Maybe it's New Year's resolutionism that is inspiring content marketers in the blogosphere to confront their norms. Several posts this week throw down the gauntlet.

• Copyblogger reports: "Dragon Slaying 101: How to Use Heroic Language to Battle Boring Copy". It's an engaging post on using the metaphors of the heroic quest to invigorate blogs and articles.
• Steve Woodruff, in "Disperse the Jargon Cloud," Steve Woodruff reminds us why we get lulled into using jargon, and what to do about it.
• MarketingProfs reposted a thoughtful article by Dana Vanden Heuven,"Thought Leaders Should Violate Expectations." He describes the characteristics that separates true thought leaders from the jargon slingers.
  

Here's an excerpt from Dana Vanden Heuven's "Thought Leaders" post:

Violating may sound like a harsh word. In fact, its original meaning, that is "to break or disregard" is so often overshadowed by the more malicious definitions that we often see it associated with. (see, expectations at work right there. Think of the first thing that came to mind when you way the word "violate" in the title―I bet it wasn't pretty.) However, when thought leaders violate expectations, they simply break the mold and deliver an unexpected insight, action idea, nugget of information or the all important "Aha! moment" that resets your thinking to their frequency and puts you on a different plane.

Here's a New Year's toast: may we violate expectations, battle mediocrity, and slay dragons in 2010.