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Chelley Kitzmiller started reading romance novels when her children were in their teens. The first book she picked up was Sweet Savage Love by Rosemary Rogers, and she was "taken by storm." Like millions of other women, Chelley became addicted. Before long her daughter Gina was doing most of the housework, and Ted Kitzmiller began to feel he was losing his wife. "After about the 25th book," Chelley decided that she could write a romance "as well as some of those authors could." She attended writing seminars, workshops, autograph parties, and joined the Orange County chapter of Romance Writers of America. But Chelley had trouble finishing a manuscript, and got sidetracked doing publicity for other writers. Then, in early 1983, she got a "wild notion."
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A documentary look at the world of romance writers and their
fans, Where the Heart Roams tells the story of Chelley
Kitzmiller, a Southern California woman in love with romance
novels, who organized a conference on wheels so that romance
writers could travel on a train from Los Angeles to New York
City and meet their fans along the way. The journey is more than
just balloons and champagne as Chelley learns something about
herself and earns the respect of her husband Ted in the process.
"I wanted to attend a conference that was being held in New
York," says Chelley. But terrified of flying, Chelley decides to
go all the way from Los Angeles by train. With the help of
Kathryn Falk, author of Love's Leading Ladies and How To Write a
Romance and Get It Published, Chelley organizes the trek to
Kathryn's 2nd Romantic Booklovers' Conference. They arrange for
America's best-selling romance novelist, Janet Dailey to meet
the Love Train in Chicago. The crowning moment is the train's
arrival in New York City, where Barbara Cartland, the Queen of
romance novels, awaits, draped in pink.