[1] During this time, she also freelanced as a contributing editor of the literary quarterly Grand Street.

O'Rourke has written on a wide range of topics, including horse racing, gender bias in the literary world, the politics of marriage and divorce, and the place of grief and mourning in modern society.

Her book The Long Goodbye, a memoir of grief and mourning written after her mother's death, was published to wide critical acclaim in 2011.

[5] Her latest book, The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness, was released in March 2022.

[8] The Invisible Kingdom details her decade-long struggle with it and with an autoimmune condition as well as the protracted process of obtaining a correct diagnosis.