'The Winds of Winter' release date, update: George R.R. Martin's latest book to arrive later this year?

"The Winds of Winter" is still without a release date, but author George R.R. Martin recently offered an update about the upcoming book.

In Martin's latest blog, he revealed what's keeping him busy with the past days. Aside from writing the next installment to his book series, he was also working on a story for Gardner Dozois' book titled "The Sons of the Dragon." Martin further said that he only wrote a small part of the book and stressed that he wasn't in charge of editing.

Martin mentioned that he loves writing anthologies, and he plans on doing more in the future. However, he stressed that he has to finish "The Winds of Winter" first before taking on new projects. "The anthologies, much as I loved them, were taking too much of my time, so I stepped back from them ... until I finish THE WINDS OF WINTER, at least. Once that's done, maybe I can sneak another one in," the best-selling author wrote.

Earlier this year, Martin shared a progress update about his new book. A fan commented on one of his earlier posts on LiveJournal and asked where the book is currently at. Martin responded to the fan by saying that he has made some progress, but it's still a bit far from completed.

"Not done yet, but I've made progress. But not as much as I hoped a year ago, when I thought to be done by now," he wrote. "I think it will be out this year. (But hey, I thought the same thing last year)," he added.

Rumor has it that Martin's new novel will come after the release of HBO's "Game of Thrones," but to date, a release window for "The Winds of Winter" has not been announced yet.