That sound you hear is the collective cry of thousands of A Song of Ice and Fire fans at the news that George R.R. Martin is stepping away from his rigorous work of blogging about the Jets to focus on other projects. In a LiveJournal post (lol remember 1998?), he said he is “buried in work” and that readers will see “fewer posts” as he focuses on all the other exciting things he has going on. For instance, finishing the series????

The last book in the series, A Dance with Dragons, came out in 2011; it took Martin six years to write. Martin is still working on the next book in the series, The Winds of Winter, and last year wrote on his blog, “I am still working on it, I am still months away (how many? good question), I still have good days and bad days, and that's all I care to say.” Which is what I will be sending all my editors every time I miss a deadline from now on.

We feel for Martin. It is not fun to have everything you say and do be met with angry fans screaming, “FINISH THE DAMN BOOK.” Some days you just don’t want to work on the book, probably! You want your self-worth to be tied to more than what you produce! But at least we know that if he never finishes the book, the showrunners for Game of Thrones already know how the whole thing is going to end. The dragons eat everybody, we assume.