"The Winds of Winter is going to be a big book."

[Platypus]

Many of us had given up hope with GRRM's last WINDS update. But now, in his latest NAB dated 1/29/22, seems a comment designed to give us hope once again.

"THE WINDS OF WINTER is going to be a big book. The way it is going, it could be bigger than A STORM OF STORMS or A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, the longest books in the series to date. I do usually cut and trim once I finish, but I need to finish first."

This makes it sound like he has a lot written. But my skeptical take would be that perhaps GRRM needs to give people a reason for hope so that the book sales don't go down.

But what is he actually saying?

That it is going to be a big book? He's been predicting 1500 manuscript pages for 11 years. That is nothing new.

That it "could be" bigger than STORM or DANCE? The key phrase is "could be".

That he "needs to" finish, before he edits. Sure. That sounds normal.

If we later learn that he has only 800 pages written, as of today, nothing in this statement will have been a lie.