Following the news of HBO's coming "Game of Thrones" prequel, "House of the Dragon," author George R.R. Martin updated fans on his famous NotABlog platform.

The writer says he may be able to write some of the episodes for the Targaryen-centric TV show, but that he's prioritizing finishing the next book in his "A Song of Ice and Fire" series first.

"I am not taking on any scripts until I have finished and delivered ['The Winds of Winter']," Martin said. "Winter is still coming, and WINDS remains my priority, as much as I'd love to write an episodes [sic] of ['House of the Dragon']."

While some may read into this and believe it means "The Winds of Winter" will be done within the next year, Martin made it clear that he's not promising any publish dates, nor will he write scripts for "House of the Dragon" until he's done with "The Winds of Winter."

HBO has made no announcement about the planned premiere date for "House of the Dragon," though we expect it won't be ready for air before 2021.

Emilia Clarke and Harry Lloyd as Daenerys and Viserys Targaryen on "Game of Thrones." Helen Sloan/HBO

"The Winds of Winter" is the sixth book of seven total planned novels in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. HBO's television adaptation wound up overtaking his published work, and finishing a version of the story this year.

The last published book in "A Song of Ice and Fire" was the fifth novel, "A Dance With Dragons," which came out in the summer of 2011 (the same year "Game of Thrones" premiered on HBO).

At that time, Martin hoped to have "The Winds of Winter" completed within the next few years.

But his writing process slowed for a various number of reasons, and the book remains unfinished eight years later. If you want to know what went awry with the book, read our deep dive here into the complicated backstory of "The Winds of Winter."

George R.R. Martin told HBO's showrunners his general plan for the ending of "Game of Thrones" so they could wrap up the series. Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic / HBO

Years ago, Martin made a self-imposed rule to stop trying to anticipate when he would finish in order to not get fans' hopes up. His latest blog post make it seem as if he's optimistic that he'll finish the book within the next year or so.

But that's not a promise, nor an official announcement.

As Martin has said in the past, he'll tell us as soon as he's done with "The Winds of Winter." Until then, you can read everything we know about "House of the Dragon" (which is based on a different, also-unfinished series from Martin) here.