By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
As a recent retiree, Donna Gregory just wanted to spend more time with her grandkids. So she wrote a book she could read to them. And now the book is for sale at Forest Avenue Antiques in Great Bend. Donna's daughter, Amber Smith, owns the shop and quickly sold out of her 25 copies.
"I've got 10 grandkids and we're expecting our first great-grandbaby," Gregory said. "I just like to do things with them. This was just something I got inspired to do. It's just been a lot of fun."
Living in Alton, Kan., Gregory has worked as a nurse and ran a small assisted-living business for the last 20 years. Her work as a Sunday-school teacher inspired her to write the poems and come up with the illustrations for her book, "The Golden Rule." Now she has to order more copies to meet demand.
"I did this for my grandkids so I didn't order very many," she said. "I wasn't planning on doing anything but having fun with it. We're ordering more because there's more of a demand than I expected."
Gregory's sister wrote and self-published a similar book, and she showed her mother the ropes of self-publishing. Now Gregory is working on another children's book about the fruits of the spirit: love, patience, and peace.
"It's been a great privilege and it's surprising actually," Gregory said. "I was just doing it for fun. It's reaching other people who can benefit from it. I think the moral of the story is good, and I think little children can benefit from learning how to treat others and how to be a good person."