Curley's first attempt at writing was a romance novel. After this was finished, she took several writing courses, but struggled to decide what she wanted to write about. She began writing young-adult novels after a conversation with her two teenaged daughters. They encouraged Curley to write something for their age group. According to Curley, it took many attempts before my writing was good enough to be published. She was rejected by publishers many times. While learning to write she taught computer studies at the TAFE college in Coffs Harbour.