Spring Valley native, former NewsTribune reporter Brett Herrmann publishes first novel

Novel writing was always something on the mind of Spring Valley native Brett Herrmann, but it wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic forced him to work from home he was able to turn the dream into a reality.

Little by little he began to work on his story and now, as of Dec. 14, Herrmann has published his first fiction novel entitled “Grim Sweeper” – available on Amazon.

Herrmann graduated from Hall High School and attended Illinois Valley Community College before pursuing his degree in creative writing from the University of Illinois.

After spending time as a reporter and editor for the NewsTribune, Herrman now finds himself living in Sycamore and working at Kishwaukee College.

“My first job out of college was actually at the NewsTribune, but this was something I always kept on the backburner as more of a hobby than anything,” Herrmann said. “I wrote a lot of short fiction. Some of which I was able to get published, but as far as the novel goes, it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

When the pandemic hit, Herrmann found himself adjusting to working from home like many others across the country.

While this was a change, Herrmann used it as an opportunity to help kick start something he’s always wanted to do.

“When the work days ended, I was already sitting right there at my laptop,” Herrmann said. “I just kind of made a decision that I’m going to write for an hour every day after the end of my work day.”

Herrmann took advantage of his newly found time and motivation and kept plugging away at the story as it continued to grow.

“When I started it, I didn’t even know if it would be something that I’d actually want to get published,” Herrmann said. “I worked it out as I went.”

The first chapter of the novel is based on a short story Herrmann wrote while he was in college. It was something that always stuck with him and helped lead him into the rest of the story he wanted to tell.

“It was really a jumping off point for the story,” Herrmann said. “It was nice that I had that written. At the beginning of the pandemic, I kind of went from there.”

The story follows a high school janitor, who sees himself as more of a private eye investigator. His case solving leads him into a web of deception where he finds out some messes are even too big for him to clean up.

“He goes around the school trying to solve problems while creating more as he goes,” Herrmann said.

Herrmann also mentioned the setting for the fictional high school is loosely based on his time at Hall High School and also its rival St. Bede.

While the novel came out just a few weeks ago, Herrmann already has seen the support of locals, friends and family on his first venture into the fiction world.

“It’s been pretty great and overwhelming support from people from the area,” Herrmann said. “People have let me know that they’ve bought the book and things like that. People have reached out that you don’t really expect to. People like local folks going out and doing out of the ordinary things. It’s been pretty overwhelming.”

Herrmann said he isn’t writing anything else but didn’t rule out more stories that may come in the future.