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Translated by Waymar Royce
Martin has just updated his Blog with a very long and passional intervention for explain the progress and the problems about writing “A dance with Dragons”. Moreover he write even about critical, often exaggerated.
Next the text:
No, it's not done.
Yes, I am aware that more than a year has passed since my last update.
A lot of you have been emailing me to point that out. Thanks, but
really, I did know. Unlike many of you out there, I got my copies of
the Song of Ice & Fire calendar, so I knew what date it was.
No, I'm not planning to update the update, for reasons stated in the
update itself. Until such time as I can write, "It's done," it will
remain the last update... aside from what I may say here from time to
time, on my Not-A-Blog.
I made a lot of progress on the book in the first half of 2008. So much
so that I was optimistic that I would be done by the end of the year.
Unfortunately, I did not make much progress on the book in the second
half of 2008. Indeed, I made some regress. (That Sansa chapter I talked
about finishing, for instance. It's still finished, but my editor and I
decided it belongs in THE WINDS OF WINTER, not A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, so
it's been moved into the next book. Sansa will not appear in DANCE.)
Some of the reasons were literary, arising from problems in the
narrative itself. I'm not going to discuss them here, because I really
do not like talking about questions I am still wrestling with on a work
in progress. It never helps. Art is not a democracy, and these are
problems I need to solve myself. Having a few hundred readers weigh in
with their thoughts and opinions -- which seems to be what happens
whenever I post here about DWD -- does not advance the process. I'm
sorry, but that's true. I know that many of you would like to help me,
but you can't. I have editors and I have two capable assistants, and
that's sufficient. I'm the only one who can dance this dance.
Some of other reasons for the delay have nothing to do with the book
itself. They're extra-literary, arising from other things in my life. I
could sketch out some of them here, sure, but what good would it do?
Those who are inclined to understand would send me messages of sympathy
and support. Those are not so inclined would dismiss them as "excuses,"
or even "feeble excuses." A few will even go so far as to accuse me of
lying.
That's the part that really bothers me. For the record, I have never
lied about anything having to do with A DANCE WITH DRAGONS or the
series as a whole. I have been wrong, yes. I have been wrong lots of
time, especially when I've tried to predict how long it will take me to
complete the book, or when it will be published. Being wrong is not the
same as lying. Since the very beginning of this series, I have been
guilty of being over-optimistic about how long it would take me to
finish the next book, the next chapter, or the series as a whole. I
cannot deny that. I have always been bad with deadlines... one reason
why I did my best to avoid them for the first fifteen years of my
career. That's an option I no longer have, however. Or at least will
not have until A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE is complete.
That's the main reason why I no longer want to give any completion
dates. I am sick and tired of people jumping down my throat when I miss
them.
This latest flood of emails has worn down my resolve, however. So in
hopes of quieting it, once more I will step into the breach.
I am trying to finish the book by June. I think I can do that. If I do,
A DANCE WITH DRAGONS will likely be published in September or October.
(Yes, I am aware that I have previously said that I hoped to finish by
the end of 2008. And before that, I said that I hoped to finish by June
2008, before I went to Spain and Portugal. And before that, I said I
hoped to finish by the end of 2007. I know, I know, I know. No, I was
not lying. I was wrong. And wrong again. And wrong before that. This
time I hope that I am right. But you know, I can't swear that in blood.
I write one chapter at a time. One page at a time. One word at a time.
And then the next.)
That's all I have. But it's more than Amazon has, or anyone else.
The INSTANT that I finish the novel and put it in the mail to Bantam, I
will post that fact here, just as I did for SUICIDE KINGS a few days
ago. Until and unless you read that announcement here, believe nothing
you hear from any other source.
I have made a lot of progress on the book since August 2007, but this part hasn't changed
To My Detractors
(If you are not one of my detractors, this is not about you. Thanks for your support).
I have to admit, the rising tide of venom about the lateness of A DANCE
WITH DRAGONS has gotten pretty discouraging. Emails, message boards,
blogs, LJ comments, everywhere I look (and lots of places where I
don't), people seem to be attacking me, defending me, using me as a bad
example of something or other, whatever.
I can and do avoid most of the online discussions, although I do
regularly get emails from people eager to point out the latest URL
where DANCE and I are being hashed over. I can do that, and I can
screen the trollish comments here on LJ, but there's no avoiding the
emails.
Some of you are angry about the miniatures, the swords, the resin
busts, the games. You don't want me "wasting time" on those, or talking
about them here.
Some of you are angry that I watch football during the fall. You don't
want me "wasting time" on the NFL, or talking about it here.
Some of you hate my other projects. You don't want me co-editing
WARRIORS or the Vance anthology or STAR-CROSSED LOVERS or any of the
other projects I'm doing with my old friend Gardner Dozois, and you get
angry when I post about them here. For reasons I don't quite
comprehend, the people who hate those projects seem to hate WILD CARDS
even more. You really don't want me working on that, "wasting time" on
that, and posting about it here.
Some of you don't want me attending conventions, teaching workshops,
touring and doing promo, or visiting places like Spain and Portugal
(last year) or Finland (this year). More wasting time, when I should be
home working on A DANCE WITH DRAGONS.
After all, as some of you like to point out in your emails, I am sixty
years old and fat, and you don't want me to "pull a Robert Jordan" on
you and deny you your book.
Okay, I've got the message. You don't want me doing anything except A
SONG OF ICE AND FIRE. Ever. (Well, maybe it's okay if I take a leak
once in a while?)
Here's my reply:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_exY9ptMbA
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