Joanna Campbell Slan is a self-proclaimed “addict.” Her drug of choice? Writing.

“I go into withdrawals if I can’t write,” Slan, author of new mystery series, The Jane Eyre Chronicles, says.

According to Slan – who just published her first book of the series Death of a Schoolgirl – has always been a writer. Even as a child, Slan would “scribble” down words on a piece of paper and would call it her “book.”  But her passion for the written word began as an outlet; an aperture for a better life.

Growing up poor in Vincennes, Ind., Slan was subjected to a tumultuous upbringing. As a child of an alcoholic parent, she recalls a time that seems to reverberate in her consciousness. One night, when she was a little girl she left a glass of water on the counter before going to bed. Her father, an unruly binge-drinker, accidentally spilled it. In the dead of the night he woke her and said, “Your mom is a slob, I’m going to divorce her and you’re going to live on the streets without anything to eat.”

This was just one of many cruel acts Slan had to endure. So in an attempt to escape her reality, she read insatiably and wrote incessantly. “I created my own world,” Slan, 59, says.

While in grade school Slan found a book tucked away in a shelf; a book that would later inspire her new mystery series – It was Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. Identifying with the story, Slan knew what she needed to do in order to break free from the confines of verbal abuse and poverty: get an education. So when the time came, Slan put herself through college and in 1975 she graduated cum laude from Ball State University with a journalism degree.

Fresh out of school, Slan realized the market was flooded with journalists. But not one to be easily deterred, Slan worked feverishly in whatever she could. She sold cosmetics, clothes and edited a small weekly newspaper. At one point she sold newspaper advertising – a job which led her to meet her future husband of nearly 30 years, David Slan.

Slan continued to work in different fields. She was a television talk show host, public relations professional and a motivational speaker, which she did for 15 years.

But even though Slan was delving into other professional realms, her writing was never neglected. In fact, she wrote books on how to scrapbook, personal essays, which appeared in the Chicken Soup for the Soul Series, and the college textbook  Using Stories and Humor: Grab Your Audience, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech writer uses.

It wasn’t until their only son, Michael – who today is 23 years old – received his license and Slan was free of carpool duties, did she focus on her first novel:  Paper, Scissors, Death. It’s the first book to the Kiki Lowenstein series and was an Agatha Award finalist. The sixth book of the series will be published in the summer 2013.

Today Slan and her husband live in Hobe Sound, bordering Jupiter Island, with their two dogs Victoria and Rafferty. Her home, which overlooks the aqua-marine hues of the Atlantic, is filled with as much character as she has. With seashell-covered mirrors she made herself to antique furniture she has slightly refurbished, everything tells a story. But despite her unique abode, her most precious possession still remains to be her writing. “I can’t imagine not writing; writing is who I am in the world,” she says.