From store owner to author – Marilyn Ramirez published her first book this May. Ramirez was the owner of Willow Creek and Country Treasures here in Great Bend.
Ramirez will be doing a book signing at 1 p.m. today at River of Life church, 1219 Main St.  in Great Bend, where books can be purchased.
“Sometimes a story starts from some little thing you saw. I’ll be looking at a catalog of models and all of the sudden my mind goes off on a story,” Ramirez said.
As a child Ramirez started writing and grew a love for it.
“I first started writing at 8 years old. I was a reporter for our neighborhood newspaper. We would go around the block asking people if they had any stories,” said Ramirez.
She originally wrote the novel, “The Winds of Grace” in 2010, when she came back home to Kansas to visit her sick mother. She worked on her book until the flash drive containing all of her work crashed. Technology failed her, and she lost everything.
“There was a sense of loss, it took 17 days after I got home to California to start writing again,” said Ramirez. “I wanted to tell the story. This story wanted to be told.”
With 30 years of Ramirez’ work gone, she started over again.
“Regardless of whatever happens, never give up. I could have given up right there, after 30 years of work gone. Never give up,” Ramirez encouraged.
Ramirez’ favorite thing about writing is the research.
“My writing is historical romance. I like the research. My second favorite thing is when my characters go off and do something else you didn’t have planned. They surprise you,” she said.
“The Winds of Grace” was published through Winepress Publishers. The publishing process took 10 months, including copy-editing, proofreading, and designing the cover.
“Commonly, it takes 10 months to a year to have a book published. When you see someone with a book out six months later after publishing, it isn’t because they wrote it fast, it’s because they were already working on it,” she said.
The feedback for “The Winds of Grace” has been positive.
“Everybody is wanting to know if there’s a sequel. It’s been a 5 star feedback,” Ramirez said.
Her plans now that the book is finished are to continue writing.
“I have eight more stories to write. There are three trilogies that make up nine books,” said Ramirez.
Ramirez plans to continue writing.
“I’ve done everything I wanted to do as a mother, a wife, a store owner, now I want to write. I’m happiest when I’m writing,” she said.