 McKinney was also the protégé of and editor for Louise McNeill, fellow poet and the predecessor to the Poet Laureate position for West Virginia from 1979 to her death in 1993.Irene helped edit for her and her friendship and relationship with Louise helped her move towards focusing on regionalism (focusing on local dialect, customs, and other features for a specific region) in her writing and poems.McKinney's poetry is steeped in the rural Appalachian landscape and frequently explores the connections between people and place.