It seems I need to clarify once more.

I am NOT on Twitter.  I am NOT on Facebook.  The only place I post myself, in my own words, is here on Live Journal.

I do have an official Twitter account, and an official Facebook account.  I established these in self-defense, because there were fake accounts out there, where people pretending to be me were making various spurious pronouncements… pronouncements that would then get picked up all over the internet and repeated as if they were gospel.

The official Twitter and Facebook accounts are maintained for me by my minions and my publishers.  I don't post there myself.  I don't even read them or check comments.  I have other stuff to do.  LOTS of other stuff.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, Raya came to me and said the folks at Random House wanted to do a special promotion on Twitter, a "Twelve Days of Christmas" with a Westerosi twist.  Did they have the green light?  It sounded fun, and funny, so I said sure, and thought no more of it.  It was just a little Christmas celebration.

But then, somehow, from somewhere, the rumor arose that the "12 Days" were actually a countdown… not to Xmas, but to the publication of THE WINDS OF WINTER, or the announcement of its completion and/ or pub date.

Sorry.  Not true.  Look, I've said before, and I will say again, I don't play games with news about the books.  I know how many people are waiting, how long they have been waiting, how anxious they are.   I am still working on WINDS.  When it's done, I will announce it here.  There won't be any clues to decipher, any codes or hidden meanings, the announcement will be straightforward and to the point.  I won't time it to coincide with Xmas or Valentine's Day or Lincoln's Birthday, the book will not rise from the dead with Jesus on Easter Sunday.  When it is done, I will say that's it is done, on whatever day I happen to finish.

I don't know how I can make it any clearer.

And while I am debunking rumors, let me also say that this story about me being inspired to finsh WINDS by STAR WARS is also utter bullshit, and I have NO idea where that one came from.  (I liked the first two STAR WARS movies, the third not so much, the prequels not at all, and the trailer for the new one had no impact on me one way or the other, and let's face it, even the best of 'em is no FORBIDDEN PLANET.  Robby is my robot ideal, not C3PO or R2D2).  Made up out of whole cloth, so far as I know.

It really stuns me how widely the STAR WARS thing has been disseminated.  Truly, internet journalism is an oxymoron.

As Mark Twain once said, "A lie can travel halfway around the world while truth is putting on its shoes."

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