renaissance2010
Turning to photography as a creative outlet during a valiant fight with breast cancer at age 34, renaissance10 survived and set up a photo contest to help raise funds for the Lavender Trust, a nonprofit that provides information and support to younger women with breast cancer. In the first two years, the competition brought in over £65,000 (that's $107,260.73 U.S.!), with entries from 130 countries last year. Renaissance10 recently joined LiveJournal to meet other passionate photographers and find supportive friends.

curiouscupcakes
Holy buttercream frosting! If you have a sweet tooth for sugary goodness or a wandering eye for whimsical confection, this is pure ecstasy iced in deliciousness. Hailing the beloved cupcake as the artisinal canvas of choice, you'll enjoy recipes, photos, and bountiful tips to bake up a batch, whether your taste leans toward French classics or funky and flavorful.

mission101
With New Years in the offing, it's an ideal time to reflect on past accomplishments, make peace with disappointments, and refocus the lens on future goals. This community welcomes you to create a bucket list of 101 things you plan to accomplish in the next 1,001 days. Offering support, guidance, and inspiration, this is a great way to jumpstart those pesky resolutions.

i_hope_that
For many of us, the holidays can be kind of rough. If you're searching for a network of understanding friends, this ultra-nurturing community encourages you to express your heartfelt wishes and offer other members encouragement and acceptance. Not for the terminally snarky or emotionally-challenged, this is a good-spirited place to lend comfort and support.

diygifts
Feeling crafty? If you've got a few last folks on your holiday gift list, this is a great place to seed your creativity and generosity. You'll also discover wonderful DIY tips to decorate your home and entertain guests. Offering a no-frills-no-skills attitude that welcomes the cash-challenged and arts-phobic, you're sure to get ideas and make friends in the process.

cooking_club
A fun and friendly community dedicated to those who love to cook, whether you're a meat-and-potatoes type, an aspiring gourmand, and/or a vegan. In search of a brilliant dish to use up those weekly leftovers? Post your ingredients and you'll be whipping up a feast by dinner. You can also share favorite recipes. For Type A chefs, you can spice up your culinary repertoire with exciting cooking challenges.

SLJ18: GHOST TOWN
CASTING UPDATE

Greetings all, we know it's been a while since you have gotten any updates on the game, and I apologize for that... the holidays have been crazy for us too. However, here is what's up:

You will notice that applications are still not closed. This means we are still in need of players.

It is true that we began the initial process of contacting and confirming some cast members. We only contacted players that have never played a LiveJournal game ever before. And while we have a good amount of eager newbies with great apps, unfortunately 1/3rd of this contestant pool that we contacted failed to respond to us, which dropped our contestant pool below what we need to start a game, even if we cast every single "new to survivorlj but not to ljgames" and survivorlj veteran that applied.

Rather than start a game filled with unmotivated players who can't respond to an e-mail, we're going to hold out the start of the game and cast players that want to make this an epic battle of players who really want to try to play and win.

Again, and I want to stress this... just because you were not contacted does not mean that you will not get a spot in SLJ18. It is just that, as usual, we have wanted to give newbies to the games preference in the spots in the game. We simply already know that if you have played an LJ game before, you are 99% likely to be ready to roll with this game too.

If you have been contacted and guaranteed a spot in the game, this offer is still good and you will be in SLJ18, it is just that we do not expect to begin at this point until after the new year (no sense trying to start a game amidst the holidays). We will be canvassing survivor hotspots on the internet over the holidays to try and get those last few apps we need.

Thank you all for your patience, and we'll see you in the Ghost Town in 2010!

TELL A FRIEND TO APPLY TODAY!... especially with a season having just wrapped up on TV, if someone on your f/list is talking or ranting about the finale, they might make a good candidate so urge them to apply!

Comments screened to prevent any potential spoiled SLJ18 cast. Please contact us if you have any questions. survivorlj18 at gmail dot com.

stepstomarrow
When granddaughter, Jada, was born with leukemia, a donor-match was located and Jada made a miraculous recovery. In honor of her grandaughter's health, Jeanna has decided to walk across the country (in the dead of winter) to raise awareness and build support for the bone marrow registry (all that's required is a cheek swab). Follow Jeanna's remarkable journey as she travels the United States by foot.