Grabbing a Coke Zero to go, but skipping the goodies. The scale said a number I liked two days ago, and I'm gonna save my splurge for the Nathan's hot dog I intend to eat during the Super Bowl tomorrow.

My new mattress arrived today, so now the new bed is complete! A buddy of mine took the old bed, saying he was gonna order parts to fix the frame. Hope that works out for him.

I'm off to do some writing. Modding was... challenging this morning. 😕

Quote by Mit

I have noticed several new writers who ask about the story approval timeframe in the chatroom and the forum. At times, they don't get a prompt answer. It is either because no one who knows is available to reply, especially in the chatroom, or they can't wait for someone to answer.

As a curious reader who doesn't write, I tried submitting a story to check if my suggestion may be useful. Don't worry, I recalled it immediately.

I would like to suggest that after (or before) the Publish button is clicked for submission, a note, link or popup message be added which sets the proper expectations to authors which may include:

-approval timeframe based on the different subscription tiers

-possible longer timeframe when there is an ongoing competition

-do at least a punctuation and spell check and proofreading to minimize story returns

-what happens if they recall a story or when a story is returned

-fast tracking and editorial support benefits of a premium subscription

This is aimed to promote awareness and management of expectations especially for excited, if not anxious, first time writers. Perhaps, even increase user satisfaction as I've noticed frustrations when they wait too long not knowing that it may take longer than they expected. Additionally, to minimize misinformation.

FYI, Jen recently updated her post on the first page of this thread to inform authors about wait times:

Update: Jan 2026.

Story wait times remain high nearly consistently now.

For premium members, expect to wait 1- 7 days

For non premium members, the wait may be up to 3 weeks at peak times.

Stopping by to grab a Coke Zero and something sweet...maybe Kimmi's buns? 😉

Time to take a Lush break and do some laundry.

Gloomy day...

Quote by wxt55uk

The "chipmunk?" has a guilty look. Good to have you back, Lion. 😊

You'd better look under the carpet; I've been sweeping the dirt under it during your and Bear's absence. I wasn't sure where it went, so I did what I do at home. 😜🤣

A mug of Yorkshire Tea, please, Lion. Thank you. 😊

Groundhog! Lol. And I’ve heard people are not too pleased with him.

Quote by fuzzy1954

No need to fear a anicent lion bearing raspberry filled doughnuts

☘️

Our journey to Louisville and back is over

Glad to be back home

☘️

Glad to have you back my fuzzy friend.

39 degrees F to start my morning. 🥶

But it’s 8 F where my man is headed so I shall not complain. (or at least not too much).

I guess I will grab a hot tea and head out to the gym. Catch y’all later. 🥰

High School Sweethearts is an older story that has recently seen renewed interest. It's a true story. 😊❤️

Wondering if Bear might loan me his fur coat here in the frozen tundra of Disney World. 🥶

With a little luck, we will see 40 today. That's degrees. Fahrenheit. At Disney. In Florida. WTF? It was 27 when I woke up and it's up to a whopping 30 degrees now. That's actual temp. Not windchill.

But we are here to spend time with my niece and her husband ans we only get to see them a couple times a year at best. She is my goddaughter and I promised her Dad before he passed many years ago that we would always look out for her. Not that she needs it. She's an amazing young woman. But she's still our girl. And, of course, once you tell my brother we are doing something, there’s no going back on it. So, we will brave the cold at Epcot and make adjustments to the day as needed. Fingers crossed the winds stay calm.

I will be back modding and reading tomorrow. Today I'm a Disney geek. 🥰🎉

Hope all y’all are staying warm wherever you are. And safe… that's equally important, especially these days.

Quote by Seeker4

When even Floridians are freezing their butts off, you know it's a rough winter.🤣 Dear Spring, get yer sorry little ass up here and make it snappy.

We loaned a coat to our maintenance man, who had a hat and gloves, but only a sweatshirt as outerwear. It's bitter out there today. The wind is wicked and making it feel even worse.

Quote by KimmiBeGood

Morning, Rumpies!

Kat, hope you’re feeling better. ❤️

Still freezing here. 🥶

I’ll make myself some hot cocoa and hopefully Bear stockpiled the marshmallows before he left.

My stomach still is not feeling 100%, but I suspect it's a reaction to the sinus drainage. Zofran and Vernor's have become a staple. I see the rhinologist on Feb 12. Fingers crossed.

More hot cocoa please and thanks! ☕️

Good morning. HOT CHOCOLATE, please! ☕️When I woke up, the temp was 36, and the feels like temp with windchill was 29. This is FLORIDA. WTF?

We are meeting my niece and her husband for dinner at Disney this evening, then tomorrow, the 5 of us will go to Epcot. I would cancel if it were just us, but my brother is really excited about seeing our niece. The things we do for family.

The high temp tomorrow is supposed to be 42. I'm praying for sunshine, which will help a little. No real sun to speak of for the past 2-3 days has been a struggle for me and my state of mind.

I know this sounds like a heatwave for all y'all in the more northern states. But when there is an 8% chance of snow... It's Florida. There is supposed to be ZERO chance of snow down here.

