One of a family of seven children, Monica McInerney grew up in the Clare Valley, South Australia. McInerney was a book publicist for ten years, working in Australia and Ireland and promoting authors such as Roald Dahl, Tim Winton, Edna O'Brien and fellow South Australian Max Fatchen (whom she counts as a mentor). She has also been an event manager in the Clare Valley, a public relations consultant in Tasmania, a record company press officer in Sydney, a barmaid in London pubs and a temp, a grapepicker and a waitress. Her first job out of school was as wardrobe girl (and later scriptwriter) for Humphrey B. Bear's children's TV show on Channel 9 in Adelaide.
After her marriage to John Drislane, an Irish journalist, McInerney lived in five-year cycles in both Ireland and Australia, hence the first publication of A Taste for It was in Dublin.