Welcome from Colorado! I admire our ambitions! Day one: kitless!
I have greatly admired some of the kitless designs I've seen shared on this site. Demonstrates some true skill with small parts and fine detail. I have been turning....well, I guess I'd say pens about 8-9 months. I've learned a ton here on these forums, lot of helpful, skilled people here. I'm not ready to try kitless pen making yet, but I have little doubt that when that day arrives, I'll be able to find all the help I need here. No doubt, you will find all you need here as well!
I do recommend just picking up a lathe and giving some normal kit pens a try just to roll into things. IMO, best to start with a "Sierra" type kit (lots of them out there). They are single-segment, you can often make two pens off of a single blank (if they are longer than 5", 6" guaranteed), and they are a bit more forgiving than the "slimlines" that people often start with. Slimmies are two-segment, and don't leave much room for error (and also have the tendency to twist closed by themselves as you are writing, as most of the transmissions in slimlines don't have a stop to hold them open.) Best of luck!
