Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Jesse Hines of Robust Writing.

By now, almost anyone familiar with blogs knows that list posts (7 Reasons Why…or 10 Ways to Do…) are all the rage, an easy way to attract readers and to persuade them to read your post.

Most bloggers have done one (or tons) of these and it’s true–they are very effective.

The question, though, is in what way are they effective?

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Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Mary Jaksch of Good Life Zen.

I recently had a coffee with a fellow blogger, called John M.

“I’m writing a novel – started yesterday,” he said. “Yep—” he nodded, reaching for the sugar with a frown. “Better than writing those bloody blog posts I have to churn out each week.”

“Well, what’s so great about writing a novel?” I asked.

John poured more sugar into his latte. “I love the dialogues!”

“If you’re so fired up about dialogues, can’t you use them in your non-fiction stuff?”

“Nope,” John shook his head. “Can’t do… they don’t work in non-fiction.”

Don’t they?

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Photo courtesy of kwerfeldein.

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Mary Jaksch of GoodlifeZen.

Do you ever sit down to write a blog post, article or chapter and nothing, but nothing appears in your mind? This is the dreaded ‘writer’s block’. The good new is that if you use the following 15 tips, you will generate more ideas than you need, love the writing process, and never ever get stuck.

I find that some Zen meditation techniques enhance my writing. Most of the problems that arise in the writing process happen when our mind is at war with itself. At those times our creative energy is scattered, instead of being focused in one steady beam.

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Photo courtesy of chelseagirl

“When it comes to facts, I’ll listen to anyone’s facts. But when it comes to opinions, I’m taking my own.” - Andrew Grove (reportedly)

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Clay Collins of The Growing Life.

Good research stands to benefit any writer, and quality research often delineates the line between a quack claim and an insightful argument. Substantive research gives your writing teeth, enhances its impact, and lends your words an air of credibility. Furthermore, good research can be especially indispensible when bucking conventional wisdom or challenging existing dogma. Finally, research can help us develop better parameters around our arguments and help us clarify our own positions.

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Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

“You can approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness, or even despair–the sense that you can never completely put on the page what’s in your mind and heart. You can come to the act with your fists clenched and your eyes narrowed, ready to kick ass and take down names. You can come to it because you want a girl to marry you or because you want to change the world. Come to it any way but lightly. Let me say it again: you must not come lightly to the blank page.” - Stephen King, On Writing

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Amy Palko of Lives Less Ordinary and Textual Tangents. Amy is writing her thesis paper on Stephen King and has spent quite some time studying him.

What writing lessons can Stephen King teach us?

You’d think after many years studying King’s fiction and career I’d be well placed to answer. But as I chased round my mind for a list I could share with you here, it finally dawned on me that all other lessons disintegrate, like so many vampires caught out by the morning sun, when compared with the one key lesson I’ve learned and continue to practice daily.

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