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We’re on day two of November, and despite daylight savings time, you may already be behind. That is, if you’re a writer. November is chock full of writing-themed challenges, most of which involve writing at breakneck speeds.

You may already be familiar with National Novel Writing Month, a challenge to the writing community to write 50,000 words by the close of the month. It’s “thirty days and nights of literary abandon!” and Twitter is already alight with tweets from novelists cranking away.

In response to NaNoWriMo, a group has declared November to be National Blog Posting Month as well. The challenge here? Post one time daily for the entire month of November. According to Twitter, the challenge is being met.

So, whether you’re interested in writing a novel or just getting your blog back in shape, you’ve got options. But, you better get cracking, the month is already 2 days old. So, here are some ideas to help get the creative juices flowing:

Thinking negatively can boost your memory, study finds

“Whereas positive mood seems to promote creativity, flexibility, cooperation, and reliance on mental shortcuts, negative moods trigger more attentive, careful thinking paying greater attention to the external world,” Forgas wrote.

You could go so many directions with this. First, it’s an interesting story to dissect based on the headline. The actual study offered some interesting details on the benefits of both positive and negative thinking, but then again, “Balancing positive and negative thinking boosts memory and creativity equally, study finds” is not a very compelling headline.

World’s largest cruise ship squeezes under Danish bridge

The 20 story tall ship, The Oasis of the Seas narrowly cleared the Great Belt Fixed Link while departing on it’s maiden voyage. This is really good news, and passengers should revel in this for a while. After all, the cruise is headed to Florida, which means it’s all downhill from here.

Honor Sandwich day — Vote for the Greatest Sandwich in America

Go meta! Use November’s tribute to writing to pay tribute to another November dedication — sandwiches! November 3rd is the home of the oft-overlooked Sandwich Day. The good folks over at lemondrop have compiled a list of 16 sandwiches for their readers to vote on. A friend of mine has a published poem titled, “Ode to the Sandwich” which you can find in his book, The Date Fruit Elegies. Paying tribute to the art of food while making social commentary is possible, people!

Surprise! Cost cutting boosts Ford’s profits to almost $1bn in 2nd quarter

In a total shocker, Ford has announced nearly $1 billion in profit during the 2nd quarter. The company is crediting cost cutting, but did cash for clunkers play a part?

Obama warns more job losses coming

On a sour note, President Obama has warned of more job losses looming in the future. I’m not sure about you, but now might be a good time to take advantage of November’s writing-centric themes. Just think, this could lead to selling your novel, or open the door to the next breakthrough blog that takes the Internet by storm.

We’re taking the challenge, and I’m going to get things rolling on my own personal blog as well. We’ll see how that goes.

So, what are you waiting for? Start writing! And be sure to share your work in the Creative Writing group on Current.com.

As you know, our community helps us find stories to feature on the Current.com homepage by submitting links, video clips, and voting/commenting on community submissions to increase popularity. We keep an eye on the discussions taking place on Current.com, and whenever one appears to be trending we feature it in Current Stories on the homepage.

Here’s a list of the top 5 discussions on Current.com right now, take a look.

1. Baby denied health care, he’s too fat

   Alex Lange is only 4 months old, but after being denied health insurance due to his weight he’s now caught in the health care debate. [denverpost.com]

2. US facing massive economic ‘power shift’ with dollar’s downward spiral

   The dollar is slumping, gold is on a steady rise, and Gulf states looking to replace the dollar as the currency for oil deals. Is an economic power shift on the horizon? [rawstory]

3. 6-year-old with weapon suspended for 45 days

   Zachary Christian is likely having a rough day, he’s facing 45 days of reform school for bringing his Cub Scout eating utensil to school. I’m not sure about you, but thinking back to my time as a six-year-old it was all my parents could do to keep me from bringing my cool new stuff to school. It didn’t matter that they could potentially get broken, the urge to show and tell was too great. I wonder what noted Eagle Scout, David Lynch, would have to say about this story? [boingboing]

4. Man kills fiancee day before wedding , he thought she was an intruder…so he shot her

   Stories like this always raise the same old questions surrounding the gun debate and the right to bear arms. Where do you fall on the matter? [MSNBC]

5. When will Obama end Don’t Ask Don’t Tell?

   And lastly, Current News online producer Andrew Fitzgerald posted this story on the Current News blog, and quite frankly I’m not surprised that it’s picked up steam.

   “President Obama gave a speech at the dinner and promised (again) to end “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell”. It was an important night for Obama, who’s commitment to the gay rights movement has been in question lately.

   So that was Saturday night and then Sunday there was the big march. And meanwhile online, people were pointing out that the speech Obama gave was more or less a recycled campaign speech.

   And so not 24 hours after the speech came this from CNBC Chief Washington Correspondent John Harwood who said the Obama Administration wasn’t worried about gay activists. He said:
   “Barack Obama is doing well with 90% or more of Democrats so the White House views this opposition as really part of the Internet left fringe….For a sign of how seriously the White House does or doesn’t take this opposition, one adviser told me those bloggers need to take off the pajamas, get dressed, and realize that governing a closely divided country is complicated and difficult.”"

   So what’s your take? Should approval rating factor in here? When is the right time to push forward on this issue? Weigh in here.[Current News Blog]

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