Patience is a virtue and fans of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series are hoping that their patience will pay off in spades when the long overdue sixth book in the series, Winds of Winter, also set as the penultimate installment in the saga, is released on a yet unconfirmed date.

After much speculation, it would seem that the author has decided to limit the information released on the new book until it is well and completely finished.

This recent development came after Reddit user JoanneOfTarth posed a question to Martin on a thread asking for some updates on the book seeing as the last official one was made way back in January.

"So more than half a year from now on. Are you gonna make another 'update' for us readers. I don't mean something like when the book is gonna be finished. Just the process of your writing. Sorry If that annoys you, but I can not wait for it:-)). Hopefully you take it as a compliment," her question read.

To which Martin replied: "I really don't like to talk about the 'process' of my writing. At least not until the writing is done."

It can be recalled that the publisher of the books, Harper Collins recently debunked rumors that Martin would be releasing the latest installment at WorldCon.

According to the publisher's rep Jaki Arthur, Martin is still hard at work completing the book but it is unsure when the final product will be released.

He however said that when it happens, it will be a huge event.

The release of Winds of Winter has been much anticipated by fans of both the book and HBO's television series that spawned from it. As the sixth season was concluded a few months back, it set an unprecedented event as the television adaptation surpassed the events in the source material for the first time, which led to more speculation about the direction of the book. Fans are now awaiting to see if the events in the book and the series would match and what it would mean for the future of the franchise.