Sheila Lowe's Blog, page 2

A Most Unusual T Party

Recently, Teresa Abram, a Canadian handwriting analyst colleague, interviewed me for her podcast, “A Most Unusual T Party.” We talked about all sorts of things. I hope you enjoy it.

In other news…

Last night, I sent my publisher the manuscript for my next Claudia Rose book. In DEAD LETTERS. Claudia’s eighteen-year-old niece, Monica, goes missing from an archaeological excavation in Egypt. When Monica’s father is prevented from going to look for her, guess who takes his place. Our intrepid handwriting expert meets up with trouble as she travels the globe in search of the girl.

There’s no release date yet for the book, but it will probably be in the next couple of months. With the ongoing quarantine, who knows whether I’ll be able to host an in-person launch party. But maybe. Last year, I held one for Proof of Life at Orozco’s Mexican Restaurant in Ventura. They have been serving dinner on their beautiful patio, so, it remains to be seen. Failing that, and/or in addition, I’ll certainly do some online events.

And that’s not all…

Anna Crowe, the fabulous voice of most of the Claudia Rose audiobooks has done it again. WRITTEN IN BLOOD is in the pipeline for release, hopefully, this month. I will have a bunch of free codes to give away if you’d like to listen to the book. You may have read it in the past, but listening is a different experience.

Listen to chapter one here.

If you are not yet on my notification list and would like to be, send me an email: sheila@sheilalowe.com

Stay well in these crazy times.

Sheila

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VE Day – 75 years

King George, VE Day

On May 8, 1945, during the reign of Britain’s King George VI, the Allies celebrated the defeat of Hitler and the Nazis. This date became recognized as VE Day: Victory in Europe.

Last Friday, May 8th, on the 75th anniversary of VE Day, I received an early morning request from a UK publication. Prince Charles was to read an excerpt from the diary of his grandfather, King George (the one from the movie The King’s Speech!). They wanted to know whether I could provide a handwriting analysis of both Royals for an article that would be published at the same time.

I had woken up in the night, sick, and was feeling pretty cruddy by the time I read the email. Still, far be it from me to turn down an opportunity for some free publicity. And it was flattering to be asked. As you may know, I’m from England but have lived in the US for most of my life. I still consider myself a Brit and wanted to participate in the celebration.

The only handwriting the reporter had found of the King’s was his signature, which is not sufficient, even for a quickie analysis–which is all the media really wants. I found a sample on Google Images and another of Prince Charles, whose handwriting I’ve always liked. So, if you would like to see what I had to say about these two very different men, click here to go to the article. I hope you enjoy my comments.

Also, my latest book Proof of Life came out in audiobook format. I have some free Audible codes for it and some others of my Claudia Rose series. Contact me if you’d like one (first come, first served).

If you are interested in learning more about analyzing handwriting, the e-version of my book, Reading Between the Lines: Decoding Handwriting, is free to download until May 13, 2020. Enjoy! www.sheilalowe.com

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Kindness Matters

Kindness Matters happens to be the name of a radio show on which I recently appeared as a guest. One of the hosts, Lloyd Brock, is a longtime handwriting analyst, stage hypnotist, and retired Treasury agent. Way back in the 1990s, he contacted me with a questioned document case that he was unable to do because it conflicted with his job.

Since then, Lloyd has had me on his show a couple of times. Here’s a link to the latest discussion: I would have been on video with them, but there were technical difficulties, so we did my part on the phone.

I love the theme of the show. Especially these days, when it’s so easy to be anonymously snarky and mean on various social media platforms, we need to be reminded that kindness matters. I love it when I can re-post stories of random acts of kindness. One I posted today is about a 15-year-old Texas boy who bought a Valentine flower for every girl in his school (172 of them). He had noticed the year before that not everyone got a recognition. This was his beautiful remedy.

Kindness matters in handwriting, too. While there is no “this-means-that” in handwriting, some features point to kindness more than others. For example, some curves balanced with straight lines and a moderate slant. Features that point away from kindness are extremely heavy pressure combined with many angles and sharp strokes, especially when there is also an extreme slant.

Where to learn more

But those are generalities. A handwriting professional always looks at the whole handwriting when making an assessment. Here’s a link to my other website for more information. And here’s a link to the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation. This wonderful nonprofit organization is more than 50 years old. I’m currently the president, so a bit prejudiced. But you won’t find another handwriting analysis organization that offers more free resources to its members.

News

I’m now hard at work on the next Claudia Rose book, Dead Letters. In fact, writing this blog post allows me to procrastinate working on a difficult chapter.

I’ve also just finished re-editing What She Saw with the help of Betty Almeida’s eagle eye. Readers had pointed out errors (typos and stuff) 

From the mysteries in handwriting to mystery writing

Today, I was a guest blogger for Anne Louise Bannon on the mysteries of handwriting. Anne is the president of the Los Angeles chapter of Sisters in Crime and a fellow author, so it was an honor to be invited to write something for her.

I decided to use the opportunity to talk about how I went from the mysteries of handwriting to mystery writing. My work as a handwriting analyst, uncovering the mysteries of personality has been intriguing. But the fact is, after so many years in that field, I was ready to kill someone. Obviously, not literally. Doing it on the page is enough excitement for me. It was quite a leap from my first career as a forensic handwriting examiner to mystery writer. If you would like to know how it all came about, click on this link.

