BELLE PLAINE — Rhonda Virkus Mumby grew up in Marshall County. Her dad William was a longtime employee at Emerson-Fisher Controls, while her mother Linda worked at Delong Sportswear in Gilman. Mumby graduated from East Marshall High School, married her husband Wayland, and started a family. After her kids were grown, she launched her writing career. Her latest offering “The Sunflower Experience” is set in the fictional Iowa town of Rustic one summer and is classified as a new adult romance with some “spice.”

The story centers on Everleigh Wilson who is focused on spending one perfect last summer with her best friend, Crestin, before she heads off to college and he chases his acting dreams in New York. She takes a two-week job at The Sunflower Experience with Crestin, unprepared to work alongside the brooding Ryker Martin.

“So there’s a lot of that forced proximity, where even though she isn’t around him 100% all day, every day, she is thrown into situations with him a lot. With it being his family’s farm, he’s in charge of training her on several things,” Mumby noted. “So their contentious relationship continues until they start to see that maybe they can be more of a support to each other. They keep getting drawn together, and the more that they learn about each other’s secrets, the more that they want to know the other person, and so it really sets up for some fun situations where they end up watching the sunset together, and they end up kind of being that support, where they can share some of the things going on in their lives with each other that helps to build their relationship.”

Mumby said that although her setting is fictional, it was inspired by the real-life Sunflower Experience hosted at Pheasant Run Farm in Belle Plaine. Rustic’s charming downtown is based off of Oskaloosa’s town square.

“The Sunflower Experience” ends with some uncertainties about the characters’ future. Mumby is in the process of penning its sequel: “After the Sunflower Experience.”

“Their flame when they’re together burns hot and fast for a few days during that sunflower experience, and then it kind of has an abrupt end, going off to school and Ryker dealing with some of his own demons…There’s just so much in the story to tell that I really had to put it into two books. So the second book picks up where the first left off, and we get to follow along more,” she noted.

Her debut novel “A Journey to My Life” came out in 2024. She is working on book one in the Semi-Charmed Series called “The Ambassadors.” It is a historical fantasy story set in the late 1940s.

“The ambassadors are just like my take on witches — in the timeframe — that don’t necessarily want to be known or thought of in the traditional sense of the term,” she said. “And so they believe they use their powers for good in the world. And it’s definitely a secret society. And so the premise is that Bunny discovers that she has magical powers, and she gets sent off to a charm school, which her parents think is to help fix her behaviors. And it is partly for that, but also their secret society is part of that, in that they recognize people with these fledgling powers and help them to develop them and become ambassadors.”

To get in the mood to work on her manuscript, Mumby listens to Big Band era music. She said she envisions 10 books in this series.

“I wanted to dive into side characters and give them their own backstory,” she added.

Mumby said it takes time to market, promote and work through story edits and cover designs. She participates in book fairs and author events around the state at libraries and bookstores. She uses social media to post videos and freebies. Her latest book box giveaway via TikTok, Instagram and her website rhondamumby.com/contact includes a sprayed edges copy of the book (paperback or hardcover), a sunflower patch-themed shirt from the story, custom bookmark, custom stickers and lip balms.

“I’ll be posting on TikTok and Instagram February 1 how people can enter to win, or they can go to my website now and enter by sending me an email and signing up for my newsletter. I’ll be drawing the winners on Feb 14,” she said. “There will be six winners total.”

Eventually, the sprayed edges special edition will be available to buy.

She will be at the Harcourt Public Library on March 19 at 6 p.m. and at the Des Moines Book Festival on May 2.

Having a day job requires being disciplined in making time to write.

“I really have to set timelines for myself to make sure that I am moving forward in the process,” Mumby said.