"So I was doing it, but it wasn't like something I was getting paid for for those three years," she said. Now writing full time, she writes six to 12 hours daily.

Karyn Witmer, who has written successful historical romances such as "Moon in the Water," spent almost five years on her first novel.

She was teaching elementary school art classes outside of Rochester, N.Y., in the 1980s when she sat down to write what eventually became "Love, Honor and Betray," set on the Niagara Frontier during the War of 1812. It begins:

"It was coming. The thing he dreaded most in the world was going to come to pass. Seth Porterfield's head buzzed with the certainty that the two countries to which he owed allegiance would soon be at war."

Once Witmer wrote this opening hook, she said finishing the book became "an obsession."

She devoted much of her free time during breaks and after school to completing it, even after she began teaching children's art classes at the St. Louis Art Museum.

"Just keep working at it. There are a lot of people out there who want to write a book and they start it but never finish. It's just that stick-to-it-ness that gets you published." Shannon K. Butler, "No Regrets"
In the early stages, she kept the book a secret from her husband. "It's hard to admit what you're doing at first because it's such a fantasy. Everybody you talk to says, ‘I intend to write a book some day,'" said Witmer, who now splits her time between the St. Louis area and California.

Certainly, juggling writing with career and family can be a challenge.

Shirl Henke, who earned both her bachelor of arts and master of arts degrees from MU and has published nearly 30 paperback originals, began writing novels when her son was in grade school.

"I told my offspring unless it involved smoke or blood, Mommy was not to be disturbed while she was writing," Henke said.

Michele Dunaway, who has written 16 books in less than eight years, will come close to writing five books this year. Her most recent novels, "The Christmas Date" (Harlequin American Romance Series) and "Hart's Victory" (Dunaway's first in the Harlequin NASCAR series), will be released this month. She is also a high school journalism teacher. "I write in big spurts," Dunaway said. "Lots of other writers have to write every day, but I'll write for 10, 12 hours daily on the weekend."

Having published so many books, Dunaway also has experience dealing with another curiosity of the romance industry: those steamy covers.

Describing the experience of seeing her Harlequin covers for the first time, she said, "It's like giving birth to a baby. ... I don't know what the cover will look like until it comes out."

Although most publishers allow the authors to submit an "art fact" sheet, the final cover may still come as a surprise.

One of Killion's heroines had strawberry-blonde hair, but the publisher selected a cover with a dark-haired beauty. So Killion had to go through