We’re so pleased to have author E.J. Russell joining us today to chat about what gives her the heebie-jeebies, and she wants to know what gives you a case of the willies too.
Welcome, E.J.!
Years ago, when I was working at a book store, one of my co-workers (who was Goth before Goth was Goth) used to see every horror movie released, regardless of its quality. Now me—I wasn’t a big horror aficionado. I remember sitting in the theater when the opening credits rolled for Alien, thinking, “What the heck am I doing here?”
But as it happened, while the movie was definitely tense, movie monsters don’t really scare me. You know what does?
Heights.
For years I tried to hide the fact, ashamed of the perceived weakness. But somewhere in my mid-twenties, I decided, “Screw it.” My pride was an easy thing to sacrifice if it meant I’d never have to climb a ladder again.
You know what else scares me?
Visual arts. Pretty weird, huh?
Although to be clear, it’s not looking at them and appreciating them that freaks me out, but rather being forced to try to produce my own, because I have zero—or maybe less than zero—artistic ability. My sixth grade teacher included a drawing or painting component to every stinking one of our reading or writing assignments. Now I ask you—how is that fair? I liked reading and writing, and was pretty good at both, but once she added that art requirement? I was doomed.
As a result, a couple of things happened. First, I have a tendency to view people who can create art as sort of mystical beings with access to alternate perceptions that I can’t hope to understand.
I dated a photographer once whose unfathomable artistic vision involved taking black-and-white pictures of only homogenously white things—so all his prints looked like…well…blanks. Why? I have no idea. I remember him being quite dissatisfied with one photograph of clouds because you could just discern their texture.
He’d also read somewhere that one famous photographer (I forget who) actually took very few shots. Consequently, he also took very few shots—although that may have been because he ran out of white things to photograph or because he was just cheap and didn’t want to shell out the money for film and materials, especially when all the prints looked the same anyway.
Second, just thinking about being forced to produce a visual art piece is enough to send me into tachycardia. Talk about fear! I have this inner certainty that art is dangerous. This wasn’t lessened by another artist friend whose master’s thesis project materials nearly killed him from isocyanate poisoning. Man. Art is not only dangerous, it’s sneaky, with a nefarious hidden agenda.
Obviously it’s not for weenies (like me).
Is it any wonder that when I sat down to write a supernatural suspense series, I picked visual artists, the most otherworldly people of my experience, as my principal characters? And focused on that most terrifying of activities (cue the scary soundtrack): making (*gasp*) art. Aiiieeeeee!
What about you? What gives you the heebie-jeebies?
The Art Medium Collection
Artists use all manner of materials to express their vision, to interpret the world around them, to affect the hearts and minds of their audience.
But what if the artist himself were the medium? And what if artistic inspiration weren’t the only force at work?
If painter Stefan Cobbe and art investigator Luke Morganstern don’t answer those questions fast, they stand to lose their reputations, their relationship—and their lives.
Find out More about the Art Medium books at Riptide Publishing
About the Author
E.J. Russell holds a BA and an MFA in theater, so naturally she’s spent the last three decades as a financial manager, database designer, and business-intelligence consultant. After her twin sons left for college and she no longer spent half her waking hours ferrying them to dance class, she returned to her childhood love of writing fiction. Now she wonders why she ever thought an empty nest meant leisure.
E.J. lives in rural Oregon with her curmudgeonly husband, the only man on the planet who cares less about sports than she does. She enjoys visits from her wonderful adult children, and indulges in good books, red wine, and the occasional hyperbole.
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