[Al Skierkiewicz]

Stacy,
I also self taught in Autocad but that was going back to 2.1 on a Tandy8086. I am just about to load 2002 when I can get some time. The one thing that has always kept me going was knowing that if I could draw on paper I could do it in Autocad. My recomendation is to start with a simple project to learn the lay of the land. Acad comes with some easily understandable pull down menus. Start with learning what's under the draw pull down. This will help you learn how Acad gets stuff on the screen. In the back of your mind remember that Acad is just a big database. A line has to have a start point, a direction and a magnitude, so you have to give that data in some form. Either using the mouse or coordinates or start point, etc. All of them work and will draw the same line.
Once you are working comfortably, try looking into Object Snap. This will allow you to draw with relation to what is already in your drawing. If you draw one line, chances are you are either going to draw another line at the ENDpoint, MIDpoint, PERPinducular to or NEAR it.
Don't be confused by all the stuff you see in the program. Acad has found that people work differently and have provided several ways to accomplish tasks. Tool bars simply are GUI's for the pull downs which are easier to use than typing the command. For real speed you ought to see a graphics tablet at work with onscreen menus. If you get into a bind, send me an e-mail and I will try to help you out.
Al