Or Happy Hanukkah, or Happy Kwanza, or whatever you may celebrate this time of the year. Or Merry just another day to you.

Hey everyone, here.

All right, let's face the facts about OrangeStarLove.

1) We aren't too popular.

Well, considering that we've been around for ten months, six of those on hiatus, that's no surprise. And we're okay with that. It's going to take some time to build up the class.

2) Our contests... well, let's just say that they didn't turn out all that great.

Again, considering that a) we've been active for roughly four months and b) we had 2 contests with no entries to the last one and 5 in the first one, that's no surprise.

In short, we need to make some changes. And we're going to.

First, membership. Membership will not change; anyone can "enroll" in OSL. If you've asked for membership in the past six months and we haven't replied, send us a note and we'll take care of that immediately. All you have to do is deviantWATCH us and we'll return the favor, if we haven't already.

Second, and most important, CONTESTS. The format is going to change, hopefully for the better.

1) The amount of time per contest will be shortened from two months to one.

I ( ) don't know many, if any, people who actually take the full length of one month in some contests to create their entry, let alone two months. Having a two-month long contest just helps people to forget about it until the very last second, which for some people isn't enough time. I can do it; that's how I write everything, from my fanfiction to my college term papers. But not everyone is like me, so OSL is going to try to help everyone remember their entries.

2) Themes will be set for each month's contest.

Like it or not, themes help guide the contest, and they make it easier to judge. However, we're open-minded people here, so what we can do is either a) let you guys suggest themes and then the four of us (~Avenger41, ~Kisakun, *MakaiAlexa, and myself) will choose which one we like the best, OR b) the four of us pick out some themes and then have you guys vote on which one you like the best. It doesn't matter to us, but we *do* need to know, so it would be great if you would comment on this journal with your vote on this matter.

3) There will be three categories.

Before, we had two categories: a "theme" category and a "nontheme" category. We're going to turn back to a more traditional categorization, with a twist. We'll have the "fanart" category, the "fanfiction" category, and the "miscellaneous" category. The first two should speak for themselves, but the "miscellaneous" category will consist of graphics, the (very long ago) mentioned Majin Buu cake, and the like.

And that's all she wrote, folks. Please, PLEASE comment on this and let us know your thoughts. Feedback can only make us better.

Yep. The August 1st deadline is just a little over a day away! I hope you all have some........... Psh. Screw it.

Why am I even bothering with this anymore?

Well, I'd say that's long enough for a voting process. Can't say I'm not disappointed, though. I was hoping for more votes this month. Whatever, though.

Let's get to some announcin'.

We've got two ties. A tie for first, and a tie for third. So, by way of a coin flip...

VeggieBlueRaven's "Kiss It Better" is your first place winner, and the first ever OSL contest winner!

As a result, second place goes to Mistah FailureToLaunch for his fancomic, "Regicide".

And now, for third place, by way of a coin flip... Texaspeach's "Agglutination"!

So, yeah, congrats to our winner and podium placers. I'll have how the voting broke down at the end of this entry.

Now, for contest two, the rules are technically the same. The contest deadline is August 1st at 12PM Eastern. We're HOPING to have enough entries this time to warrant having different categories, like originally planned, but if not, everything will be lumped together again.

Your OPTIONAL theme for this month is "Flashbacks". Interpret that however you want.

Of course, if you don't need or want a theme, don't use it. Simple as that. Just put down that it's for this contest in your description.

Be sure to note one of us owners, or the club page itself, when you post your entry, so we can include it.

Again, you've got two whole months to come up with something. Take your time, but make sure you make the deadline.

Make sure you're following the club guidelines, as stated here.

Finally, be sure to tell your peeps.

And with that said, the game is on. Best of luck.

--------

C1 Voting Breakdown
Kiss It Better ||
Regicide ||
Agglutination |
Prom |
Chibis

(Please vote next time, so we don't have to rely on a goddamn coin flip again! It's not fair to the folks who got votes.)

Hey folks. 'Venger here.

I'm not entirely sure how to say this, so I'll just be blunt. It appears that the lovely lady that most of you all know as Kisakun is MIA, and I so wish I were joking. None of us at OSL have heard from her in, like, two weeks, and I haven't seen her online anywhere. Needless to say, we're all worried.

Apparently, the last time MakaiAlexa talked to her, she seemed to be acting weirdly, so this has me worried as well.

I'm hoping that it's just something like her schoolwork holding her up or her computer dying, but those other, worse, scenarios keep popping into mind too, so... Yeah.

Anyways, if ANY of you have heard from her in the last two weeks, please, let me know either here or over on my page.

And Lili, if by chance you see this, please let us know you're alright.

Obviously, due to the circumstances, the second contest has been put on hold for the moment. Voting for the first contest is still underway, though, and that can be done here: [link]

Thanks, everybody, for your understanding and cooperation.

UPDATE: Just talked to about an hour ago. She's fine. Not sure what went down yet, but I'll try to get some info later today.