Whenever I enter a competition, I never expect to do well, in fact I'm just glad I can think of something to write about, so I was very much surprised to see my entry had been chosen as runner-up.

Thank you to everybody who has read, commented and liked my story. A big thank you to the moderators who've helped improve my writing throughout the years and to the judges for their "😉 impeccable” decision.

I'm truly humbled by this.

Quote by JWren
Saucymh
Stormdog
Jen
Lily (poetry)

And then there's the writers for whom I have the pleasure of editing, including Milik, Simplicity, MsTrib, AndreaDetroit and NancyAlbright

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Looking at your avatar I wouldn't expect any other answer. My favourite toy when I was alone.

Quote by sprite
ok, so, i love you guys, the writers. i do, even when you drive me insane, which you do, sometimes. so i'm going to drop little bits of advice in here from time to time that i think is important. not following it won't stop you from being published, but follow it will probably get more people to read you. so here goes.

1) NEVER DO THE LAUNDRY LIST.

this is the laundry list: Hi, my name is Pat. I'm 5 foot 5 inches tall, weigh 130 pounds, have blue eyes, blonde hair, and 34C boobs,etc, etc.

at this point most reader fall asleep or skip to the next story.

2) multiple chapter stories. it's a proven fact that mutli chapter stories suffer from diminishing returns. 1000 people read chapter one, about half of that come back to read more, and each time, a little less (unless Dancing Doll writes 'em, then all bets are off).

SO... if you're story is so long that you need to break it up, as in it's over 10k words, do it. If you're breaking up a 5k story into 6 chapters, 800 words each, you are screwing yourself. write the whole damn thing, don't get impatient, and then send it in as one freaking story. BOOM.

3) proof read and edit. YOU don't want to put yourself out there with mistakes nor do you want to get rejected for them. we don't want that either, so make sure it's as close to perfect as possible when you send it in. yes, i will fix typos or little mistakes, but i'm not going to re-write the thing for you (i actually did that one, taking a straight story into a lesbian love fest - i spent a month on the bench for that one - oops!).

word of advice - i've been doing this for a long time and i know who you are if you're sending in stories - that means i know who sends in clean stories (Hi Master Jonathon!) that i can get up really fast (thanks to those of you who do, and you know who you are), and i know who sends in stories that i have to constantly send back. so do the other mods. at some point, they see you in the que and go 'fuck that, it's going to be another nightmare, i'm skipping over them). sorry, but that's how it happens - you make this harder then it needs to be for us, you go to the back of the line. simple as that.

4) we appreciate thank yous. we get a lot of them. sometimes i'll even form friendships cause of those. don't be shy, it's super easy to do. i almost always respond to those with at least a smile, too (hi Kornslayer!).

5) if you have an issue or a question about a rejection, an edit, anything, PM me or one of the other senior mods. as some of our writers can tell you, i will bend over backwards to make you happy and fix or explain the issue as long as you do your best to be patient and respectful. i have no illusions about what we do here - it's called Lush Stories for a reason. you guys, the writers, make it work. the other stuff is just extra that everyone enjoys, but yeah, we like to make the writers happy.

that's it for now. feel free to comment, ask questions, or just be silly and like i said, i do try to respond to everything as much as possible - in fact, my personal PMs often get put on hold in favor of "house business" (hi Kiera! sorry! )

xo
rachel