Verbal's Forum Posts | Lush Stories

Join the best erotica focused adult social network now

Verbal

1 month ago

Straight Male

0 miles · Colorado

Profile Stories

Forum

19 Jun 2018

Quote by sprite

Full disclosure. I rarely have time to read for pleasure these days. Ideally, I would read and comment, but the reality is, I read to mod 99% of the time and that means I don't really enjoy most of them, I just am getting them on the front page as fast as possible. Lush, for me, is more of a job than an escape.

Yeah, I get the sense from responses that the old guard is genuinely burnt out and have semi-retired, at least in terms of reading for enjoyment. And that the current pace of submissions is a bit overwhelming.

Maybe we (meaning the current slate of active writers) are the new old guard, and it is up to us to go through each other's back catalogues and read each other more.

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

19 Jun 2018

19 Jun 2018

Quote by Simplicity

Congratulations Verbal I know you are excited. I know when milik and I set the date for me to move to CA. We couldn’t wait. I know LJ is busy busy busy getting ready. I’m sooo excited for both if you!! Has a wedding date been set??

Hot tea please , good afternoon everyone . Kisses baby, thanks for breakfast ??love you!

Enjoying reading the comments on the commenting and voting issues . I think everyone is taking a big hit.

But by all means , don’t stop writing hopefully it will pick up. Reasons for it, we can all give our thoughts, and I have mine. But I’m gonna keep believing things will get better.

Time to get sweet pea off to work, I’ll stop in later. Verbal please tell LJ hello for me. I miss our chats.

It's an exciting, if stressful, time! No date set on a wedding, we're just trying to get her here! We will road-trip here together mid-July, which should be great fun.

I know she enjoyed your chats too. I will tell her you said hi.

19 Jun 2018

Quote by sprite

ps - i've made it clear that members should avoid reading stories by known throne lickers, so that might also factor into it.

The facsist jackboots of the mods again hearrtlessly tramble on the rights of the humble throne-licking masses. We know how this story goes. "First they came for the throne lickers, but I did not speak out because I was not a throne-licker."

19 Jun 2018

Quote by Ping

Yes, I like stats. Verbs, HELP! You baseball
fanatics like numbers. I saw Moneyball, FFS! You guys are number crunch crazy. Are the viewing numbers going up, or down? What is
the percentage of the views per story reduction? It would be interesting to do some cross-tabulation and analysis. I don't even
know what means.

Yes. An enticing comp to lure in the big hitters. When Verbs wasn't a big hitter, he won a comp among Queens & Kings. Someone else
most certainly could too. Come to think of it, a few writers have. Chuck did too, although he may have been more established at the time.
That was a great Xmas story, if I recall correctly. So, more budding writers can learn from them, just as we all have. Some of us are too
stubborn to learn, but that's another issue.

But what, is the big question, would get past, present, and future writers to enter a comp. Boobie shots of the admin of their choice? Maybe.

I will admit to being a litttle bummed that old school big hitter writers don't read or comment on current stories much. That might help drive traffic to new stories, or at least give newbies a bit of encouragement. I wished, frankly, that Beneath, as a comp winner, had gotten a little more attention; I was very proud of it. But, again, it's about frikkin tentacles, so I am probably dreaming.

I think the mods who have weighed in have crunched the numbers for us in saying there are way more stories, and far less front page time, than there used to be. Maybe it's just a matter of the audience becoming more fragmented with more choices available, just like in other media.

19 Jun 2018

Web designers who do some writing on the side, clearly.

19 Jun 2018

Quote by Ping

We've all noticed the dramatic drop in story views and voting. Two or three years ago, we'd see 20 or 30 votes
on the first day posted. Within a week, we could be over 50. I think Jen even had a story, The Benefits of Living
Alone, or something like that, that breached 100! We don't see those numbers anymore.

I even had stories that reached 10,000 views in a day or so. Now, egad. It's a struggle. I know we write for ourselves,
or so the mantra says we should, but it is motivating to see the views, votes, & wonderful comments.

I was curious... wrong kind, Verbs...

I was looking recently for high, fast views. I don't say this is a conclusion, but I think Tonya's poem - YES, a poem!!! Is
the highest, fastest of most recently posted in 2018. It has sound It was her Erotic Comp poem from February
or March, and I think it's over 23,000 views. Amazing.

I don't know that I've ever had numbers that high, but I have noticed the number of votes and comments dropping. I thought it was just me, and people getting tired of the Shards after 2 years of me writing them.

