'Game of Thrones' Season 6 Airs Before 'Winds of Winter' Release; No More Deadlines for George RR Martin

The good news is that HBO is on track with "Game of Thrones," set to air its sixth season in April. The bad news is that readers won't have an edge over the non-readers because author George RR Martin still wasn't able to finish the next installment in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series, titled "The Winds of Winter."

According to the Los Angeles Times, Martin told readers of his blog that the latest installment isn't finished yet, which means that he's going to miss the March publication date. He wrote, "I am months away still ... and that's if the writing goes well. (Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn't)."

Clearly, fans of both books and the HBO series are upset about this, however, his fans aren't the only ones upset. The author himself expressed his own disappointment, saying,"You're disappointed, and you're not alone. My editors and publishers are disappointed, HBO is disappointed, my agents and foreign publishers and translators are disappointed... but no one could possibly be more disappointed than me." He even tagged his blog with his current mood being "depressed".

Rest assured, he is working on it, despite media reports saying that he's got nothing done yet. However, he is not going to give himself deadlines anymore. Martin shared, "I am not going to set another deadline for myself to trip over. The deadlines just stress me out. ...It will be done when it's done. And it will be as good as I can possibly make it."

With the show airing ahead, there are bound to be spoilers from the books, but Martin says this is okay, considering how the adaptation has already diverged from its original material. In the meantime, he says he's going to continue writing slowly but steadily, as he knows how to do. As he noted, the stress of the deadline is slowing down his pace, so hopefully, with no more deadlines to speak of anymore, he can write the book that he's been meaning to finish for a few years now.

Fans, on the other hand, appreciated Martin's honesty about how his writing is doing. According to CNN, the post received over a thousand responses from fans offering their support, before he closed the comments section. In a separate post on Sunday, he thanked them for all the support he's gotten, saying, "I cannot tell you how much I appreciate all the kind words and good wishes."

"Game of Thrones" will be back for its sixth season on HBO this April.