Writing by the Numbers: 14 Writing Exercises, 20 Markets, and One Poem

At lunch over the weekend I was part of a discussion on the topic of which is more important--numbers or words--math versus reading. Of course, I took the side of words.

While numbers have been called the universal language, where would we be without words? We learn to talk before we learn to count, don't we? And if we can't read, how can we recognize numbers?

While I'm still a word nerd, the discussion got me to give numbers their due.

Numbers and words are important in different ways; often they are complementary. I even have examples:

The other day I stumbled upon this list of writing exercises in Stumbleupon with 14 writing exercises.

The first six focus on scenes, narration, verbs and most of all STORY. The next eight focus on creating rounded CHARACTERS.

Here's something writing-related with even more numbers.

Earlier this week Becky Povich sent me a link to Meghan Ward's blog Writerland, whose blog post includes a listing 20 markets for personal essays.

Oh, and then there's Elizabeth Barrett Browning's famous sonnet,  "How Do I Love Thee? Let me count the ways. . ."