Inman Writes from Experience
%inman%right%Like Heidi Whitehill, Sarah K. Inman"s pro fighter in Finishing Skills, Inman boxed professionally—once. "That was enough for me to realize that it wasn"t for me. Because it really isn"t good for your brain,— she said recently. "Heidi has a much better career as a boxer than I ever did. In that way Finishing Skills is kind of a fantasy. Maybe if I"d won that first fight I wouldn"t have written the book.—
Inman doesn"t even spar these days, though she does keep her eye on "the human body and what it can do, what sort of punishment it can deal out and take.— Years before she entered the ring, one of her four brothers introduced her to the martial arts. In 1997, after earning an M.A. in English from the creative writing program at New York University, Inman and her now-husband, Joe Longo, moved to New Orleans, where she and several other women took up kickboxing and "we all kind of got into testing our skills.—
Inman tutored students in the business school at Tulane, taught at other schools around the city, and since 2001 has taught English and chaired the department of English and humanities at Delgado Community College, West Bank campus. To stay in shape she turned her hand to circus art with a trapeze troupe a couple of years ago. She still works out on the heavy bag.
Some of the best writing is done by sports writers, Inman believes, because they"re passionate about their field. Though she says much of Finishing Skills is made up (excepting real sites, some swept away by Hurricane Katrina), the boxing scenes are sure-fire authentic. Her main concern: that when Teddy Atlas, one of boxing"s greatest trainers and a commentator on ESPN2"s Friday Night Fights, reads the novel, "he finds the fight scenes credible.—
Inman doesn"t even spar these days, though she does keep her eye on "the human body and what it can do, what sort of punishment it can deal out and take.— Years before she entered the ring, one of her four brothers introduced her to the martial arts. In 1997, after earning an M.A. in English from the creative writing program at New York University, Inman and her now-husband, Joe Longo, moved to New Orleans, where she and several other women took up kickboxing and "we all kind of got into testing our skills.—
Inman tutored students in the business school at Tulane, taught at other schools around the city, and since 2001 has taught English and chaired the department of English and humanities at Delgado Community College, West Bank campus. To stay in shape she turned her hand to circus art with a trapeze troupe a couple of years ago. She still works out on the heavy bag.
Some of the best writing is done by sports writers, Inman believes, because they"re passionate about their field. Though she says much of Finishing Skills is made up (excepting real sites, some swept away by Hurricane Katrina), the boxing scenes are sure-fire authentic. Her main concern: that when Teddy Atlas, one of boxing"s greatest trainers and a commentator on ESPN2"s Friday Night Fights, reads the novel, "he finds the fight scenes credible.—
