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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
I could write the book on writing books
A friend and I were
just talking about
this. Talking about
how so many people want to
write a book.
He explained that he had
a secret longing to write a
biography on a little known
engineer who had helped
to change the complex
ion of industrial America.
Additionally, I had just got
ten one of the daily emails I
receive where someone asks
for advice on how to get pub
lished.
Earlier, too, I had been
lunching with friends when
someone came over to our
table, introduced himself and
inquired if he might call me
for advice on how to get his
novel published. As always, I
said “of course” and handed
him my card.
“I never realized that so
many people wanted to write
books,” Claudette remarked
Rep. Fran Millar deserves an 'A' for his education efforts
The HOPE schol
arship has kept a
number of Georgia’s
brightest kids at home and
has vastly improved the aca
demic quality of our state’s
universities and colleges. If a
college education isn’t your
bag, the state of Georgia also
offers one of the best techni
cal education systems in the
nation. Great universities
and great technical schools
in the same state: That com
bination should be a win-win
for our young people, but the
wonderful world of educa
tion doesn’t work that way.
Irony Number One: The
rate of ninth-graders in the
state’s public high schools
who do not graduate
four years later stands at
between 30 and 40 percent.
They leave with no job skills.
That’s shameful.
Irony Number Two: Sixty
percent of the state’s high
school counselors, 56 per
cent of high school princi
pals and 72 percent of high
school teachers have little or
no knowledge of Georgia’s
Department of Technical
and Adult Education. That’s
even more shameful.
These numbers are cour
tesy of Rep. Fran Millar (R-
Dunwoody), who has intro
duced HB 905, also known
as Building Resourceful
Individuals to Develop
Georgia’s Economy, or
BRIDGE. If enacted, the bill
would implement a “mar
ket-demand skills program”
SALE^^
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 05, 2008^^
HOUSTON COUNTY
COURTHOUSE I
11:00 A.M. I
USDA, Rural Development will
require at least a 20% non
refundable down payment, in
certified funds, the day of the
sale.
in a puz
zled tone
as she
watched
him walk
away.
“When
I’m with
you, every
where we
go peo
ple want
your advice on the subject.
Everyone wants to write a
book.”
“Well, I’ve never had the
slightest inclination to write a
book,” Penelope Ann popped
up and said as she buttered
a roll. “Never crossed my
mind.”
“That’s because you have
never read a book,” I replied,
raising an eyebrow. I wasn’t
kidding.
Penelope Ann stopped
buttering and pinched her
pink glossed lips into a pout.
in grades
10-12 in r \
Georgia’s 1 \ ,j|
h g h (fPHfp JIT
savs the
proposed D, ck Yarbrough
law would yarb24oo@bellsouth.net
provide a
separate track for kids who
are not college material and
give them the skills to com
pete in the job market while
in high school.
If sheer enthusiasm could
pass legislation, BRIDGE
would be a law as we speak.
Millar passionately believes
in the effort. “We spend more
than $lO billion annually in
Georgia on education,” he
says, “and for too long we
have focused on every child
going to college. Too many
are not even finishing high
school. Our legislation would
give all students a choice of
focused programs of study
starting in the ninth grade,
including programs for stu
dents who would otherwise
drop out.”
Millar says much of his
inspiration for HB 905
comes from several pub
lic high school systems in
Georgia that have shown
remarkable progress in their
graduation rates through an
emphasis on student readi
ness for the workforce, not
just college preparation.
Camden County, for exam
3 Bedrooms, 2 Baths
409 Courtney Ln
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Minimum Bid Amount $64,421.00
For more information contact
USDA, Rural Development at
478-956-6484, Ext 4.
Ronda Rich
“Dixie Divas”
“That’s not true.”
“Cliff notes don’t count.”
I remembered how in high
school, she was the number
one buyer of Cliff notes in
the history of Perdue’s News
Stand. She raised her chin
imperially. “I have read two,”
she emphatically tossed two
fingers at me for effect. “Both
Nancy Drew books.” She
waved a hand airily. “One
had something to do with a
staircase.”
