First off, and importantly: DO NOT EVER share the list of words. Do not even type it into a computer, take a photo of it, or otherwise store it digitally. This is SERIOUS. If it exists digitally, someone could steal it, and then your bitcoins are gone. Write it down with pen and paper, and store it somewhere really, really safe. If you have already stored those words digitally, then just forget about that wallet, and make a new one right now before you transfer any coins.
Now then:
A bitcoin address has two keys associated with it: a private key, and a public key. The private key lets you spend the coins, so you must keep that safe! The public key is something you can share with others, so that they can pay you.
So, in your situation, the list of words is the seed for your 'master private key'. It is actually just a big number, encoded into a string of words, and the wallet software uses it to create a 'master key' to generate all subsequent addresses in your wallet. Keep it safe!
Your wallet uses the public key to generate a bitcoin address, which is a string of random-looking characters. It should look something like this: 1L3AqyJm6tdt8SNFKJ4D7cLqQP8V7ihbpR (random address from a recent block). This is what you need in order send a transaction.
One last note: every time you receive a transaction, use a new, unique address. Try to never use the same address twice, your wallet will continuously generate new addresses as needed. Not reusing the same address is very important in protecting your financial privacy.
Nice answer :) couple of small notes, 1) "the list of words is your 'master private key'" its technically the seed from which the master private key is derived, not the key itself; 2) "The public key is a string of random characters that looks like this" the address is technically a hash of the public key, not the public key itself – MeshCollider – 2017-11-19T00:50:08.300
I have gone ahead and saved private and public key info to a usb drive and deleted the trail. But I probably will create a new wallet, anyway. – WoZ – 2017-11-19T00:56:20.777
1@MeshCollider thanks! I edited my reply to include your clarifications – chytrik – 2017-11-19T00:58:55.210
1@Woz keep in mind that if your private keys are unencrypted on your flash drive, then anyone who gets hold of it, even for a second, could steal your coins. Recommended that you encrypt them! – MeshCollider – 2017-11-19T01:05:54.350