Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

I have a friend who, like me, is an aspiring author. She's a little less aspiring than I in the sense that she is published and I am not. She has a number of short story sales, and may be nearing a novel sale, soon.

Each time she sells a story, she gets a letter of the alphabet tattooed, interspersed with some other tattoos that she has. I asked about it after she showed me a couple of her latest letters. For her, the individual letters don't mean anything other than a tally of stories sold. In other words, the letter 'F' doesn't represent a story starting with 'F' or anything, but that another story sold. But that they ARE letters of the alphabet acknowledges that she has contributed something with her WRITING. If that makes sense.