What's your theory? Anyone? I have wondered if maybe competitions cut into the reads of non-comp stories. Though the issue even shows up with the comps - I won a comp a few months back (with Beneath) and only garnered 38 votes. A very high number for me, but low for a comp winner. Might have been the category--Monster Sex--that put them off.

19 Jun 2018

Quote by browncoffee

Verbal, STOP LICKING THE THRONE OR I WILL DO HORRIFIC THINGS TO MY COPY OF INFINITE JEST.

You mean like read it? smile

smile

Thanks for getting Bertha going, Tonya. Congrats on graduation. I am still a couple years away from that.

Have I mentioned that Layla is here for good in less than a month? Yay! I'd better start cleaning or something someday soon.

I did not write yesterday. sad

sad

I will try to make up for that today.

Köffee please.

18 Jun 2018

Tonya, Sara, and Curvy, thanks for cleaning up the place. Wait, is that a cobweb (*surruptitously licks throne when everyone turns around to look*)?

A couple of finger of Fuzzy's Jameson's, if it's all right with him.

18 Jun 2018

Two early morning phone calls. No emergencies or anything, but FUCK I am tired. Gonna be a long day.

I think I will have a first draft of a story kicked out by the end of the week. Like all my full length stories lately, this one still needs a lot of work and full rewrite or five, but it is heading toward conclusion.

Köffee please.

18 Jun 2018

Quote by fuzzy1954

barkeep please pull out that bottle of Jameson for us please

here you go Verbal hope you don't mind thick fingers while I pour
and congrats on the Mets win

"Only the gentle are ever really strong" James Dean

Thanks, Fuzzy. Love this stuff. Another couple fingers please.

Scott, that made me smile too. Auto-replace for sewer system, I'm guessing.

I wrote 400+ words yesterday. 400+ words today. I LOVE that feeling of bringing a story in for a landing as you approach the ending.

Happy weekend, all.

17 Jun 2018

The Mets actually WON a game! On Father's Day! Nice treat for my Dad and me.

My daughter is making us dinner, AND made us dessert - an "improbably blue" cake (her phrasing, not mine, though I was made quite proud by her wordplay).

Happy Father's Day, all. I'll take three fingers of something strong.

Good luck on the views, Jim, and on the house, Milik and Simmie.

15 Jun 2018

Quote by sprite
Thinking about getting fall down drunk this evening and changing the name of the pub again. taking suggestions for the next 2 hours...

How about...

RUMPLATIONS: Ãwèsömê Honky Tonk and Cyber Bar

15 Jun 2018

Quote by RumpleForeskin
Best I recall, Jim, Jeff and Larry need a caffine fix, Curvy has, SURPRISE, ordered a beer ;), Tanya needed a tall iced tea, Scott wanted 'a' Tailgater no doubt to drink while waiting on 'the' Tailgater to arrive, and in case Pixie hasn't ordered, here's some of that Chablis stuff you (and me, both) like.

Is it just me, or does it appear to others that Jeff and Jim are getting into a contest to determine who has the longest one, sig line, that is.

Now who else out there needs a drink?

Bill, don't make me whip out the long one (meaning, the sig line with all the Shards on it). I don't wanna break your screen reader, but I will do what needs to be done.

Just a taste of the mayhem my sig line can wield:

Wow (RR) | Doppelgängers (RR) |Thumbnail (RR) | Viewfinder (RR) | Dicks (RR) | Dirty Martini | Candide (RR) | Symmetry (RR) | Sideways (RR) | Unguarded (RR) | What Do You See? (RR) | You Know Who (RR) | Click (RR) (audio!) | Fashion | Theater | Art (RR) | Sexhair | People Who Bought This Item | Domesticity | The Gravity of Desire | Enraptured | Closing Time | Bound | Have A Nice Day | Unmasked | Simple | This | Quicksilver

15 Jun 2018

Quote by Jimwillhavefun

Lovingsadist deleted his account.

Too bad. He could be kind of rude, but I sort of liked him nonetheless.

15 Jun 2018

Quote by Ping
Hmmm... it looks like there was a shift in the Top 10. One story removed, one story added, garnering a nice blue thumb.

Mr. Pancakes himself, the Incredible Hulk of Smut, the greenest dude at the bar. Yup. It looks like Sir Larry was added to the list.

They changed the list of winners? I didn't know that was ever done. Somebody leave the site or something between the announcement and now?

My own versin of TGIF--TGTFWIO (Thank God This Fucking Week Is Over)--to everyone in the bar. Welcome, Zen. It's pretty chill in here, suiting a zen fellow such as yourself.

