I know I have talked about George RR Martin before, and I know I shouldn't be surprised but I thought he would know better than to say what he did. He was posting about the different projects he is working on, and of course they are all projects that are Ice and Fire spinoffs/take place in Westeros and he said he is sad to see that some people only care about Winds of Winter when there is so much Westeros content being put out.
I honestly was thinking how he could be so dense and honestly why should I give any time or money on side projects when he doesn't seem to care about finishing the main story. I remember a co-worker of mine was shocked when I told her I didn't plan on watching House of the Dragon, but honestly why should I?
Just a little nerd rant.
I've said it before on this board, but I'll say it again: As a fellow creator of art and fiction, the fact that he is working on other projects before finishing this one is a dead give away that he's lost interest in it.
When I pick up another project before finishing an old one, it virtually always means that old project is never gonna be completed.
I may go back to it every now and then, but it will get dropped for something else again before too long. It's hard to face the music and admit to myself that I've given up, because that's essential admitting failure and it has hints of 'this project is beyond my ability' no matter how certain you are that the real answer is 'I'm bored of this project' or 'this project is outdated' or 'this project is redundant now' - and that last one definitely applies to Winds of Winter.