The Choice I Made by Joanna Campbell Slan

Keep breathing. That’s what I told myself despite the immense pain radiating through my chest and shoulders. I hadn’t expected to come out of surgery and feel like I was being crushed alive. The nurse thought I was exaggerating. After consulting with my doctor over the phone, and ignoring my plea—“I have a high pain tolerance. This isn’t right!”—she gave me morphine. I hallucinated. I survived. I made it through the night.

The next morning when my surgeon came in, he took one look at me and said, “You’re going right back into surgery.” I had peritonitis. Twelve more hours and I would have died.

Fast forward to today.

As you read this, I’m on a cruise to the Christmas markets in Germany. I’ve wanted to do this for several years, and my near-death experience was a bit of a wake-up call. In large part, I live a wonderful, enviable life. However, due to my advancing age (ahem), it’s time for me to take another look at my bucket list. I’m checking it twice, you could say.

What does that mean as an author? I’ve enjoyed writing the Kiki Lowenstein Mystery Series, as well as the other series I pen. That said, it’s time for me to step back and take a serious look at my catalog, my legacy. Do I want to continue with these? Are they still fulfilling to me, as a writer? Yes, they are. They’re like old friends, and I keep finding fresh topics to explore.

So…if I were to branch out, what would I write?

Of course, I have some ideas. That’s a given. You can’t write 80 books and not find yourself awash with new ideas. Sorting through them is the challenge. So I wonder, “What stories do I really want to tell? What have I seen, witnessed, and/or experienced, that I need to share?”

One answer races to the forefront. I’d like to keep writing my Friday Night Mystery Club series. Set in 1986, it explores the lives of five young women who think they’re poised to experience gender equality in the work world. Of course, they aren’t. They’re only an early iteration of women at work. There are battles they’ll win, and a lot more that they’ll lose. What’s more, they stand in high contrast to today. They’d be shocked at how our gender is slip-sliding backward. My books can help readers realize our precarious position.

So there’s that.

I also want to finish the trilogy I’ve called Sweetgrass, because it centers around my observations made while spending decades in the South. That’s a deep river within me, and my observations on racism are worth sharing. In my humble opinion, at least.

I have an idea for a new book in The Jane Eyre Chronicles. Whilst in England, I learned about anchorites, people who committed to being “living saints.” Often women, these pious few were walled up inside a church, never allowed out, and expected to pray for the sins of the world. A pretty extraordinary choice, and one that did not always work out as planned. Imagine having only one portal to the outside world, a small window! One you couldn’t climb out of!  People brought the anchorites food and water, but for the most part, these women never interacted with other humans. The only link to the outside world was the view they had of an altar. Amazing, eh?

Those are only a few of the stories yet to be told. And when I return from Germany, I’m sure I’ll have even more.

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Joanna Campbell Slan is a New York Times, USA Today, and Amazon bestselling author with 80 books to her credit. Her work features strong female protagonists and their friends. Publisher’s Weekly says Joanna’s books are “a cut above the usual craft-themed cozy.” Learn more about her work here-- https://amzn.to/41ubG3E Learn more about Joanna here--linktr.ee/jcslan