In other news, watch for updates about my next book, Dead Letters, coming in late summer 2021.

This is an old blog post and having given my website a facelift, I’m attempting to improve the SEO. I’m going back over some of the older posts. If you are reading this paragraph, I apologize. I needed to add some words, and here they are.

The post From the mysteries in handwriting to mystery writing appeared first on Sheila Lowe Books.

From the mysteries of handwriting to mystery writing

Today, I was a guest blogger for Anne Louise Bannon. I wrote about making the leap from my first career as a forensic handwriting examiner to mystery writer.

If you would like to know how it all came about, click on this link.

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National Handwriting Day

January 23rd was designated National Handwriting Day in the 1980s. The Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association used the birthday of John Hancock to mark the occasion. Why Hancock? Remember his signature on the Declaration of Independence? Legend has it that he signed it big and bold so King George would be able to read it without his spectacles!

Other countries may not be invested in celebrating American independence but want to honor handwriting, too. So, more recently, the American Handwriting Analysis Foundation (AHAF) suggested expanding NHD to International Handwriting Week.

Everyone is encouraged to find a way to celebrate with us. You could take a picture of your handwriting and post it on your social media. I just did! Click here to see it.

The SoCal chapter of AHAF is holding a meeting on Saturday, January 25th to mark the occasion. The public is welcome. There is no fee. We’ll be at the EP Foster Library, 651 E. Main Street, Ventura CA, in the Topping room. Time: 10:00 a.m. to noon. Learn what your handwriting says about you. Join us!

If you are interested in learning more about handwriting analysis, please take a look at my nonfiction books. Readers of my Forensic Handwriting Mystery series say they learn a lot about handwriting, too.

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Book Clubs

I love visiting book clubs. After all, what’s not to like, they’re reading one of my books. I’ve visited book clubs in Thousand Oaks, Orange, Solvang and others in person. Good food and wine is usually served along with the conversation.

Sometimes, I’ve joined the conversation via Zoom or Skype. An Atlanta book club invited me to their meeting last summer. I was out of town and joined from my laptop–worked well. Of course, in those cases we can only hoist a glass in virtuality (I think I just made up a word), but it’s still fun. I’ll gladly send a bunch of bookmarks and signed bookplates, too.

The latest book club to pick one of my books was this week in Pahrump, NV. This time I visited by proxy. One of their members, my very dear friend and mentor, Bob Joseph, recommended Written Off for their December read. Since he was there and I was not, Bob spoke on my behalf, telling the group about me and my work. Apparently, everyone liked the book a lot, so that made my week.

Awhile back I posted a blog about a local book club visit here in Ventura. They invited me for the second time last year at Halloween, where they all dressed up as characters in What She Saw. The creativity of those ladies was outstanding!

It’s always interesting to hear what readers think of my books and the characters that populate them. Do you have a book club that would like a visit from a mystery author? If so, please think of me 

 

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Book Club Visit by Proxy

Book clubs! I love visiting them, even by proxy. After all, what’s not to like, they’re reading one of my books. Clubs I’ve visited within driving distance include Thousand Oaks, Orange, Solvang and others, where I’ve enjoyed the good food and wine that’s served along with the conversation.

Sometimes, I’ve joined the conversation via Zoom or Skype. An Atlanta book club invited me to their meeting last summer. I was out of town and joined from my laptop–worked well. Of course, in those cases we can only hoist a glass in virtuality (I think I just made up a word), but it’s still fun. I’ll gladly send a bunch of bookmarks and signed bookplates, too.

The latest book club to pick one of my books was this week in Pahrump, NV. This time I visited by proxy. One of their members, a dear friend and mentor, Bob Joseph, recommended Written Off for their December read. Since he was there and I was not, Bob spoke on my behalf, telling the group about me and my work. Apparently, everyone liked the book a lot, so that made my week.

Awhile back I posted a blog about a local book club here in Ventura. They invited me for the second time last year at Halloween, where they all dressed up as characters in What She Saw. The creativity of those ladies was outstanding!

It’s always interesting to hear what readers think of my books and the characters that populate them. Do you have a book club that would like a visit from a mystery author? If so, please think of me 

Mystery Writers of America meeting

Last Sunday, I caught a ride with fellow mystery author, Raul Melendez, to L.A. to attend the November meeting of Mystery Writers of America SoCal Chapter. The chapter meets at the Tam O’Shanter restaurant, where we enjoyed excellent food and a fascinating speaker. Detective Robert Bub has been working cold cases. Terri Nolan, who has been consulting with Bub for ten years on her own books, conducted the interview.

Detective Bub detailed the Sherri Rasmussen murder case, which his team solved 25 years after the 1986 killing.

Here’s the story: Sherri’s husband, John Ruetten, pictured left, returned home from work work one evening to find Sherri “brutally beaten, and shot 3 times in the chest.” A bite mark on her arm also played an important role in identifying her killer.

Bub portrayed Sherri’s killer, Stephanie Lazarus, as a jealous lover who could not let Sherri’s husband go (the affair continued following his marriage to Sherri a few months earlier). When Bub revealed that, like John Ruetten, Lazarus was also a cop, a gasp rounded the room. Arrested in 2009, she was convicted and sentenced to twenty-five to life.

The CBS show, 48 Hours episode, One of Their Own, covered the crime.

Next month, SOCAL MWA joins with Sisters in Crime/LA for a holiday party. Trust me, I will be there!

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