Holy cow. My last blog entry was September 22? Yikes. I knew I was behind in blogging, but I had no idea things were that bad. Sorry, guys. My excuses are good ones, but still...that's a little more extreme than expected. I don't think I've ever skipped an entire month.

As you might guess, my new trip into motherhood is the reason for my blog silence. The little guy is adorable, thriving, and much-loved. When my husband's paternity leave ended, I became the full-time caregiver during the week, and wow! I adore being a mom, but it's amazing how one small person can take up so much time. I have more time on weekends and evenings, but by that point, I'm frantically scrambling to catch up on things like my work, the gym, grooming, cleaning, etc.

Which brings me to a very important point.

There are three questions/requests I'm frequently asked: #1 - Will you write another Vampire Academy book? (I don't know...maybe years down the road, no guarantees...in the meantime, we have Bloodlines!), #2 - Will you write a book from Dimitri's POV? (No), and #3 - Can you have Rose get pregnant and have a baby with Dimitri and/or Adrian?

Regarding #3. I've long said the answer to that is no--at least, it is so long as I'm writing about a teenage heroine. I know people who've had babies in their teens and have had wonderful outcomes and beautiful babies. They wouldn't trade that for anything, and I don't blame them. In general, though, I'd recommend waiting until one is out of her teens, if it all possible. Rose is 18 at the end of the VA series. She's young. She's just become an adult, and I feel she needs to spend some time as an adult before having children. If she weren't dedicated to killing vampires, I'd encourage her to get a job or go to college. So, my stance is the same: no. I'm not going to have my 18-year-old heroine get pregnant.

And now, I have another reason for not writing about Rose having a baby: it would be a boring book.

Now, don't get me wrong. My baby isn't boring. Taking care of him isn't boring. I love it. But lately, it's all I do. And if Rose had a baby, that's all she'd do too. There'd be no daring Strigoi hunts, dangerous flirtations, exotic parties, or Court intrigues. You'd be reading pages that resemble my life, like how I spent half the day rocking the baby to sleep yesterday while watching Star Trek: Voyager reruns, in the hopes of getting him to sleep. Again, I don't mind spending my days like that, but I'm not sure you want to read about Rose doing that. Her having a baby sounds romantic and exciting, and in many ways, it is--but probably not in the way some people imagine. For Rose to continue her action-packed lifestyle, she'd have to find some pretty serious daycare...and then there'd be no baby in the book anyway.

So, there you have it. No babies for teenage heroines, only thirty-something authors. Motherhood is awesome, but even more awesome with a solid job and reliable health insurance.