When beloved Australian author Rachael Johns “accidentally” broke up with her high school sweetheart it became the catalyst for her writing career.

“Yes, you can accidentally dump someone,” laughs Johns from her home in suburban Perth. “I was in Year 12 and my boyfriend did something I didn’t like so I said ‘I don't think this is working out’ hoping he'd say ‘no you’re the love of my life, don't leave me’ but instead he said ‘yeah I think you're right’.”

A heartbroken Johns didn’t know it at the time but the break-up kick-started her career as an award-winning fiction writer.

“I've never been a journal keeper and I wasn’t a die-hard book reader in high school. You know the ones, the kids who would be reading in the library at lunchtime or under the covers at night with the torch, that wasn't me,” she recalls.

“But for some strange reason I just started writing our story, and no, nobody has ever read it and they never will, it’s terrible. But instead of accidentally breaking up with him I gave him a horrific disease and killed him off.

“I can joke about it now, but I came to writing through therapy, I fell in love with the process of creating characters, exploring feelings and relationships.”

That was almost three decades ago and Johns has never stopped writing, although it took nearly 15 years from first putting pen to paper to getting her work published.

She now has more than 30 titles to her name, including her latest book The Lucky Sisters, released on October 21, and has twice been a recipient of the Romance Writers of Australia RUBY award and won the ABIA general fiction award for The Patterson Girls.

This month Johns will host several events at Batemans Bay, Nowra and Shellharbour libraries, to share The Lucky Sisters - which gave her a chance to “stretch her writing muscles and deal with some big issues” around life, death and family relationships - with her South Coast fans.

Johns says the idea for The Lucky Sisters came to her after she read an article about Lisa-Marie and Elvis Presley both dying young, possibly due to genetics.

But it is book titles which most often inspire her writing trajectory.

“I really love titles and covers, we know everyone judges books by their covers, but I think titles are just as important,” she says. “I’ve got a couple of other titles in my head that don’t have stories to go with them yet, but they will!”

When Johns began writing her latest book, the working title was ‘The Last Day of Your Life.

“I still quite like that but my publisher was keen on The Lucky Sisters,” she says.

While relationships between sisters is a recurring theme in Johns’ writing, readers are always surprised to learn she didn’t grow up with any.

“I think my fascination with sisters does come from actually not having that relationship myself, but you have to have the ability to step into other people's shoes as a writer,” explains Johns, whose work covers everything from rural romance to romcom and what she likes to call “life-lit”.

“I enjoy elements of romance but my first love has always been the nitty-gritty of all the relationships in our lives, the highs and lows, the family drama that comes from the different ways people think.”

Johns is a voracious reader and has “five novels on the go at the same time”, while also writing and editing her own work, co-hosting two book-related podcasts and leading an online book club with almost 7000 members.

Despite her busy schedule, Johns is generous with her time and, much like the characters in her novels, warm, witty, and honest. She’s unashamedly open about a universal fear that cripples many creatives.

“I admit I struggle with quite a lot of self-doubt, that fear can sometimes make the writing hard, when you’re trying new things you're always questioning yourself,” says Johns.

“It's such a gamble, putting your heart and soul into a book and spending years writing it, then wondering if it will do well once it gets out into the world. It’s scary but the only thing you can do is remember why you write and hold onto the joy of it.

“I was a teacher at one point in my life, because you know you have to earn money, but I'd still write even if I didn't have the success that I have. I just don't know how to live without fictional characters in my head any more. I couldn't imagine doing anything else.”

When asked if she’s ever thanked the ex for her successful writing career she laughs and says, “well I certainly didn’t in Year 12.”

“But I did dedicate my book Flying the Nest to him, it says something like ‘this one's for the boy who broke my heart at 17 and caused me to start writing, it's probably time I thanked you’,” she says.

“Perth isn’t a huge place and we have mutual friends so we've crossed paths and he’s proud of me and says he loves seeing my books on the shelves. It turned out well in the end.”

Rachael Johns will hold author talks at Batemans Bay Library on October 28 from 12-1.30pm, Nowra Library on October 28 from 5.30-6.30pm and Shellharbour Library on October 29 from 6-8pm.