I am going to check out StackEdit for sure. I didn't know anything about Markdown before joining Steemit, and it has taken some effort on my part to learn how to use it correctly. I just about have it, but it sounds like StackEdit will make things much more efficient - which we need since we are wanting to be consistent and produce quality content here.
I also had no idea the ideal blog post length was 1,600 words. Rarely do I write that long in one post! I always aim for more than 500 words, but usually stop around 1,000. I think as long as you are helpful and provide value, the word count isn't as important. Good tip to know though!