ABSTRACT
The ability to write is an essential element of modern life. Writing is not only an art, to which perhaps only a small proportion of the population is drawn as a means of making a living, it is also an activity often expected of us in a literate society almost as casually as reading. The assumption that everyone possesses the skill to communicate in writing has increased enormously, rather than receded, as technology has made its rapid advances through the twentieth and now the twenty-first century. Think of how often we write text messages. Think of the power we feel in doing that, in being able literally to drop a line to someone whenever we wish. The creative potential that writing can unleash is as powerful as ever.