Okay, I'll stop whining now. At least out loud. I reserve the right to keep whining in my brain. 🤐

Quote by CarltonStJames

Firstly, I hope you get better. Secondly, that bolded part turned me on, because how hard were you all fucking? 💀😭

But most importantly, get better. Being sick is infuriating.

How come no one is surprised we broke the bed? LOL. Glad you found it titillating. 😉

And day two of feeling like shit, I guess it's good I didn't plan on going anywhere with the Nationwide strike today. We usually take my brother (who is cognitively impaired) to the movies on Friday, but we decided, in light of the strike, we would stay home, make popcorn here, and watch a movie on TV.

Sick as a dog most of the day, but I sucked it up and helped Kevin put our new bed together. Yes, for those inquiring minds, we did break our bed and had to get a new one. (That feels like a micro or flash erotica waiting to be written)

Anyway, I'm off to bed. Hoping to wake up feeling better.

Reminiscing is a microfiction piece that shows how recalling a decadent rendezvous can lead to more fun.

Good things come to those who wait, David, although you were Milik back when you wrote it! LOL. Splendid to see such a worthy story receive the EP. 😊😘

Quote by S7williams

You just inspired me…

I'm not sure what I inspired you to do, but yay me! 😊

I have a garage...with a door...that opens automatically.

I have a garage...with a working side-by-side fridge and freezer.

I have a garage...with shelves and hooks and a place for all our stuff.

I have a garage...with an electronic bike lift to keep our bikes up off the ground.

I have...normalcy back in my life for the first time since September 26, 2024. (16 MONTHS AND ONE DAY)

ALL DRINKS ON MY TAB FOR THE REST OF THE DAY! 🍷🍺☕️😎😊❤️

Quote by S7williams

I have a Sears Kenmore garage refrigerator that has lasted 30 years. I thought I would look them up to perhaps make a recommendation for you. Of course Sears is out of business. Probably because they made such a good product.. What shocked me is that at Home Depot garage refrigerators cost about $1000. Wow. I hope you are successful in finding one that is good and affordable.

They don't make ‘em like Sears’ Kenmore anymore.

But we found a used Whirlpool full sized side-by-side for $399 at the used appliciance store. Perfect for our garage, and our pockets. 😎

Welcome, btw. I'm Kat, a reader, writer, story and group mod, and lover of buttercream cuppycakes. I've been a patron of Rumps since page one. It's a great place to be. 🥰🍻

Quote by JamesLlewellyn

And it's a cold and snowy Moan-Day.

Toronto got a record-breaking amount of snow yesterday – about 50 cm = 20". Plus they've had a record-breaking January for snowfall.

And it's cold.

We got snow here, but only about 8" – enough to frolic in, and close the schools, but not paralyzing.

And I understand Kat's expecting some harsh weather as well – temperatures down into the 30sF!

Those poor, poor people!

Anyway – let's get things rolling…

Lights on, Lady Dryad has cleaned up and we’re ready to roll.

Tea Kettle is refilled and ready. There are pots of Yorkshire and English Breakfast teas available on the sideboard, plus all the other fine teas in the box. Sachets of Swiss Miss are available, along with the usual mound of mini marshmallows.

Big Bertha has been cleaned, rinsed, and refilled, and is now perkin' away.

Today we're using Kick Ass Coffee blend from Kicking Horse Coffee Roasters.

There are donuts.

Plus I've got some coffee flavoured buttercream cuppycakes to help Kat with her modding chores – plus Coke Zero, of course.

Take care out there, 'K?

The weekend was nice, but the cold weather is creeping back in for the next two weeks. It sadly means no swimming for my brother, but it is better than him being up north in the frozen tundra.

Thanks for the cuppycakes and Coke Zero. Though I'm not big into coffee flavour, I won't turn down a nice gesture.

We are going fridge shopping after lunch. Need to find a good dented or scratched one for my garage. I can't believe we will finally be able to do bulk shopping again at Costco. The last time we did that was 5 days before Hurricane Helene (and lost all of that food). Normal never felt so good! 😎

Congrats, David!😘

Quote by JamesLlewellyn
Kat, you should be OK. The systems looks to be passing well north of you, although temperatures are going to drop in the aftermath. I believe you're getting highs today in the mid-70s. By Tuesday, you'll be back to nighttime lows near freezing.

Yes! It wasn't supposed to, but it got up to 80 today! So, once we were done moving all of our stuff (2 pods worth) into our new garage, we took advantage and had some pool and hot tub time.

But yes, the chillier weather is coming back soon. It is winter, but when the temps dip to near freezing, I wonder if I should have moved farther south...LOL!

It feels amazing to have a garage again, to know where things are again, to even know what the hell we have! I found boxes with old memories and nearly cried. I didn't know that they had survived the storm.

A few of our neighbors moved into their garages today, too; some will come tomorrow. We need the pods to be picked up so we can resurface the parking lot. Then, phase 2 will be mostly done! It's been a long journey. But the outcome is amazing.

We managed to fill Kevin's van with bags upon bags, which he took to the donation center. I also cleaned out my shoes and purses and whatnot, and managed 3 bags alone with that stuff. Yes, I could sell stuff on Marketplace or eBay, but I'd rather donate things that will help fund the women's shelter.

