This is a fair point, again brought about by dubious communications. The period when all that was being discussed was the merchandise and discussion of the book itself was stamped down on was rather weird, to say the least, and no-one would argue that the majority of fans of the series log into the blog looking for news on ADWD and are not interested in the other projects being discussed.

But at the same time there does need to be some perspective, which is often missing. The author has written precisely two non-ASoIaF-related pieces of fiction since somewhere around 1995. Yeah, he edits other books, but he's been doing that since long before AGoT came out. So why then assume that is the cause of delay on the new book when it was not the cause of delay in the past? It seems at best a superficial argument.

What interests me, as someone who finds the writing process fascinating, is the structural/character/location/timeline issues that have emerged in writing very long epic fantasy series and how different authors deal with them: Robert Jordan by plunging straight ahead and trying to write his way out of it, which led to two or three books of filler that probably weren't needed; Steven Erikson by just ignoring the issues and trying to paper over the inconcsistencies (which by now have become severely distracting); or GRRM by rewriting and rewriting and throwing half the book away and starting again. It would be really cool to see people talk about that, but they rarely do. I guess it's easier to say that the book's late because the author watches a football game once a week instead (as some people have suggested).



Again understandable, but also again a problem with communications, such as no-one ever saying that ADWD was 'practically finished' in 2005. The author did say a few times it was 'half' finished, which was really not a good idea (and we knew at the time that was not the case from GRRM's own comments on how much material he had finished), and certainly a major own goal.

As I have said before, this point is key: all of other explanations and news about the book being delayed are only to be found online, in interviews and so on where most people who read the books never get to read them, whilst the indication that the book should be out in 2006 is there in the back of AFFC where 100% of the people who read the series can see it. That's why I said the decision to keep that note in the book even when the book came out in paperback (in 2007, way past the indicated date) was a very bad one.