Pixie, very alluring pix you posted here, meant for the inconquerable and unquenchable Curvy I think, but appreciated by all.

Köffee please. *casually wallks over to the throne and surruptitiously licks it*

14 Jun 2018

Quote by RumpleForeskin

Now it's time to start pestering Nicola (aka She Who Must Be Obeyed) with suggestions for the next contest theme. Here's a list of possibilities someone said they 'accidentally' found in a locked, supposedly secure encrypted file deep within the bowels of Verbal's hard drive.

1. Tentacle gay sex
2. Tentacle lesbian sex
3. Tentacle group sex
4. Tentacle /fantasy sex
5. Tentacle steam-punk sex

Bill, you have no idea. This is a deeply encrypted file, and you have only seen the tip of the iceberg. When you get to, say, "273. Tentacle Non-Octopus Cephlapod Mind-control Threesome BDSM Sex" you know you've hit paydirt.

I want a flash competition next. Any subject. Tentacled or otherwise.

Köffee please.

14 Jun 2018

Breathless, by X. Throwaway tune, but it rocks, and Billy Zoom rocks the solo.

13 Jun 2018

Congrats to MM, who rocked this one (and who also rocked whatever contest Baby Blue was in), and the top 3, and the top 10. There were a bunch of really creative entries. These were all really good stories.

13 Jun 2018

Quote by LovingSadist

I think every example of my rudeness is situational and has a wholly unique reason.

I think you enjoy the attention from stirring things up, and so are wholly un-unique, but feel free, doesn't bother me. Sadist may be in your username, but I sense some masochism in your saying things that you know will cause a negative backlash.

I spam most of my stories, but I don't think it does much good. I know a few people who rely on it, so I do it. I assume if people don't like it they can just turn it off. I don't have too wide a readership here anyway. I've had the occasional erotic story published elsewhere, but nothing erotic on Amazon and nothing at all on Smashwords.

13 Jun 2018

Quote by browncoffee

Up. Heh.

I'll join you but I'm not thirsty so I will simply look at your köffëê.

Here's what brightened my mood: I overheard my daughter refer to me as "so extra" to her friend. A proud moment indeed.

Curvy the Unquenchable, thanks for getting the morning coffee going.

Jim, the Submit button is terrifying, and you are right to fear it. Remember the blank page is the bull, and you are the bullfighter.

Simmie, I certainly hope you don't have a kidnet infection. And Milik, I enjoyed your story very much.

Fuzzy, hope the trip to the VA goes well.

Tired today. Big hailstorm like 2 a.m. last night. Fun to watch, but lacking sleep. Köffee please.

12 Jun 2018

Quote by Annamagique

A whelk

Winkles

See? Real nice seafood!

Okay, now I believe you. I'd give them each a try, but imagine they'd go on the list right after artichoke hearts.

12 Jun 2018

Yeah, I think it would be fun. Coffee for me, please.

12 Jun 2018

You are one of my absoilute faves here, Jai, and I am so glad to have discovered your understated and nuanced wrtings here as well. Have a great one!

12 Jun 2018

Been a crappy morniing, but things have nowhere to go but up, right?

Köffee please.

11 Jun 2018

You are such a selfless and generous editor here too - I have seen SO MANY people thanking you for your editing help and inspiration. Congrats to a truly good man.

Burquette - what is this gif from? It looks so familar!

Quote by Burquette
Nice! Congratulations!!!!!

11 Jun 2018

Quote by jaded_buddha

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm sure I can cut a few more words. I just had fun trying to land right at 999! Thanks for the help!

I've had this problem too, and never knew if it was the title (I tried cutting the tag line too) or just differing ways of counting words. I think 996 was my magic number.

11 Jun 2018

11 Jun 2018

Yes, the Mets finally won. And they don't play today, so they can't lose. Hey, you gotta take a silver ining when you find one.

It was a goood, fun weekend.

NOTHING planned today, other than work and suppper. Nice feeling. I can write, and extend the productive streak, because it won't last forever. Strike while the iron is hot.

Congrats on pumping a story out Scott.

Köffee please. Bless you, Bertha.

11 Jun 2018

THE METS FINALLLY WON A GAME!!! DRINKS ARE ON ME!!!

Sorry for yelling. Really nice micro-fiction, Larry.

Scott, I know! I really expected to like it. It just didn't pull together at the end. We watched The Conjuring when we got home, and it reminded us what a really satisfying horror movie is like.

3 fingers of Old Crow, barkeep.