My book is starting to become part of the conversation over what we should do with our journalism.

The Poynter Institutue's Roy Peter Clark, whom I quote extensively on matters of injecting creativity into news reporting, was kind enough to support the book in his blog discussing his own newest work, "Writing Tools."

To return the favor asymmetrically, I'll note that Clark's writing tools are among the most succinct, diverse and effective summaries of both original and time-honored writing principles in print today. I enjoyed reading them as they were rolled out over the course of a year at www.poynter.org, and their collection into a book was both welcome and inevitable.

I've also discovered the first academic discussion of my book on a blog hosted by Andrew Gruen, a student at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism, my alma mater. The post focuses on my chapter on online innovations, and the analysis is insightful and I learned something from it. I'm really looking forward to seeing and hearing others' reactions to, and interpretations of, my work -- especially things I'm not expecting or never considred when putting the book together.