The Side Job

It’s always fun when you can meet a new author and discover a fascinating read at the same time.

Today I’d like to welcome author Don Lubov to Thoughts in Progress to talk about his new release, THE SIDE JOB, and his writing. First here’s a quick synopsis of his book.

                At 17, unmarried, unskilled, and pregnant, Maggie Gomez is abandoned by her boyfriend and evicted from her home by her parents. For five years, she leads a hardscrabble life on the underside of a Las Vegas ghetto, working at menial, minimum-wage jobs, to support herself and her asthmatic daughter. As her daughter's health declines, Maggie's need for money turns from needy to desperate. Either 5-year-old April gets an expensive operation, or she dies.

             When she takes a new and dangerous profession; as a hitman for a local mobster, Maggie’s life becomes a soap opera of mixed emotions and dangerous ties. Things come to a head when she discovers that her detective lover is investigating her loan-shark boss…who, has put out a contract on her. With the help of one of Frankie D's thugs, all of Maggie's unsavory connections to the Las Vegas underworld are violently canceled. She and Shawn and April survive ‘what happens in Vegas…' and remain in Las Vegas, together.

Now please join me in giving a warm welcome to Don as he shares a bit about his writing. Welcome, Don.

What is your writing style and where did the idea for your book come from?

Don:

How I write - I’m a "pantser." I just sit down to the keyboard and start typing away. The book, THE SIDE JOB, just came to me as a 500-word word flash-fiction.

What do you hope readers will take away from reading your book?

Don:

The take-away is that "a mother's love for her child knows no limits.”

What is the best advice you’ve received as a writer and are you working on anything at the moment?

Don:

Best writer advice: hard work, perseverance, and read other books. In 2018, I completed 5 books, simultaneously, and published them at the same time. Consequently, I am focused on promotion by way of literary contests and book reviews.

My 6 books, currently in print, can be purchased from Amazon as paperbacks or on Kindle.

Don, thanks for stopping by today and giving us this insight into your writing and your new release.

For those who aren’t familiar with Don, here’s a bit of background on him.

Author Don Lubov

Don has been happily married since 1976. He was an artist for 34 years and exhibited his artwork at three New York City Art Galleries and the Heckscher Art Museum. He spent eight years teaching Art & Design at East Carolina University, McNeese State University, Suffolk County Community College. He taught energy-efficient architecture at Stanford University.

He was a guest lecturer at Stony Brook University on “Hyperspace—A Visual Introduction to the 4^th Dimension”. In 1985, he received a grant from The Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation for his work combining art & mathematics, with his “Quantum Pictures”.

He has written about spirituality and stress relief since 1971. He is the author of 9 books. 10 years successfully teaching his “Six-Step Path” at College of Central Florida Sr. Center, MTP College, and The Lifelong Learning College in The Villages, FL. He has taught his unique brand of meditation to over 2,000 people, who subsequently achieved a level of inner peace. He has taught his "Six-Step Path" for stress reduction for the past 12 years, at Del Webb and 3 local colleges.

Don has written for Yahoo Voices, Beliefnet.com, and Kinja.com. His writings have been published in various magazines and books. He has written the following 6 books —                                         

     An End to Stress – spirituality and self-help

     The Plague – sci-fi cautionary tale

     The Side Job – a novel of a female assassin

     The Writers Bloc Club – an anthology of prose & poetry                 

     Near Death in the Gila National Forest – a memoir

     Frosty the Soulman – an illustrated children’s book

                                                                                                     

His YouTube videos include—

      “The Grassroots Manifesto”,                                                 

      “Creativity Manifesto”

      “Spirituality Manifesto”

He created and developed “Pyramoids” – an energy-efficient building system, and taught this system at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA. One of his “Pyramoid” designs was accepted and juried in The World Trade Center Memorial Competition.

Articles and Poems — Beliefnet.com, Kinja.com, Yahoo Voices, Florida Writers Magazine,

Journal of Creative Writers Notebook, The Daily Sun, The Stress Blog on Deeper Meditation,

Horizon Magazine, Mark Miller’s One, What is love – Diane Sikel, Fifty is the New Fifty – Steve Winston, The Speaker Anthology – Shields & Gustavson, The Florida Writer, The Boomer Cafe

For more on Don and his writing, visit his website.

Thanks for stopping by today during Don’s visit. Do you agree a mother’s (or father’s) love knows no bounds when it comes to their children or at least that’s the way it should be?