The official ADWD "Pick the Announcement Date" thread

[Wiggum]

January 9 is out, he had a severe problem with, well, his pee tract.

The bad news: well, obviously, there's nothing like a week in a hospital bed to kick a hole in your plans and good intentions. I did hope to have some exciting announcements to make at TCA, but that won't be happening now. But hey, all the great stuff HBO will be rolling out about the GAME OF THRONES series should provide excitement enough.

 

[Ursa major]

If I were to be optimistic, I'd take this to mean he's only a week or two away from finishing ADWD. A perhaps more realistic view might be that his illness has delayed the signing of one or more contracts relating to other things (such as adaptations of already-published works of his, as has been suggested in earlier posts in this thread).


Today, I'm going to be an optimist.

 

[Wiggum]

Yay optimism!

 

[The Imp]

Yay optimism!

A dear friend of mine recently went through a similar illness. I'll spare gory details, but it's been more than 8 months and he still hasn't fully recovered, but he was close to death. Hopefully GRRM makes a fuller and speedier recovery.

 

[Boaz]

Plumbing talk always makes me cringe.

Well, I'll wait until Jan. 10 to change my pick from Jan. 9 to Jan. 10. If I believed in using smilies, I'd use the "roll eyes" smiley now.

 

[Werthead]

I think February or maybe even March would be a more realistic date. GRRM estimated he wouldn't be back until full speed until the end of the month, and it's possible this LA trip and signing might take a lot out of him.

 

[Ursa major]

I would agree that all bets are now off on any early announcement. I should have made it clear that even in my optimism I was assuming that ADWD was one or two weeks of full-steam-ahead work from completion (or, rather, had been that far from finishing before his illness hit). Obviously this now translates to a lot more elapsed time given GRRM's current condition and other commitments.

All we can hope for is his speedy recovery and that his appearances don't take too much out of him.

 

[Culhwch]

How dare he get sick! It's just like him to do something selfish like spend a week laid up in hospital, not writing! Why couldn't he write Ice and Fire when he was there, huh? It's not like he had anything better to do! I bet he was working on a Wild Cards anthology, signing paperwork for a Fevre Dream card game, and approving artwork for a Windhaven calendar! Lazy sod!

Get better, George. We'll get it when it's done. No rush.

 

[xLORDSNOWx]

Health issues? Illness? With three books to go and the anticipation of pre/post ASOIAF writing, the future doesn't look too promising. This series could easily without question last another 10 years. I wonder, if GRRM is unable to conclude the series for whatever reason, would Sanderson be tapped to complete the series? I'm not being pesimistic, as I am more pragmatic. Yes, GRRM could outlive everyone on this forum. Yet, with the mounting pressure from fans and a demanding schedule it can be hard on anyone. It may be that I haven't looked hard enough but I never hear him talk of exercising. I wish George good health and the ability to manage and prioritize his workload. My prediction remains early 2012.

Does anyone know if the Magie (spelling) that Cercie and her girls went to see is still alive? I have a couple of questions for her, even if it requires a little blood from my finger.

 

[The Imp]

Health issues? Illness? With three books to go and the anticipation of pre/post ASOIAF writing, the future doesn't look too promising. This series could easily without question last another 10 years. I wonder, if GRRM is unable to conclude the series for whatever reason, would Sanderson be tapped to complete the series? I'm not being pesimistic, as I am more pragmatic. Yes, GRRM could outlive everyone on this forum. Yet, with the mounting pressure from fans and a demanding schedule it can be hard on anyone. It may be that I haven't looked hard enough but I never hear him talk of exercising. I wish George good health and the ability to manage and prioritize his workload. My prediction remains early 2012.

Does anyone know if the Magie (spelling) that Cercie and her girls went to see is still alive? I have a couple of questions for her, even if it requires a little blood from my finger.

Don't be too pessimistic about GRRM's health. This recent scare was essentially a urinary tract infection that got out of control. I won't specualte as to why that might have happened, as it sometimes can be from ingoring symptoms, other times someone can be virtually asymptomatic initially and then BAM. It sounds as if GRRM's recent scare is well under control, and i don't think his risk of imminent is any greater than it was before. My biggest concern for him is his weight. Judging from pictures, it seems as if he could stand to lose some wieght, but not having seen him in person makes even that hard to judge.

I think he's really close to being done with ADWD, and maybe a week in the hospital will light a fire under him and enable him to either write faster or prioritize ASOIAF, which ultimately will be the epic work by which his career will be judged.

 

[Wiggum]

I'm still sticking with optimism.

Yay optimism!

 

[Boaz]

Thank God people are not discussing my male health issues online... I'd die from embarrassment.

Wiggs, If your optimism runs as hot as Clay Matthews engine, you'll have enough for all of us. I did not know you were a cheesehead. Let me just say that Walter Payton was the greatest... now you know where I stand.

 

[TK-421]

I'm sticking to my April Fools announcement date.

 

[Eulalia]

March 21, please, Imp, if it is not taken.

 

[No One]

I've cunningly delayed enough to make an informed decision (where's the 'scratches his head' smiley?).

I reckon February 20, for no reason at all.

 

[Wiggum]

Wiggs, If your optimism runs as hot as Clay Matthews engine, you'll have enough for all of us. I did not know you were a cheesehead. Let me just say that Walter Payton was the greatest... now you know where I stand.

I'm sorry Boaz.

What we could have been.

If it's any consolation, if we beat you in the playoffs, you'll have only been one game away from the Super Bowl!

Double Yay Optimism!

Oh, January 31.

 

[Clansman]

Revising May 24, 2011 in light of recent developments. That will now be the RELEASE date, not the announcement date.

I know. That doesn't count.

 

[Werthead]

From Winter is Coming :

Lastly we have the A Dance with Dragons news: The news is…

There is no news. Officially. In fact, it’s so “officially” that George openly lamented about how much he had wanted to be able to give us “the news,” but because he had been sick, he’d “lost a week,” and therefore “the news” could not be told just yet. Not quite yet. Even though he had been making “GREAT” progress on ADwD up until a week ago, and then–

I’ll spell this out for the slow: Any week now. Could this be a GRRM-sized week? Perhaps. (That could equate to a month. Maybe two. Who really knows what other projects he’s going to be juggling?) Do I know anything official? No. But I know Hodor-sized hints when I hear them.

Brandon Sanderson weighs in with how long he estimates it'll take to get the book on the shelves. He backs up the 3-6 month estimates seen elsewhere. He also tells the story of how GRRM gave him his first 'Hugo Loser' badge (an old and honourable tradition at Worldcon; GRRM got his thirty years earlier) at Worldcon 2006, which I hadn't heard before.

 

[Boaz]

February 3... Chinese New Year. A big cause for celebration.

 

[The Imp]

I'm re-entering witgh a guess of Feb. 9, 2011