Official bio:
Rachael Johns is an English teacher by trade, a mum 24/7, a Diet Coke addict, a cat lover and chronic arachnophobe. She rarely sleeps and never irons. She is also the bestselling, ABIA-winning author of The Patterson Girls and a number of other romance and women’s fiction books, including her recent bestseller, Something to Talk About. Rachael is currently Australia’s leading writer of contemporary relationship stories around women’s issues, a genre she has coined ‘life-lit’.
Rachael has finaled in a number of competitions, including the Australian Romance Readers Awards. Jilted (her first rural romance) won Favourite Australian Contemporary Romance in 2012, and The Patterson Girls won the 2016 Romance Writers of Australia RUBY Award and also the 2015 Australian Book Industry Award for General Fiction. She continually places in Booktopia’s Top 50 Aussie Authors poll.
Rachael lives in the Swan Valley with her hyperactive husband, three mostly-gorgeous heroes-in-training, two ravenous cats, a cantankerous bird and a very badly-behaved dog.
You want to know about me?
I’ve been writing since I was 17 when I broke up with my first boyfriend (at the time I thought he was The One and was hugely devastated in the fashion of all 17 year olds). For some reason unbeknownst to me, I turned to writing as a form of therapy for my broken heart. It was enlightening to realise that with writing I could create whatever ending I liked. I wrote the story of me and The One and actually ended up killing him off. The writing was therapeutic, the story was cringe-worthy but I caught the bug.
Almost a decade later, after a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Writing and English and after many, many attempts at writing different types of novels, I joined Romance Writers of Australia. Finally I learnt there was more to writing a book than just typing out random thoughts – I learnt about craft, conflict, consistent characters, etc – and I also learnt that I LOVED contemporary romance and that was what I wanted to write.
Eventually I found a publisher who liked my work enough to offer me a contract. My first book came out in December 2011 and I’ve been living the dream since then (i.e. working from home in my pjs). I mostly write in the genres of women’s fiction/life lit and rural romance, but have also written a biker romance and three short romances for Harlequin Special Edition.
I hope that if you decide to try one of my books – about pretty normal people creating pretty amazing happy ever afters – that you enjoy it and pine a little when it ends ?
And for a bit of fun:
Colour most featured in my wardrobe – PINK of course!
What I’d like a never-ending box of – Raffaellos. It’s a sin that something that tastes so good and is so small has so many calories. Or a packet of Tim Tams (caramel ones, please).
Daily poison – Diet Coke (although it MUST be drunk in a glass. Yes, I’m a REAL lady)
Celebrity Crush – Australian weatherman Grant Denyer (well, he’s no longer a weatherman, but that’s when I fell in love). I’m also a little partial to Scott Eastwood and Liam Hemsworth.
Best thing about being a writer – You mean aside from the money and fame (LOL)?? The friends I’ve met and the fact I can wear my pjs to work.
Something I will never do. Ever – Ironing
Obsession – earrings! I follow a whole host of wonderful earring makers on Instagram and buy way more than I can ever wear (a bit like how I buy books really – way more than I can ever read).
