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The Internet and the writer: friends or foes? One hears and reads so many stories for either side of the debate. The monster which awakens us in the middle of the night is that dreaded Plagiarism, the Internet making it so easy for that evil to be performed, casting us into doubt and shadow. But technology steps in, under another guise, our searching knight in shining armor riding in on his trusted steed at lightning pace, battling such threats to our creations with equal ease (and a weapon or two at his disposal). For how would we writers be read otherwise, at a time when everyone wishes to be read, to be published, or - heaven forbid - to be famous? Who doesn't want to be a children's author, a revered columnist, or the crime writer of the century? Herein too lies a dream of terror: the slush pile. Could we fragile beings, our emotions enabling us to produce the works we do, handle being relegated to here forever more, cope with a lack of notoreity all our life-long days, until we have 'shuffled off this mortal coil'? The short answer is: no. Hence, one becomes attached to the Internet. It soothes us as did our mother's lullaby, keeping at bay anxious thoughts and (she'd say needless, but we'd say well-founded) worries. So, can we safely say that the Internet and the writer, like technology and man, have a complex relationship - just like any in the 'real', pinch-my-flesh-and-I-shall-feel-it world? Oh, yeah.

But there is a longing hidden beneath this utility. Never mind the subtle sound of the keyboard when it's handler is hard at work. What some of us nostalgic few want to know is - will we never again enjoy the identifying tap-tap-tap of typewriters? It is such a shame, such a loss, of identity! We as writers were formed from those noisy beginnings. Admittedly, we who think this more often than not end up collecting these marvelous, 'primitive' machines in an effort to recapture that essence; to make us better writers, perhaps. It is not hard to understand - fashionistas do the same thing with clothes - but it is a niche club. Nevertheless, maybe it is like smoking - an action which the black and white movies nearly always depicted alongside. As smoke has been banished outdoors, so these wonderful machines have been discarded in our attics. In fact, that sound which we few so love could be deemed 'noise pollution' in this nanny-state, PC world.
Yet, that is a side issue. Let us raise our glasses to the Internet, and all the possibilities which one hopes are still to be revealed to we of the creative imaginations and way with words. Long live the Internet and the writer.

Learn more about this author, N. T. Roland.
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