. . . it’s probably because of my new position as a first reader at Strange Horizons. What this means: first (or slush) readers look at unsolicited submissions and decide if they’re good enough to be passed up to the fiction editors for consideration. It’s cool for a couple of reasons — and excuse me while I basically just recycle my application letter here — one, if I ever want to try my hand at editing someday (which I might), this is a good place to start, and two, it seems like a pretty decent way to improve my own writing, which is basically the goal for the rest of my life.
The position is sort of temporary/probationary at the moment, but if everything goes well over the next month, I’ll hopefully be volunteering at Strange Horizons for a while. And honestly, I don’t see the blog taking too much of a hit in the long run — I certainly hope not, anyway, because I’ve already got two movie reviews to finish, not including one for X-Men: Days of Future Past, which I should be seeing tomorrow. But I just thought I’d throw out a warning in case it takes me a couple of weeks to balance a writing/reading/working/sleeping schedule that works for me: if I disappear for a few days more than normal, I’m not dead. Probably.
Now, if you’ll excuse me — I have a little American Ninja Warrior to watch before I go to my actual pays-the-bills job. (Oh yeah. American Ninja Warrior is totally a priority. Writing/reading/working/sleeping/American Ninja Warrior. I know what’s important in life.)
My Geek Blasphemy 
Congratulations. Hopefully there’s not too much headdesking on your part – I don’t know what the quality of the average unsolicited submission is like.
I don’t know what American Ninja Warrior is about (besides American Ninja Warriors, obviously) but that is a ludicrously awesome title.
Thanks. 🙂
Isn’t it? Mek and I were flipping around TV last summer, and we saw that title, and we were like, “Okay, everything needs to stop now. We have to check this out.” American Ninja Warrior is fun background TV. It’s a sports competition show (based on a similar Japanese show) where people go through these insane obstacle courses. There’s four of them, and the person who defeats all four stages earns the title of American Ninja Warrior. But — and here’s my very favorite thing — NOBODY has ever done it. I don’t think anyone’s even GOTTEN to Stage 4, much less defeated it. So there are no American Ninja Warriors.
If you’re interested, and it’s totally cool if you’re not, I think this is the guy who got the furthest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdUwXx8DRDY
That show does look fairly entertaining. Like a high level version of Wipeout, which I like, although the commentary on the American one sometimes gets on my nerves.
It wouldn’t let me watch the video because I live in Australia, but I looked up Brian Arnold. He got to the horizontal salmon ladder and fell. Is that the right one?
Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think they called it the Flying Bar or something, but it’s totally a horizontal salmon ladder. He was so freaking close. I felt pretty bad for him . . . and yet also laughed a tiny bit because I’m a terrible person and the announcers were just so dramatic about it.
I do enjoy it. I was watching one of the qualifiers on Monday, and the first woman ever made it up this like eighteen foot warped wall. (It’s not a climbing thing. You have to run up partway and then jump up for the edge and lift yourself to the top.) I actually felt a tiny bit inspired, honestly. And then guilty because I was supposed to use that inspiration to motivate me to exercise yesterday, and I ate ice cream instead. But tomorrow it’s going to happen, dammit.
I have no idea how someone could do that wall. I don’t know that I could even do that with a 2 metre wall. Running up partway, sure, but I don’t know how people jump and grab the top without propelling themselves away from the wall itself.
It probably says something about me that that sounds like a good day.
It says, I think, that you have a higher pain tolerance than me, and/or give up far less easily.
Ooh, also, have you seen the video of Stephen Amell’s workout session for Arrow? My sister showed it to me, and it’s kind of awesome. For some reason, I assumed he wasn’t doing nearly as many of his own stunts. I have revised that opinion now. Stephen Amell needs to try out for American Ninja Warrior. Even a little kid asked him about it at some panel. He seemed open to the idea. 🙂
Problem is, you can’t distinguish between good and bad. And your own writing? Well, I can’t see this lasting. You’ll be passing on the worst fan fiction crap.