Later, when Charlie men
tioned in passing how he
would one day like to write
the book on the engineer
but wasn’t inclined to spend
all the time researching the
background required, we
sauntered into a lazy conver
sation over how many people
long to write books.
“But you know,” I com
mented, “Everyone does have
a book in them. Everyone.
It’s just finding the story and
pie, has improved gradua
tion rates for black students
from 59 to 78 percent in the
last four years and Hispanic
students from 61 to 86 per
cent. In Whitfield County,
where there is a large popu
lation of Hispanics, Dalton
High School saw graduation
rates increase from 56 per
cent to almost 73 percent
in the same period. “These
systems prove that our drop
out rate can be reversed if
proper emphasis is placed on
job skills,” says Millar, who
thinks his legislation could
raise graduation rates to 90
percent.
Rep. Millar acknowledges
he has a tough row to hoe
before and if BRIDGE ever
becomes law. There are more
groups with a toe in the edu
cation water than there are
fish in the sea. Everybody
has a vested and sometimes
opposing interest in the sub
ject, which is why public edu
cation progress is so difficult
to achieve in our state, and
why public school teachers
are such an easy target for
politicians and media pun
dits. Teachers are the only
ones in the education sys
tem who put their work on
the line in full view of the
public.
I have talked to a number
of people in the education
community about BRIDGE,
and they view Millar’s pro
posal anywhere from imprac
tical to perhaps doable, but
only with a lot of changes.
Equal Housing
Opportunity
COMMENTARY
putting it on paper.”
I firmly believe that.
After all, if a memoir
like Angela's Ashes, which
recalled the dreariest pos
sible childhood in Ireland,
can become a runaway best
seller, everyone’s got a shot.
If the prose is lyrical enough,
that is. It’s not always in
what you have to write, it’s
how you write it. I just read
- tried to read, that is - a
book by Southern iconic tele
vision star. She had a great
story to tell about all her
husbands but the prose was
so bad, I put it down after
three chapters. I will not tor
ture myself.
In the event, you’re one
of the hundreds who have
sought or will seek my advice
on this subject, I’m happy
to share what little I know.
First, get an agent. Without
one, a publisher won’t talk
to you.
Not exactly a groundswell of
support from the entrenched
education establishment
and not surprising.
Millar admits that BRIDGE
is revolutionary and contro
versial, but says it is abso
lutely necessary if we are
to achieve higher graduation
rates and stem the dropout
rate in Georgia. He says we
must get teachers, adminis
trators, counselors, parents
and taxpayers to understand
that (a) everybody doesn’t
have to nor should go
to college, and (b) learning
job skills is the best alterna
tive; dropping out is not.
HB 905 may or may not be
the answer to our dropout
problem, but I don’t see any
thing better on the horizon.
Give Rep. Fran Millar an
“A” for effort. At least he is
trying.
You can reach
Dick Yarbrough at
yarb24oo@bellsouth.net, P.O.
Box 725373, Atlanta, Georgia
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2008 ♦
Now, how do you do that?
Begin with lots of research.
Know thy poison and how
it worketh. I always recom
mend a book called Guide to
Literary Agents. This little
jewel of a book details agents
and what kind of proper
ties they represent. Don’t
send non-fiction material to
an agent who specializes in
romance or a children’s book
to an agent who reps busi
ness books.
Make out a list of suit
able agents. Write a good
query letter pitching why
your project is marketable
- research why people will
buy it - and then mail it
off to the prospective agents.
Apparently, I write a pretty
decent query letter. When
I first went in search of an
agent, I mailed the letter to
12 agents and got six favor
able replies, including two
immediate phone calls say
31739, or website: www.dick
yarbrough.com.
[j^Einon
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L
ing, “I want to represent
you.”
Finally, don’t ask me to
read your manuscript. I am
the worse judge of talent pos
sible. More than likely, I’U do
you more harm than good.
Here’s my best advice,
though. Pray. Hard. Without
ceasing. And be sure to pay
the preacher well.
Ronda Rich is the best
selling author of What
Southern Women Know
(That Every Woman Should)
and The Town That Came
A-Courtin’.
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