Loretta Faye and the Florida I Know

The town of Punta Seco isn’t on most maps. The ones that do show it spell it wrong. This episode is about why I went there anyway.This week, I talk about why I started writing fiction, what Florida actually looks like from the inside, and how a sixty-one-year-old woman running a bait shop in a town nobody’s heard of became the most interesting character I’ve ever put on a page.Also: a manatee named Gerald. A pelican with a Lightning McQueen Croc stuck on its bill. And what happens when a retired hydrologist drives until the road runs out.The StoryThe first Loretta Faye story is live now on the Florida Stories Substack.The Gospel of Loretta Faye — A woman, a manatee named Gerald, and the particular mercy of running out of road.This is not beach read Florida. This is the Florida where the bar and the church share a parking lot and the water tower is painted to look like a manatee in a sombrero and nobody can fully explain why. If you’ve lived here, you’ll recognize it. If you haven’t, you’ll believe it anyway. That’s the point.Read it here: floridastories.substack.comWhere To Find EverythingThe Proud Boomer Dispatch — Weekly newsletter, opinion essays, and the podcast. johnsproudboomer.substack.comProud Boomer Wellness — Evidence-based health writing for people over 50 who are tired of being talked down to. proudboomerwellness.substack.comFlorida Stories — Fiction. Loretta Faye. Weird, true-feeling tales from the state I live in. floridastories.substack.comSubscribePaid subscriptions are $8/month or $50/year. You get the full archive, one exclusive piece every month, and the knowledge that you’re supporting work with zero sponsors and zero algorithm telling it what to be.Questions, story tips, arguments: [email protected] more by following the Proud Boomer Dispatches on Substack for the weekly newsletter, fiction, and opinion essays. The Proud Boomer Wellness Substack is where the health writing lives. And Florida Stories is where Loretta Faye and the rest of this gloriously strange state show up. Paid subscriptions run $8 a month or $50 a year. Full archive, one exclusive piece per month, no sponsors, no algorithm. Just more of this. [email protected] Get full access to The Proud Boomer Dispatch at johnsproudboomer.substack.com/subscribe