Hi, my name is John, and I am the creator of the Proud Boomer Dispatch.
If you’ve landed here, you’re probably trying to figure out what this thing is, who it’s for, and whether it’s worth your time. Fair question. I ask myself the same thing every time I hit publish.
The Proud Boomer Dispatch isn’t a one-lane road. It’s a few roads that all seem to circle the same ideas. Getting older without losing your edge. Telling the truth even when it’s uncomfortable. Writing stories that stick with you longer than you’d like. And trying to sense a world that doesn’t slow down just because you’ve got more miles on you.
Here’s how it’s laid out.
The Main Dispatch (https://johnsproudboomer.substack.com)
This is the core of everything.
You’ll find fiction and personal essays here. Some of it leans dark. Some of it leans funny. A lot of it sits right in that uncomfortable middle where real life tends to live. These are stories about people who have lived long enough to know better but still find themselves making a mess of things. Essays that call out the nonsense without pretending I’ve got it all figured out.
I don’t write clean, polished inspiration. I write what feels true in the moment. Sometimes that lands. Sometimes it doesn’t. Either way, it’s honest.
Proud Boomer Health and Wellness (https://proudboomerwellness.substack.com)
This section pulls from my work on Medium under Proud Boomer Health and Wellness.
If you’re looking for hype, miracle cures, or the latest trend being sold by someone with perfect lighting and zero life experience, you won’t find it here. What you will find is a more grounded take on getting older and staying functional. Strength, mobility, nutrition, recovery. The stuff that actually matters once you realize you’re not 25 anymore.
It’s not about chasing some ideal version of yourself. It’s about holding onto what you’ve got and maybe getting a little better along the way. Without the BS.
Florida Stories (https://floridastories.substack.com)
This one is personal.
I live in Florida, and if you’ve spent any time here, you know it’s not just a place. It’s a mood. A strange, humid, unpredictable mood that somehow manages to be beautiful and unsettling at the same time.
Florida Stories is fiction rooted in that backdrop. Small towns, back roads, storms that roll in fast and leave things behind. Stories that feel like they could happen, even if you hope they don’t. There’s something about this state that lends itself to that kind of storytelling. I’m just trying to capture it without sanding off the rough edges.
Who Am I
I’m a writer who didn’t start when he was supposed to.
I’m a Navy veteran who spent years doing the job, showing up, and figuring things out as I went. I’ve lived through enough to know that most people are carrying more than they let on. Some of it you work through. Some of it just becomes part of how you move through the world.
I’m also a cancer survivor and someone who deals with an autoimmune condition, which has a way of changing how you look at time, health, and what actually matters. You stop chasing things that don’t mean much. Or at least you try to.
For most of my life, I’ve been trying to get my footing in one way or another. Work, money, health, purpose. Some of that went well. Some of it didn’t. These days, I’m in a better place than I’ve ever been, but I haven’t forgotten what it felt like to be stuck.
That perspective shows up in the writing whether I intend it to or not.
I’m not here to preach. I’m not here to sell you a version of life that doesn’t exist. I’m here to write things that feel real, even when they’re uncomfortable, and maybe give you something to think about when the noise dies down.
If that sounds like something you want more of, stick around.
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