Nyberg: Author debuts novel after career in journalism

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — Coming from a family of writers, it was only natural for Elissa Bass to pick up a pen herself. The semi-retired journalist added the title of “author” to her resume with the debut of “Happy Hour,” her first novel.

Fueled by boredom during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bass started reading romance novels.

“I just devoured the genre, and I got very fascinated by the formula of a romance novel and how it worked,” she said. “I started thinking to myself ‘I can do this. I could write a romance novel.’ So that’s where the seed came from. And then I thought, I want to write a romance novel, but a different kind of romance novel. So my female lead character is a menopausal woman, 55 years old, who is in a relationship with a 34-year-old hot bartender.”

Six months after she began writing, Bass was ready to find a publisher.

Watch the full interview in the player above.

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