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Pat Ritter. Books


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Re: Pat Ritter. Books

Postby Nevis » Sun Jan 01, 2012 9:55 pm

Pat. You have a way with words. You remind me of Dickens. My favourite author. No holds barred and no avenue unexplored. :thanks

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Pat Ritter. Books

Postby patritter » Mon Jan 02, 2012 11:54 pm

Thank you Nevis for your very kind words and to be compared to one of the greatest writers in history is commendable. I appreciate your kind comments and as they say in the classics 'you haven't read nothing yet'. :thanks

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Pat Ritter. Books

Postby patritter » Tue Jan 03, 2012 12:11 am

Now we were on the right track about the book to focus on parents instead of our peers, more stories needed to be written. One particular story comes to mind. Parents bought their fifteen year old daughter to see me. She'd run away from home.

When we got to the seat of the problem it turned out the parents were fighting about finances, the teenager became so frustrated she ran away from home, 'they always fight about money,' she said. After extracting from the parents their income and expenditure I completed a budget to show they had sufficient cash flow without worry. Their daughter said, 'you could have asked me to do that, we do it at school.' They left the office happy and contented.

It was almost Christmas when this family saw me. I worked over Christmas and New Year and was called to a fatal road accident. The deceased was this young teenager who'd ran away from home. I had tears in my eyes when I told her parents she'd never be home again. Unfortunately this was part of being a police officer. At times it was emotionally tough and other times most satisfying.

After another year we finally finished the third draft of 'Closing The Gap'. Now to find a publisher. Neither Bob nor I knew anything about publishing or how to go about it. We'd hit another road block.

Tomorrow I'll share with you how 'Closing The Gap' was published.

Pat Ritter Books then click.... PRB

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Pat Ritter. Books

Postby patritter » Tue Jan 03, 2012 10:53 pm

Bob nor I knew how to have a manuscript published, particularly one like our manuscript because although it was the most important thing to us it had to meet the feelings of the readers, in this case - parents.

Near Dakabin State High School many football clubs were being broken and entered, and money, food and other things stolen from the canteen. I came up with an idea to speak with the Principal (who was one of the peers I'd handed a first draft of the manuscript to and received no response).

I met him on the parade ground and asked him if there were many students playing truant on a Wednesday afternoon instead of attending sport. There were many - too many to report. I said, 'can you give me the twenty worst kids you have here to meet me in the library for the afternoon'. He pointed to a group of young lads standing nearby and shouted, 'you lot, the Detective Sergeant wants to see you in the library Now!'. I didn't want him to do it that way but at least I had an audience.

This was the beginning of a Wednesday afternoon gathering of students who didn't attend sport and instead attended my sessions of two hours in the library. We spoke about many things which life hands out to us. I asked each one what they intended doing after they left school and most had no idea.

Over the coming weeks those twenty students swelled to over sixty. We shared many important issues facing them as teenagers, students, young people, and whatever they wanted to talk about. I was having the fun of my life and subsequently the break and enter offences decreased to zero.

One afternoon after I completed the session, the Welfare Officer from the school aproached me to seek my advice. At all times I always carried in my briefcase sufficient numbers of the third draft of the manuscript to hand out to people who was interested in the subject. This person told me she was a member of Lions and wanted to present the manuscript at the up and coming conference that weekend.

Wait until tomorrow to see what happened to our manuscript.

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Pat Ritter. Books

Postby patritter » Wed Jan 04, 2012 10:50 pm

Time went by, we couldn't come up with any ideas on how to publish our manuscript. I was promoted to the rank of Sergeant First Class and transferred to the Computer Branch. Computers were in their infancy in the police at the time. I wanted to learn from the ground floor how they worked.

After about six months working at the Computer Branch I received a telephone call from The Secretary of the Lions Drug Awareness Foundation requesting Bob and I meet with them at their Spring Hill office to discuss the publication of the book.

We were over the moon. After a lengthy meeting the foundation was eager to publish 'Closing The Gap' and circulate the book throughout their network of Lions, Leos and Lioness Clubs across Australia and Papua New Guinea.

It was a dream come true for each of us. After many months of working with the editor and graphic designer; I wanted the cover to be the same as when I thought of it with parent and teenager looking at one another, we were on the way to have the book published.

At the same time I was selected to establish 'Crimestoppers' for the police. This period of my life was to say at least 'hectic'. One half of me was concentrating on my police work to establish 'Crimestoppers' whilst the other was excited about the publication of 'Closing The Gap'.

Wait until tomorrow to read about the official launch of the book.

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Pat Ritter. Books

Postby patritter » Fri Jan 06, 2012 12:09 am

The Official Launch for 'Closing The Gap' finally arrived being held at Parliament House Brisbane at 12.30pm on 29th August 1989. The Honourable Brian Littleproud M.L.A., Minister for Education, Youth and Sport officiated.

What a fanfare. Invited guests ranged from the Commissioner of Police down to members of the Lions Clubs. I remember the hall packed with people, many who I'd never met. I made a speech explaining the history of identifying an issue with 'children running away from home'; meeting Bob, studying behaviour, and finally finding the holy grail to help parents improve communication with their teenage child.

I felt as if I'd climbed Mount Everest - I was so full of happiness I could almost burst.

Now you've read about how 'Closing The Gap' was written and published, how about going to this link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52861 and purchasing a copy. Let your friends and relatives know about the book for it could help you or them improve your communication with your teenage child.

Wait until tomorrow to find out what happened after the launch.

Parenting teenagers at times can be difficult and is an unknown journey for parents of teenage children. This book came about when one of the co-authors identified how he could improve communication between parents and their teenager after the teenager had 'ran away from home'. This book is unique....

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Re: Pat Ritter. Books

Postby patritter » Fri Jan 06, 2012 9:43 pm

Thanks Dub for your thanks

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