Indie Author Emily Coleman

Indie Author Emily Coleman

How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety, grief, and creativity all at once? This conversation with indie author Emily Coleman offers a gentle, southern-tinged answer. Host Jim Hurdle chats with Emily about her debut novel, *The Last Good Seat at the Bar*, a contemporary American story rooted in childhood memories of her granddad’s cabin, a place her family called “the clubhouse”.

She explains how that real-life space became the emotional core of the book, saying she wanted the bar to feel like “a separate character all in itself” that “almost held her like it was hugging her all the time”. Centred on Morgan, a journalist battling grief and a stubborn case of writer’s block, the book leans into the healing pull of a familiar place.

Morgan returns to the bar, hears creaks and bumps in the night, and instead of running, chooses to stay, remember, and slowly reclaim her life. As Emily puts it, “he didn’t talk about grief, but he knew how to sit beside it without blinking” – a line Jim calls the tone-setter for the whole story. The chat also doubles as a masterclass for indie writers.

Emily talks through taking ten years of ideas and finally committing to the page, re-reading her manuscript “a hundred times”, teaching herself formatting, design, and cover art, and learning how to market a book on a budget using consistent, low-cost online ads. Jim adds his own experience with rankings highs and lows, reminding fellow writers not to obsess over charts. At its heart, the episode sits with pain, creativity and choice.

Emily’s closing message is clear: “even if you are at a really bad low point in your life… you can come back from that… because it’s up to you to find the life that’s going to make you happy in the end.” If you enjoy southern stories, honest talk about grief, and practical indie-author wisdom, this one’s worth your time. What ‘special place’ in your own life might still be waiting to help you heal?