This place is cool!

[Gamerprinter]

Welcome to the Guild! In most applications you draw your curved line (sometimes I need to make the line invisible in my program), then type your text making sure that the line length isn't longer than your curved line (the line should be longer than your text for best results). Then you'd select both your text line and your curvy drawn line, then apply some function usually called "align text to path". Then the text attaches to your curvy line. You may alternatively add spaces before or after your text line to fit it better, but that's all it entails. (I don't know what software you are using, but "align text to path" is pretty common in both image editors and vector applications - I use vector (Xara Designer Pro 9).

[Jalyha]

You got a sea monster!!

Everything is better with sea monsters!

[Bogie]

Welcome to the Guild Mr. F!

[arsheesh]

Welcome to the Guild Mr.Fatboy! I've got a mini-tutorial (in the Miscellaneous Quick Tutorials link in my sig) that walks through the steps of how to put text on a path in Inkscape (another great free program worth adding to your tools set). As to your map, I think the coastline is a bit too jagged; it's like there are tiny fjords and bays everywhere! If you look at a map of the earth you'll find that land masses are smooth in some places and more jagged in others (usually in places with glaciers). You might also want to find a way to better differentiate the land from the sea. Perhaps add some color at low opacity and play with the layer modes (dido with the hills and mountains).

Cheers,
-Arsheesh