George R.R. Martin is hopeful that he will finish The Winds of Winter, the sixth novel in his A Song of Ice and Fire series, by the middle of 2020.

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Martin posted an update on his Not a Blog site, saying that he will be appearing as Toastmaster for the Hugo Awards at the World Science Fiction Convention in Wellington, New Zealand which runs from July 29, 2020 - August 2, 2020.Due to this, he went on to write that he fears that New Zealand and all its beauty would distract him and that if he didn't have The Winds of Winter finished by then, he gives all of us his "formal written permission to imprison [him] in a small cabin on White Island, overlooking that lake of sulfuric acid, until [he's] done.""As for finishing my book…I fear that New Zealand would distract me entirely too much," Martin wrote. "Best leave me here in Westeros for the nonce. But I tell you this — if I don’t have THE WINDS OF WINTER in hand when I arrive in New Zealand for worldcon, you have here my formal written permission to imprison me in a small cabin on White Island, overlooking that lake of sulfuric acid, until I’m done. Just so long as the acrid fumes do not screw up my old DOS word processor, I’ll be fine."A Dance of Dragons was released in July of 2011 and was the last book to be released from the series of novels that were adapted into HBO's Game of Thrones Even though it has been a long time since the A Dance of Dragons, Martin has written plenty of other stories taking place in the world of ASOIAF, including the Tales of Dunk and Egg and Fire & Blood, the latter of which is a complete history on House Targaryen.Considering Martin still has yet to release The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, HBO's Game of Thrones had to move past the events of the book and aired its series finale this past week. Martin spoke a bit about how his books' ending would differ from the show, answering very vaguely if it would or not, saying "Well… yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes."

Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.Adam Bankhurst is a news writer who can confirm that New Zealand is very distracting as it is the most magical place in the world. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst.