A Letter of Gratitude to Llumina Press

Dear Llumina Press,

    After this whole publishing process comes to a close, without knowing the absolute outcome of sales, I know OMA will do well. Perhaps it will not make the most profit of any book, but it will do well. Why? Well, because it was forged through hard work and harnessed ambition. Without a penny in my pocket, I got something much more valuable to spare: Knowledge of what it’s like to try... and try hard. You cannot buy that. And no one has taught me the potency of determination more than Deborah Greenspan.

    I can look at all those bestsellers and now I can say to myself, "Hey, that book had to combat mine, before it got there." Now they are bestsellers in my mind, because my book was there too. Moreover, I can always keep my true fans, my family and friends, no matter what happens. With this in mind, I have assembled a list of "thank you's" to everyone who stuck out throughout this wonderful journey:

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    Deborah-- What can I say? There is a reason why I chose you for a role model. You disserve to be proud of who you are. I probably haven't even scratched the surface of who you are, but I definitely got a great part stuck in my finger nails (that is supposed be taken as a compliment, by the way). But in all seriousness, you go way out of your way to see my progress as not only a writer, but as a person. Someone like you, I wouldn't be able to forget even if I tried.

    Joanna-- At first, we didn't really get along. I had no idea what kind of person you were and I let paranoia get the best of me. Now, I know that you care about my story, which is indeed a part of me, more than anyone here. I am just fortunate to have someone who cares so much to also know what they are talking about. You are a great artist and an ace plot dissector. You know how to be ruthlessly truthful, which is the best thing in this industry. Do not ever change how you work things, only the ignorant (Like I, initially) will not benefit from it.

    Robyn-- You've got quite a gift for making someone feel welcome to the family. You understand, profoundly, how to engage in casual conversation, while also persuading important business decisions. You also are gifted in knowing how to make someone reassure themselves of an important action.

    Shari-- We went through a lot of frightening events together. I almost gave up hope in changing the version, until I saw your authentic concern for the turn out. Characters, such as yourself, are not easily found in today's world. Thanks for sticking with it and giving OMA a better chance because of it.

    Bonnie-- You are a great editor. You made a lot of sentences flow a lot easier. In fact, I am using techniques that I noticed in your revisions for Part 2 of OMA. I wish I was able to get a personal message from you, but that's okay that I didn't. Perhaps your alterations speak for you.

    Cassandra-- You were very helpful and constantly delivered a response the next day. It may not seem like much, but knowing you are going to get a reply that soon is a true convenience. Plus, you had an excellent, warm attitude.

    Rocky-- You also are a helpful person that makes all the difference in an operation that requires so much time and funds. You aided me more than you may think, when you passed along my synopsis to Joanna to change the tone to third-person. Without that, she wouldn't have noticed another problem and it might not have done as well.

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    Everyone at Llumina showed me how a company should operate. All of the employees are in their right place and are prime examples of what human clock work can accomplish. Every person mentioned (and everyone who I didn't have the pleasure of meeting as well) act as finely tuned gears, with the oil being Deborah's keen intuition of who to assign and hire.

    No matter what happens to OMA, publishing here was a life changing experience. If all goes well, soon we all can relive it all over again with Part Two. However, if we cannot, then I hope these words stick: If Llumina Press can be described with one word, it is astounding. I'm not sure if that does justice to the intricacies of how everything works so perfectly, but it sure is close.

Thanks for everything,

Dan

Daniel Neumann,

Author of: OMA - One Man Army