Anyway, now I've got my sword, and I'm modding, doing my best to slay the queue!

Hope everyone is having a great Saturday!

IT’S GARAGE MOVE-IN DAY!

Yes, I am incredibly excited. So much so that all drinks are on me today (on my tab not on me.)

🎉🎉🎉😎🍺🥤🍷🍹🍸🍻☕💋🥰😻

Quote by fuzzy1954

Guess you're more familiar with "rednecks" in your area.

Happy to see ya in Rumps btw get you a cuppa coffee and a doughnut or cuppycake?

I'm Fuzzy a anicent lion on my journey that enjoys spinning tunes here

I'm sure Bear will be by and give you the nickle tour of Rumps

Enjoy

Cheers

☘️

I may have absconded with the last of the cuppycakes. 🫣

I will have to do a little baking to make up for that.

Hubby comes home this afternoon. It's been a long week. But I did a lot of writing, so there will be stories coming soon. Just trying to spread them out judiciously.

I also did a lot of story modding. But mod math is a tricky thing. It's a realm where 10-5=12. 🙄🤪

TGIF all y’all. I will be moving out of the storage pods and into my new garage. It's a little emotional. I'm not even 100% sure about all of what was saved and what didn't make it in the storm in 2024. But this much I know. The return to normalcy brings with it great relief. 😎

Bearkeep, newbies to the bar can have their drinks on my tab. 🍻🍺🍷🍹🍸☕🥤😎

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

But it does potentially put real models with 12 fingers and random extra limbs sprouting from their bodies out of work.

You should’ve seen what I came up with when I asked the AI generator to give me a picture of a redhead with a man between her leg legs 🤪😹

Quote by paddlingincognito

Thank you for the detailed responses, techgoddess and GreyMatter. I know this is a challenging and sensitive topic.

I apologize for completely derailing this forum post.

It was a good question. And all of this does affect story verification times, so it's all good! 😎

Quote by paddlingincognito

I am curious… Why?

If you feel certain that some stories are AI written (or heavily AI assisted), why are mods letting them slide through? Why don’t you shut those stories down and/or ban those authors from the site?

I know you didn't ask me, but I'm going to answer anyway because I've been modding like a madwoman all week, trying to slay that queue. (Hence my new avatar).

I can tell you that I've learned a lot about identifying tells and patterns of AI writing, but I'm not trained to do so, and neither are most of the mods. We are all volunteers. Sometimes lines from stories by really great writers can look like AI-generated patterns because AI analyzes human writing and mimics certain styles. Which means we sometimes can't be sure. So, we do our best, but it takes extra time to review stories that we suspect are not completely written by humans.

My personal feeling is that if a story has so many tells that it reads more AI than human, I will send it back to the author. But if I am not sure, I will sometimes approve a story while suggesting that an author not overuse certain patterns or literary devices that make a story read as inauthentic or robotic.

Jen has flat-out said that AI stories will not be accepted. But that doesn't stop authors from submitting them anyway. And since we don't have formal training or the time to scan every story, some are going to slip through. We do our best.

Looky, looky! Our very own Kis has a story in the Classics section on the first page. It's a fabulous story and got a well-deserved Recommended Read! In case you missed it, here's the link: Kimberly Has A Ball

Good morning Rumpies! I have a garage door AND a handle/lock! So, it looks like we are all set to move out of the two pods sitting in the parking on Saturday. We will help our neighbors move their stuff, too. We have been without garages since September 2024, thanks to Hurricane Helene. It is exciting to be returning to normal.

Except for the parking lot repaving and a few follow-up items, Phase 2 reconstruction is just about completed. Phase 3 will be discussed next month. That involves rebuilding our pier. Fingers crossed.

Hope all y'all that are getting that winter storm are ready to hunker down with supplies. Stay warm and safe!

Quote by Mandapanda2025

what is the polite wait time? I pulled the third story to wait 2 days? three?

2-3 days is helpful. 4-5 if you can be patient. 🥰

Quote by Hughtheman

I admit to being a little gung-ho when I first started on Lush. For some reason, I thought I needed to do that in order to keep readers interested. But I likely just annoyed people instead lol

I've also been guilty of that in the past. Once I realized I was bombarding my readers with stories, I eased back. LOL.

Quote by MC1982

As a mod, based on my experience, I'd like to offer two tips to get your story passed quicker: 1. Proofread it yourself using grammarly or ms word. It costs nothing and saves both you and the moderating team time. 2. Keep stories under 4k words. Moderators have jobs and lives and limited time for a site they volunteer to help on. A 10k word story takes a long.time to read and a mod is more likely to pick up and pass four 3k stories in an evening than one 10k.

If I could add to this:

Please don't submit a new story immediately after having one approved. It clogs the queue and slows down the moderating process. Give it a couple of days before submitting the next one.

I know people are anxious to get their stories published. But your readers are likely reading more than just your story. You need to give them time to read and appreciate what you and other authors have written. 😎

For your reading pleasure...

His To Use is a Flash Erotica piece about a Dom and his sub enjoying a hotel romp.