WGLT’s video series Inside Art highlights the behind-the-scenes process artists in central Illinois go through to produce their art.
Episode 5 features independent suspense and thriller author Sue Rovens from Normal.
When she was a child, Rovens enjoyed watching Twilight Zone and One Step Beyond with her mom who passed away in 2009. Those TV shows and her mom’s death are what inspired Rovens to write her first published set of short stories, In A Corner, Darkly: Short Stories to Horrify, Shock and Disturb.
Rovens is now retired, but she worked as a stack maintenance manager for over 30 years at Milner Library.
“It's a great coincidence that working at Milner and me being an author kind of gelled. One didn't necessarily affect the other. It just kind of happened that way,” said Rovens.
While in retirement, Rovens participates in National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, every other year. Participants like Rovens write 50,000 words in the month of November. This gives Rovens a rough draft, and it typically takes her two years and over nine more drafts before having a finished novel.
Rovens' books can be found in many places including Milner Library, Bobzbay Books, and on her website.
