, but he has been distracted by the other things. The author promised that he is working on it.

Talking about the challenges he faces while writing a mammoth book in the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series, Martin explained that he tries not to look at the big picture while writing. If he were to think about the thousands of pages that are left to be written or about the high quality his fans have come to expect of him, he said it would become “very intimidating.”

What Martin can do at the moment is just focus on writing. He said that he focuses on churning out one page at a time and one word at a time to make sure that he keeps writing.

Martin was recently in New York City, where he met with his editors, publishers and agents. It isn’t clear if he gave them an update on “Winds of Winter.” The author also said that among the things he had to do there was sign 1,600 copies of his new book “Fire & Blood,” which is a fictional history of Westeros. He posted a picture of the books he had to sign on Twitter.