For four seasons, author George R.R. Martin lent his writing talents to HBO's Game of Thrones by penning an episode. The show is, after all, partly his baby, being adapted off his "A Song of Ice and Fire" book series.

In spite of this, last season, Martin passed on writing an episode for the first time, saying he needed to focus on finishing his next book, "The Winds of Winter."

It looks like Martin is still hard at work on the next chapter of "A Song of Ice and Fire" then, because EW reports he has once again declined to write an episode for next year's sixth season of Game of Thrones.

HBO's show is officially ahead of Martin's book series now, despite the original Game of Thrones novel releasing back in 1996 and HBO's show starting in 2011. That is putting pressure on Martin to have his next book out before the show's sixth season airs in the spring of 2016.

He says he is committed to having the book finished soon, and his actions seems to support his words. In addition to saying "no" to writing episodes for the show, he has canceled multiple convention appearances (including San Diego Comic-Con, where he has previously moderated the con's Game of Thrones panel) and cut back on media interviews in an effort to see the book completed.

"Maybe I'm being overly optimistic about how quickly I can finish," Martin says to EW. "But I canceled two convention appearances, I'm turning down a lot more interviews — anything I can do to clear my decks and get this done."

"The Winds of Winter" currently doesn't have a publication date, but there does seem to be a good chance we might have it in our hands within a year's time. At the rate Game of Thrones is moving ahead and changing key scenes from the novels, it will be fascinating to read how events play out differently. "Winter" has been coming for a while now, but it looks like next year, whether by book or by show, it will finally arrive. Good luck, Jon, you're going to need it.

Be sure to follow T-Lounge on Twitter and visit our Facebook page.

Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore | Flickr