This strange form of self-motivation began when Air New Zealand released a video inviting Martin to finish the book in New Zealand. Martin respectfully declined the offer, saying the beautiful country would “distract” him. Martin followed up by saying that he will be coming to the country in 2020 to serve as Toastmaster for Worldcon’s Hugo Awards, which usually takes place in August, and that if he’s not done with the book by then, he would voluntarily be imprisoned in a small cabin until he finished his book. “As for finishing my book,” Martin wrote on his website. “I fear that New Zealand would distract me entirely too much. Best leave me here in Westeros for the nonce. But I tell you this — if I don’t have The Winds of Winter in hand when I arrive in New Zealand for Worldcon, you have here my formal written permission to imprison me in a small cabin on White Island, overlooking that lake of sulfuric acid, until I’m done. Just so long as the acrid fumes do not screw up my old DOS word processor, I’ll be fine.” Hopefully, this motivates Martin to get The Winds of Winter done, otherwise, he may end up spending his remaining days quarantined halfway across the world.
