Thanks guys.

@jbgibson - I'm currently working on the cheap, starting with Paint.net just because I'm familiar with it. But it sounds like Gimp might be a better program for mapping?

My problem with mapping is the same with everything else in my life, always trying to be perfect. I've started quite a few maps now but never got very far. I'm interested in creating an Earth-like world that doesn't look like Earth, but it gets pretty frustrating when I'm off to a good start and then learn something new about climate or geography and have to toss it because it's not realistic/believable. Sometimes I wish I wasn't so interested in all of these topics.