The Romance Writers of America held their annual conference in Atlanta this past weekend, and as always, the place was packed with writers, aspiring writers and those simply interested in the workings of the genre (or dying to meet hundreds of published authors at the literacy autographing session on Wednesday.) The conference gave AP's Kate Brumback a chance to rehash your typical annual piece on "oh, it's not just about bodice rippers" anymore, talking with high-powered types like Emily Giffin, Sari Robins and more about why they write romance.

"I write intelligent heroines," said Robins, a former attorney like Giffin. "The writing is solid. I take a lot of pride in how good the books are. I think people don't realize how hard it is to get published and that to get published it really has to be good." And more importantly, they have to be able to sell, and since romance is still the top-selling genre, the competition for good quality work - like the winners of the annual RITA awards, given out Saturday night - is pretty high.