Before I get into the point of this post, I just want to say that Last Summer will be available for download and online reading later tonight. I was going to wait until Sunday, but apparently that day has been designated as Game of Thrones Day in my house, whereupon the entire day will be filled with binge-watching the season in preparation for the season finale. And oh man… just… never mind. I don’t want to start geeking out about it here. Except to say that it’s going to be sooooo gooood.

Speaking of Game of Thrones, I wanted to share this video of GRRM asking Stephen King, point blank, “How the fuck do you write so many books so fast?” As someone who is casually making her way through the ASoIaF books as opposed to being a super hardcore book fan, I’ve been very intrigued by the whole situation with the show catching up to and now surpassing the books. I can’t imagine how GRRM is dealing with a massive fanbase that is screaming at him to hurry the hell up and finish the next book, especially when trying to write a story that is so incredibly complex, even more so than the show. 

Anyway, the actual video is pretty long, but the golden question happens at 50:08.

I have to give GRRM props for being blunt about having doubts. I think we often believe that well-accomplished writers don’t suffer the same pitfalls that other writers do, that they don’t look at their stuff and think, “Man, this is awful!” (I recall Stephen King hated Carrie so much that he threw it away. Thank goodness his wife talked him into publishing it.) It’s bad enough to feel that way when you’re a nobody (*raises hand*) but to go through that with a gigantic fanbase nipping at your heels because the show is now essentially spoiling your story has to suck tremendously. I feel for the guy.

Also, Stephen King is a writing machine. Six pages a day? If I could manage half of that semi-consistently, I’d be doing cartwheels. And this is why I am not Stephen King. 😀