WORK OF WRESTLING - EP79 - MISSY KEEN
While I spend most of my time these days writing arts criticism related to professional wrestling, at heart I'm a fiction-writer. That's what I've done my whole life, and that's what I'll continue to do long after I've written or said my last word on pro-wrestling. While I love the writing process itself, I am not enamored with the "literary world".
Readings, wine-tastings, workshops, conferences, literary-networking, talking about books, waiting six months for a response...all of it interests me a lot less than working on something and then sharing it directly with you free of charge.
A few months back I thought it might be interesting to start writing serialized fiction shorts for this site inspired by pro-wrestling, and that initial idea morphed into this story about Missy Keen. I knew this wasn't long enough to be published in any literary mag or zine, and I also knew the subject matter would struggle to find a home elsewhere. It was a piece of writing I really enjoyed, however, and believed it deserved an audience.
So, this week, on The Work of Wrestling podcast I read that story for you in full, with only a brief intermission between the opening and the conclusion.
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I wanted to write about the process of realizing pro-wrestling is a "work", and how that process reflects an overall maturation from innocence into experience, childhood to adulthood. This is the second time on Work of Wrestling I've shared a story where the character Jim Cohen plays a big part. Over on the "Other Writings" tab in the sidebar you'll find my short story DON'T BE A NICE GUY. It's completely unrelated to Missy Keen in terms of subject matter, but the Jim Cohen in that short story is the same "Jimmy" Cohen in episode 77 of The Work of Wrestling podcast - "Missy Keen".
While I'm not sure if Missy Keen will ever show up again on The Work of Wrestling podcast or website, I certainly hope she does. She's an inspiring character, and a joy to write about. This is definitely a style of episode I loved producing and that I hope offered listeners a nice change of pace.
Have a nice day!
