NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 03: George R. R. Martin attends the "Game Of Thrones" Season 8 Premiere on April 03, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

Okay, lets get the obvious questions out of the way: No, George R.R. Martin hasnt finished writingThe Winds of Winter. In fact, it sounds like he still has a ways to go. But writing the other day on hisNot a Blog, theSong of Ice and Fireauthordoessound optimistic about his progress, which continues a trend I think bodes well.

This writing stuff is hard, Martin begins. Even so, it has been going well of late. Three more chapters completed this past week. And good progress on several more.

Thats good to hear, although of course then he has to throw in this: Still a long long way to go, though. Do not get too excited.

Ill be honest: after waiting forThe Winds of Winterto hit store shelves for nearly a decade, I dont think many people are going to gettooexcited. Weve been here before.

At the same time, Martin seems to be writing much more frequently than usual about the progress hes making on the sixth installment of his series, even giving us specifics.Of late I have been visiting with Cersei, Asha, Tyrion, Ser Barristan, and Areo Hotah. I will be dropping back into Braavos next week, he wrote in June. Now you will have to excuse me. Arya is calling. I think she means to kill someone.

You can tell by the jokey way hes writing that he feels pretty good about it, which is great news. Perhaps the end of Game of Thronesreally has taken some of the pressure offand let Martin relax back into his work.

But of course, considering his normal writing pace, we still probably have a long while to wait. That warning about not getting excited is all too real.

Me and the Frog are headed back to Westeros, Martin finishes, referring to this:

Thatll do, frog.

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George R.R. Martin making good progress on The Winds of Winter - Winter is Coming